David Brooks asks, “Should you live for your résumé … or your eulogy?”

TED TalksRichard Saul Wurman created the TED conference in 1984 as a onetime event. (As you may already know, TED refers to Technology, Education, and Design.) It became a four-day conference six years later. Chris Anderson purchased TED in 2001. Until 2005, it remained a once-a-year conference: four days of programs, 50 speakers, 18-minute presentations. Anderson added TEDGlobal to reach an international audience. TED.com was launched in 2006. Thus far, the website has attracted more than one [begin] billion [end] views, averaging about two million day. The video programs have been translated into more than 100 languages.

According to Anderson, “With TED, the end of the talk should not be the end of the idea, but just the beginning.” TED showcases speakers who are knowledgeable, of course, but also “human, relatable, and often emotional, so what they share lights people up.”

There are no charges to access any of the TED programs. After attending the 2006 conference, documentary filmmaker Daphne Zuniga described it as “Cirque Du Soleil for the mind.” Oprah Winfrey later observed, “TED is where brilliant people go to hear other brilliant people.”

Brooks, DavidI will continue to recommend those whose TED programs are among the most highly-rated. For example, David Brooks. Within each of us are two selves, he suggests in this meditative short talk: the self who craves success, who builds a résumé, and the self who seeks connection, community, love — the values that make for a great eulogy. (Joseph Soloveitchik has called these selves “Adam I” and “Adam II.”) Brooks asks: Can we balance these two selves?

He is a New York Times columnist and author of Bobos in Paradise and On Paradise Drive as well as a narrative of neuroscience, The Social Animal: The Hidden Sources of Love, Character and Achievement. He has covered business, crime and politics (as well as subbing in as the Wall Street Journal’s movie critic) over a long career in journalism. He’s an Op-Ed columnist for The New York Times in a legendary run that started in September 2003. David is also a frequent analyst on NPR’s All Things Considered and a commentator on The Newshour with Jim Lehrer.

Here’s a direct link to his TED program. I envy anyone who has not already seen it.

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