Talks at Google

Alan Murray visits Google to discuss his book "Tomorrow's Capitalist: My Search for the Soul of Business", a frontline report on the business revolution that is transforming much of the corporate world. "Tomorrow’s Capitalist" reveals how corporate CEOs—the ultimate pragmatists—realized how critical it is that they confront the fundamental issues of our time: climate, diversity and inclusion, inequality, and workforce opportunity, in response to their employees and customers who are demanding corporate change. Narratives about the failures of capitalism, the greed of the 1% and the blindness of corporations to public need have made their mark and are driving change. These aren’t the superficial cosmetic fixes that have generated cynicism in the past, but a revolution in the way corporations are imagined and run. Visit YouTube.com/TalksatGoogle to watch the video.

16 Aug 202243min

Nobel Prize-winning psychologist Daniel Kahneman visits Google to discuss his book "Thinking, Fast and Slow." In this Talk, Kahneman takes us on a groundbreaking tour of the mind and explains the two systems that drive the way we think - System 1 is fast, intuitive, and emotional; System 2 is slower, more deliberative, and more logical. Kahneman exposes the extraordinary capabilities—and also the faults and biases—of fast thinking, and reveals the pervasive influence of intuitive impressions on our thoughts and behavior. Imagine things such as, the impact of loss aversion and overconfidence on corporate strategies; the difficulties of predicting what will make us happy in the future; the challenges of properly framing risks at work and at home; the profound effect of cognitive biases on everything from playing the stock market to planning the next vacation—each of these can be understood only by knowing how the two systems work together to shape our judgments and decisions. Kahneman’s book reveals where we can and cannot trust our intuitions and how we can tap into the benefits of slow thinking. He offers practical and enlightening insights into how choices are made in both our business and our personal lives—and how we can use different techniques to guard against the mental glitches that often get us into trouble. "Thinking, Fast and Slow" will transform the way you think about thinking. Originally published in November of 2011. Visit YouTube.com/TalksatGoogle to watch the video.

12 Aug 20221h 4min

Annie Murphy Paul visits Google to discuss her book "The Extended Mind: The Power of Thinking Outside the Brain". The book discusses how we can tap the intelligence that exists beyond our brains—in our bodies, our surroundings, and our relationships. “Use your head” - that’s what we tell ourselves when facing a tricky problem or a difficult project. But a growing body of research indicates that we’ve got it exactly backwards. What we need to do, says Annie Murphy Paul, is think outside the brain. Her book, “The Extended Mind,” outlines the research behind this exciting new vision of human ability, exploring the findings of neuroscientists, cognitive scientists, and psychologists, and examining the practices of educators, managers, and leaders who are already reaping the benefits of thinking outside the brain. “The Extended Mind” offers a dramatic new view of how our minds work, full of practical advice on how we can all think better. Visit YouTube.com/TalksatGoogle to watch the video.

9 Aug 20221h 3min

When Mark Pollock lost his sight at the age of twenty-two, he thought his life was over. The story of how he overcame the odds to rebuild his life and exceed his own wildest expectations has inspired people the world over. In his story, you will find what can’t be taught in school: the true education that is garnered from what Mark calls 'the university of life'. Unbroken by blindness, Mark became an adventure athlete competing in ultra-endurance races across deserts, mountains, and the polar ice caps, ultimately becoming the first blind person to race to the South Pole. He won silver and bronze medals for rowing at the Commonwealth Games and set up a successful international motivational speaking business. In 2010, a fall from a second story window nearly killed him; Mark broke his back and the damage to his spinal cord left him paralysed. Now, he is on a new expedition, exploring the intersection where humans and technology collide on his mission to cure paralysis in our lifetime. Visit YouTube.com/TalksatGoogle to watch the video.

5 Aug 20221h 2min

Matt Damon & Gary White visit Google to discuss their recent book "The Worth of Water: Our Story of Chasing Solutions to the World's Greatest Challenge”. This is the incredible true story of two unlikely allies on a mission to end the global water crisis.. With humor and humility, Matt & Gary illuminate the challenges of launching a brand-new model with extremely high stakes: better health and greater prosperity for people all over the world. "The Worth of Water" invites us to become a part of this effort—to match hope with resources, to empower families and communities, and conqure the global water crisis for good. On any given morning, you might wake up and shower with water, make your coffee with water, flush your toilet with water—and think nothing of it. But around the world, more than three-quarters of a billion people can’t do any of that—because they have no clean water source near their homes. 1.7 billion people don’t even have access to a toilet. This crisis affects a third of all humans on the planet. It keeps kids out of schools and women out of work, trapping people in extreme poverty and spreading disease. It is also completely solvable. That conviction is what brought together movie actor Matt Damon and water expert and engineer Gary White. Over time, they and their organization, Water.org, have found an approach that works. Working with partners across East Africa, Latin America, South Asia, and Southeast Asia, they’ve helped over 40 million people access water and sanitation. Visit YouTube.com/TalksatGoogle to watch the video.

2 Aug 202243min

Nikola Tesla invented the radio, robots, and the remote control. His electric induction motors run our appliances and factories, and yet he has been often overlooked by history. In "Tesla: Inventor of the Modern", Richard Munson presents a comprehensive portrait of this farsighted and underappreciated mastermind. When Tesla’s first breakthrough―alternating current, the basis of our electric grid―pitted him against Thomas Edison’s direct-current empire, Tesla’s superior technology prevailed. Unfortunately, he had little business sense and could not capitalize on this success. His most advanced ideas went unrecognized for decades: forty years in the case of the radio patent, longer still for his ideas on laser beam technology. Although penniless during his later years, he never stopped imagining. In the early 1900s, he designed plans for cell phones, the Internet, death-ray weapons, and interstellar communications. His ideas have lived on to shape the modern economy. So who was this genius? Drawing on letters, technical notebooks, and other primary sources, author Richard Munson pieces together the magnificently bizarre personal life and mental habits of the enigmatic inventor. Born during a lightning storm at midnight, Tesla died alone in a New York City hotel. He was an acute germaphobe who never shook hands and required nine napkins when he sat down to dinner. Strikingly handsome and impeccably dressed, he spoke eight languages and could recite entire books from memory. Yet Tesla’s most famous inventions were not the product of fastidiousness or linear thought, but of a mind fueled by both the humanities and sciences: he conceived the induction motor while walking through a park and reciting Goethe’s Faust. Tesla worked tirelessly to offer electric power to the world, to introduce automatons that would reduce life’s drudgery, and to develop machines that might one day abolish war. His story is a reminder that technology can transcend the marketplace and that profit is not the only motivation for invention. Originally published in February of 2018. Visit YouTube.com/TalksatGoogle to watch the video.

29 Jul 202244min

Chef Tala Bashmi visits Google to discuss her successful culinary career and how she is bringing cuisine from the Gulf region to the forefront of the global food industry. Tala Bashmi started her culinary career by joining The Gulf Hotel Bahrain as a trainee and eventually working her way up the ranks. She studied at the Culinary Arts Academy in Lucerne, Switzerland, where she received her Masters of International Business in Culinary Management. Returning to the Middle East, she joined the cast of Top Chef, Middle East & North Africa, as a contestant, where she finished in the finals and showcased the modernized Bahraini cuisine that she would become famous for. Chef Tala then opened her inaugural restaurant Fusions by Tala in her home country of Bahrain, where she prides herself in her daring and willingness to experiment with a range of ingredients and techniques that come from different parts of the world. Visit YouTube.com/TalksatGoogle to watch the video.

26 Jul 202257min

Professor Richard D. Wolff visits Google to discuss the economic dimensions of our modern lives, our jobs, our incomes, and our debts in his unique mixture of deep insight and dry humor. He presents insights into current events and draws connections to the past to highlight the machinations of our global economy. He tries to help us to understand political and corporate policy, the organization of labor, the distribution of goods and services, and challenges us to question some of the deepest foundations of modern society. Professor Wolff argues that modern capitalism has spawned a deepening economic crisis alongside a captive political establishment. He argues that whether it is secure, well-paid, and meaningful jobs or a sustainable relationship with the natural environment that we depend on, our society is not delivering the results people need and deserve. He believes that this state of affairs is due to the lack of genuine democracy in our economy as well as in our politics. His proposed solution requires the creation of a genuine economic democracy, starting with workers managing their own workplaces, as the basis for a genuine political democracy. In this Talk, Professor Wolff lays out a hopeful and concrete vision of how to make that possible, addressing the many people who have concluded that economic inequality and politics as usual must be changed. Originally published in June of 2017. Visit YouTube.com/TalksatGoogle to watch the video.

22 Jul 20221h 27min