6 TED Talks Everyone Who Works With the Public Should See

Daniel Levitin

CREDIT: James Duncan Davidson/TED

TED talks are great for learning about everything from cave diving to the state of our education system, but a topic that’s rarely addressed from the TED stage is how to deal with an irrationally irate customer demanding a refund.

But just because the speakers rarely (if ever) delve directly into the challenges anyone in a customer-facing role is all too familiar with, doesn’t mean the 20-minute videos can’t help you do your job better if your job is dealing with the public. The blog of customer service software company Amity recently rounded up six TED talks that an indirectly benefit anyone in a customer service role. Here are their picks.

1. The Power of Empathy, Dr. Helen Riess

“You might be able to integrate some of these principles for your next onsite customer meetings, or even to adapt them to your day-to-day to foster better customer relations,” Amity says of this talk about learning empathy from a professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School.

2. How to Stay Calm When You Know You’ll Be Stressed, Daniel Levitin

“In How to Stay Calm When You Know You’ll Be Stressed, neuroscientist Daniel Levitin explores the ways in which one can be proactive about the eventuality of decision-making in stressful, overwhelming situations,” explains Amity. It’s applicability to customer service situations is pretty obvious.

3. How to Speak so that People Want to Listen, Julian Treasure

“If you’re struggling getting heard by your customers, you’ll most definitely get some good tips out of this,” claims Amity.

4. Why Good Leaders Make you Feel Safe, Simon Sinek

“This talk is valuable for company leader, to team lead, to CSM – pretty much everyone,” notes Amity. “In the end, aren’t Customer Success Managers leading their customers to success?”

5. Working Backward to Solve Problems, Maurice Ashley

“Retrograde analysis is a style of problem-solving in which one works backward from the outcome they want to achieve. Chess Grandmaster Maurice Ashley applies this theory – which is widely used in chess – to real-world problem-solving,” explains Amity.

What does that have to do with customer service? “As a Customer Success Manager, step one should always be to set goals with your customer, and to define success – why did your customer buy your product in the first place? Now, look at the journey backward, and re-evaluate your strategy to get them there.”

6. Getting Stuck in the Negatives, Dr. Alison Ledgerwood

“Have you ever felt like… a poor onboarding experience resulted in a much more tumultuous customer journey?” asks Amity (to almost certain nods from customer-facing professionals). “Turns out, your customer isn’t being salty, they’re just stuck in a negative frame. Customer Success bears the responsibility of keeping up the good spirits and conveying positivity throughout the ups and downs, and this theory can help you do just that,” the post says of this talk from a psychologist who studies negativity.