Skip to content

This site uses cookies to store information on your computer. Some are essential to make our site work; others help us improve the user experience. By using the site, you consent to the placement of these cookies. Read our privacy policy to learn more.

Close
AICPA-CIMA
  • AICPA & CIMA:
  • Home
  • CPE & Learning
  • My Account
Journal of Accountancy
  • TECH & AI
    • All articles
    • Artificial Intelligence (AI)
    • Microsoft Excel
    • Information Security & Privacy

    Latest Stories

    • Is spending on technology spinning out of control?
    • Using 3 Excel View tools to manage large spreadsheets
    • Building a better firm: How to pick the proper technology
  • TAX
    • All articles
    • Corporations
    • Employee benefits
    • Individuals
    • IRS procedure

    Latest Stories

    • Job cuts mean strong 2025 tax season may be hard to repeat, IRS watchdog warns
    • IRS removes associated property rule in final interest capitalization regulations
    • Spouse is not entitled to sales proceeds in a judicial sale of taxpayer’s home
  • PRACTICE MANAGEMENT
    • All articles
    • Diversity, equity & inclusion
    • Human capital
    • Firm operations
    • Practice growth & client service

    Latest Stories

    • Job cuts mean strong 2025 tax season may be hard to repeat, IRS watchdog warns
    • Is spending on technology spinning out of control?
    • IRS removes associated property rule in final interest capitalization regulations
  • FINANCIAL REPORTING
    • All articles
    • FASB reporting
    • IFRS
    • Private company reporting
    • SEC compliance and reporting

    Latest Stories

    • SEC accepting Professional Accounting Fellow applications
    • SEC names new chief accountant
    • SEC ends legal defense of its climate rules
  • AUDIT
    • All articles
    • Attestation
    • Audit
    • Compilation and review
    • Peer review
    • Quality Management

    Latest Stories

    • AICPA unveils new QM resources to help firms meet Dec. 15 deadline
    • 8 steps to build your firm’s quality management system on time
    • Auditing Standards Board proposes a new fraud standard
  • MANAGEMENT ACCOUNTING
    • All articles
    • Business planning
    • Human resources
    • Risk management
    • Strategy

    Latest Stories

    • Business outlook brightens somewhat despite trade, inflation concerns
    • AICPA & CIMA Business Resilience Toolkit — levers for action
    • Economic pessimism grows, but CFOs have strategic responses
  • Home
  • News
  • Magazine
  • Podcast
  • Topics
Advertisement
  1. newsletter
  2. Cpa Insider
CPA INSIDER

7 TED talks for accountants

These thought-provoking presentations are sparking interest.

By Cheryl Meyer
November 27, 2017

Please note: This item is from our archives and was published in 2017. It is provided for historical reference. The content may be out of date and links may no longer function.

Related

October 23, 2017

3 daily questions to help accountants make a difference

October 16, 2017

Fellow CPAs offer their budget tips for travel

October 17, 2017

Email mistakes that could derail your career

TOPICS

  • Professional Development
    • Communication

Accountants listen to speeches all the time—at work, at conferences, and online. But not all accountants find talks so compelling that they remember their content years down the road, or even tomorrow.

Enter TED, a not-for-profit organization with a mission to share ideas, mostly through a plethora of short and stimulating speeches that are presented at conferences and on its website. TED’s site is a place for people to listen, watch, learn, and indulge—and take away ideas that they may have never considered.  

For the second year running, we asked several accountants to highlight their favorite TED talks and describe how these talks have influenced them both professionally and personally. Here are their top picks:

Stanley McChrystal: “Listen, Learn … Then Lead“: A retired four-star general, Stanley McChrystal fills this TED talk with numerous anecdotes about his military experiences, with one major theme: leadership. He realized that leaders aren’t good because they are right. “They’re good because they’re willing to learn and trust,” he says, noting that he often had to lead a team dispersed around the world via technology. McChrystal’s talk resonated with Nancy E. Kelly, CPA, co-managing partner of DavisKelly Certified Public Accountants LLC in New York. “Over the several years of growing my company, I have learned, and continue to learn, that having a successful team requires me to build relationships with those I work alongside,” she said. “These relationships, in turn, help to develop my team’s trust in me as their leader.”

Emilie Wapnick: “Why Some of Us Don’t Have One True Calling”: Wapnick, a writer, coach, artist, and founder of website Puttylike.com, calls herself a “multipotentialite”—a person who gets bored easily and has so many interests that she once considered herself abnormal. “In high school, I liked English and math and art and I built websites and I played guitar in a punk band called Frustrated Telephone Operator. Maybe you’ve heard of us,” she quipped. Today, though, Wapnick has flipped that “abnormal” idea on its head by recognizing that those who have many passions and creative pursuits can excel in life and business. Charlene Rhinehart, CPA, consultant and founder of Career Goddess Academy, an online career site, said this notion describes her personality and mission. “It redefines the possibilities for a CPA,” she said. “Listening to this TED talk confirmed my belief that you can use your skills in different ways; there is no one-size-fits-all path to success.”

Drew Dudley: “Everyday Leadership”: Founder of Day One Leadership, a Toronto-based consulting firm, Dudley asserts that all of us can lead simply by improving someone else’s life. People often give themselves “an excuse not to expect [leadership] every day” from themselves and from others, he said in his talk. Eddie Rivera, CPA, a tax partner at Citrin Cooperman in Livingston, N.J., said Dudley’s TED talk inspired him. “As a leader, we have such a profound impact on the holistic well-being of our people,” he said. “When your people are happy and feel important and know you truly care, they achieve more.”

Mellody Hobson: “Color Blind or Color Brave?”: Hobson, president of Ariel Investments in Chicago and a black woman, said she almost didn’t give this talk at an official TED conference because race can be an uncomfortable topic. But she decided that speaking openly about race would start a discussion and could help businesses thrive. “We cannot afford to be colorblind,” she said in her speech. “We have to be color-brave. … We have to be willing to have proactive conversations about race with honesty and understanding and courage … because our businesses and our products and our science, our research, all of that will be better with greater diversity.” Stephani Mason, CPA, assistant professor of accounting at DePaul University in Chicago, said Hobson’s TED talk is long overdue. “We have been tiptoeing around this for years, and we cannot move forward unless we learn to have an honest, open dialogue,” she noted.

Advertisement

Dr. Ivan Joseph: “The Skill of Self-Confidence”: Joseph, director of athletics at Ryerson University in Toronto, has learned plenty from competitive sports. In a talk on TEDEd, TED’s lesson-focused affiliate, he defines and promotes self-confidence as the ability “to believe in yourself, to accomplish any task, no matter the odds, no matter the difficulty, no matter the adversity”—either on the field or in any endeavor. Spiro Leunes, CPA, partner at WithumSmith+Brown PC in Whippany, N.J., was inspired by this talk because of cynics he encountered (and dismissed) during his successful career trajectory. “We are all captains of our own ship,” he said. “We just have to have the courage to take action and the self-confidence to make it happen. No one is going to be a better cheerleader for you than you.”

Kelly McGonigal: “How to Make Stress Your Friend”: A consultant and health psychologist at Stanford University, McGonigal begins her talk (which has garnered more than 14 million views) citing a study that indicates stress impacts your health primarily if you view stress as a negative. “When you change your mind about stress, you can change your body’s response to stress,” she said. “When you choose to view your stress response as helpful, you create the biology of courage. And when you choose to connect with others under stress, you can create resilience.” This talk was particularly appealing to Donna Dolansky, CPA, professor of practice-accounting at Utica College in Utica, N.Y., because “it shows you how to change the way you think about stress,” she said. “I view stress as a motivator, and it helps me meet aggressive deadlines.”

Scott Dinsmore: “How to Find Work You Love”: Dinsmore, an adventurer and founder of Live Your Legend, a company that encourages people to seek out their professional passions, gave this still-popular TED talk in 2012, three years before his death while climbing Mount Kilimanjaro. The talk is still having an impact, with more than 4 million views. Years earlier, Dinsmore had quit a job where he was unhappy. He went on a quest to research people that do “world-changing work, that wake up inspired every day,” he said. He concluded that professionals need to become self-experts, determine their strengths and passions, and figure out why they make decisions and how to apply their findings to their lives. This hit home with Rhinehart. “If every CPA dived fully into the plate of passions that inspired them, they could contribute to the profession in a greater way and wear their CPA badge with ultimate enthusiasm,” she said.

Cheryl Meyer is a freelance writer in Orange County, Calif. To comment on this article, contact Chris Baysden, senior manager of newsletters at the AICPA.

Advertisement

latest news

October 2, 2025

Job cuts mean strong 2025 tax season may be hard to repeat, IRS watchdog warns

October 2, 2025

Is spending on technology spinning out of control?

October 1, 2025

IRS removes associated property rule in final interest capitalization regulations

September 30, 2025

IRS withdraws prop. regs. affecting corporate spinoff transactions

September 30, 2025

FASB update refines reporting scope for derivatives

Advertisement

Most Read

MAP Survey finds CPA firm starting pay on the rise
IRS finalizes regulations for Roth catch-up contributions under SECURE 2.0
NASBA, AICPA release proposed revisions to CPE standards
IRS releases draft form for tip, overtime, car loan, and senior deductions
Paper tax refund checks on the way out as IRS shifts to electronic payments
Advertisement

Podcast

October 2, 2025

Car talk: M&A, AI and EVs changing the dealership landscape

September 25, 2025

Professional liability risks related to Form 1065, CPA firm acquisitions

September 18, 2025

‘We’re still the thinkers’ — a reminder for tax pros in the AI era

Features

AI-powered hacking in accounting: ‘No one is safe’
AI-powered hacking in accounting: ‘No one is safe’

AI-powered hacking in accounting: ‘No one is safe’

Building a better firm: How to pick the proper technology
Building a better firm: How to pick the proper technology

Building a better firm: How to pick the proper technology

Why accountants need to master the art of reading the room
Why accountants need to master the art of reading the room

Why accountants need to master the art of reading the room

How BI and analytics enhance management accountants’ partnering role
How BI and analytics enhance management accountants’ partnering role

How BI and analytics enhance management accountants’ partnering role

SPONSORED REPORT

Preparing clients for new provisions next tax season

Preparing clients for new provisions next tax season

As the 2025 filing season approaches, H.R. 1 introduces significant tax reforms that CPAs must be prepared to navigate. These legislative changes represent some of the most comprehensive tax updates in recent years, affecting both individual and corporate taxpayers. This report provides in-depth analysis and guidance on H.R. 1.

From The Tax Adviser

September 30, 2025

Current developments in taxation of individuals: Part 1

August 30, 2025

2025 tax software survey

August 30, 2025

Are you doing all you can to keep the cash method for your clients?

July 31, 2025

Current developments in S corporations

MAGAZINE

October 2025

October 2025

October 2025
September 2025

September 2025

September 2025
August 2025

August 2025

August 2025
July 2025

July 2025

July 2025
June 2025

June 2025

June 2025
May 2025

May 2025

May 2025
April 2025

April 2025

April 2025
March 2025

March 2025

March 2025
February 2025

February 2025

February 2025
January 2025

January 2025

January 2025
December 2024

December 2024

December 2024
November 2024

November 2024

November 2024
view all

View All

http://JofA_Default_Mag_cover_small_official_blue

PUSH NOTIFICATIONS

Coming soon: Learn about important news

CPA LETTER DAILY EMAIL

CPA Letter Logo

Subscribe to the daily CPA Letter

Stay on top of the biggest news affecting the profession every business day. Follow this link to your marketing preferences on aicpa-cima.com to subscribe. If you don't already have an aicpa-cima.com account, create one for free and then navigate to your marketing preferences.

Connect

  • X Logo JofA on X
  • facebook JofA on Facebook

HOME

  • News
  • Monthly issues
  • Podcast
  • A&A Focus
  • PFP Digest
  • Academic Update
  • Topics
  • RSS feed rss feed
  • Site map

ABOUT

  • Contact us
  • Advertise
  • Submit an article
  • Editorial calendar
  • Privacy policy
  • Terms & conditions

SUBSCRIBE

  • Academic Update
  • CPE Express

AICPA & CIMA SITES

  • AICPA-CIMA.com
  • Global Engagement Center
  • Financial Management (FM)
  • The Tax Adviser
  • AICPA Insights
  • Global Career Hub
AICPA & CIMA

© 2025 Association of International Certified Professional Accountants. All rights reserved.

Reliable. Resourceful. Respected.