How to get past the "messy middle" of a big change | Mary Martin

Irish musician and songwriter Wallis Bird received her first guitar at six months old and has been chasing music ever since. After her TED2026 performance of three genre-bending original songs, Wallis sat down with TED music curator Anna Bulbrook – a musician herself – to talk about the cosmic energy she taps into on stage, and what drives her songwriting. Their conversation explores her lifelong pull toward music, the stories hidden inside her songs, and how creativity can heal. It's woven through Wallis's electrifying, deeply moving performance, as she sings about joy, grief, social struggle, and what it takes to use music to bring people together, even when the world gives you every reason to look away.To learn more about Wallis and her music, visit www.wallisbird.com. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In a globe-trotting career that has spanned corporations, governments, nonprofits and philanthropy, Rosita Najmi has often found herself translating among them. Instead of focusing on leadership style, she makes the case for becoming fluent in the languages of leadership, explaining how it can help you adapt to audiences across industries and collectively achieve your goals.(This episode originally aired in 2024.) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Rainn Wilson was a late bloomer: he landed the role of Dwight Schrute on The Office after over a decade of struggling as an actor. But success didn’t solve all of his problems -- and it even created some new ones. In this live conversation for the Authors@Wharton series, Adam asks Rainn about his unlikely journey to stardom and how it led him into exploring the insights that philosophy, psychology, and the world’s great spiritual traditions can offer on modern life’s existential questions. They also discuss Rainn’s favorite moments from The Office and do some improv when Dunder Mifflin invites a certain organizational psychologist to talk to Dwight. Transcripts for ReThinking are available at go.ted.com/RWAGscripts Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

How does studying the end of time change your perspective of life on Earth? Cosmologist and TED Fellow Katie Mack joins designer and podcaster Debbie Millman to talk about the story of the cosmos — from the Big Bang's ancient light still glowing across the universe to the five ways it might all come to an end — plus what aerobatic flying taught her about staying present. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Did progress on your next big project stall out? Transformation expert Mary Martin refers to this moment as the "messy middle" — the frustrating gap between starting and finishing a goal, when you might lose confidence or give up altogether. Offering three ways to find glimmers of progress when the going gets tough, she explores what to do when you feel stuck. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

As a self-proclaimed radical street librarian, Storybook Maze makes books appear where they're scarce. Through initiatives like free, public book vending machines and street corner story times, she eliminates book deserts — or areas with limited access to literature — by making books accessible for children in underserved communities. (And in case you're wondering, she shares how you can become a radical street librarian, too.) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

If you ate bread this week (or cooked with salt and oil), you probably benefited from something millions miss out on: food fortification. Social entrepreneur Felix Brooks-church is on a mission to solve "hidden hunger" — malnutrition caused by a lack of nutrients — by fortifying everyday foods for regions of the world hit hardest by food insecurity. Laying out a pragmatic vision to improve food systems globally, he reminds us that hunger doesn’t always look like an empty plate. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Most of the technology powering life in Europe today — chatbots, the cloud, digital infrastructure — is owned by companies in the United States. Writer and curator Bruno Giussani makes the case that Europe's reliance on American technology has crossed the line from convenient to risky. His answer isn't to go it alone, but to build something the continent currently lacks: a real alternative, rooted in a different model. "Technology that does not spy on you — that should be Europe's digital difference,” he says. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Netflix cofounder and Anthropic board member Reed Hastings joins TED's Sal Khan to give a look inside the race to build AI. Hear his take on how the technology could accelerate education — including the possibility of an AI tutor for every student — and reshape the economy faster than anyone expects. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What do radio personality Ira Glass, New York City mayor Zohran Mamdani, and your host Chris Duffy have in common? They all have practiced an unexpected skill that makes them more human—improv comedy. And they learned it from master improv teacher Rick Andrews. Rick joins Chris to discuss the life lessons they learn from giving up control and practicing how to “yes an” in conversations. They also modeled improv games such as “Alibi,” “7 Things,” “Fortunately and Unfortunately,” and more, so you can sprinkle some improvisational silliness to build better communication and trust in your work and personal life. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.