TED Blog

An exciting new chapter for TED

  • Chris Anderson

    • Head of TED Chris Anderson at the TED conference in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Ryan Lash / TED)

    It’s time for TED to embark on an exciting new chapter

    I’ve had the great good fortune to have overseen TED for the last 25 years. It’s been exhilarating, and I feel great pride in what TED has become. As the organization moves into its fifth decade and I approach (gulp) 70, I believe the time has come for someone new to take the reins.

    So today, with the support of dear friends and colleagues, I am issuing an open invitation to anyone who believes they might have the resources and the ideas to oversee TED for its next 25 years (and beyond!) to step forward. We’d like to carefully pass over control of the entire organization and all its component parts to the best new steward.

    To be clear, I am not seeking to gain financially from this process. TED is a non-profit (I have never been paid a salary), and any money that comes in will go not to me but directly toward supporting the future growth of TED. The only goal is to let TED go to whoever has the best vision for its next era — and the resources to execute that vision.

    Letting go is an idea whose power I’ve been astonished by time and time again. After all, it was when we started giving away our content online in 2006 that TED Talks became a global phenomenon, shared widely and translated into more than 100 languages. And it was when we started giving away our brand in the form of free TEDx licenses that local organizers responded by volunteering incredible efforts of their own, carrying our way of sharing ideas to communities all over the world.

    So as I’ve dreamed of the best possible future for TED, it’s natural that we should continue to be guided by this principle, and take the ultimate step of letting go of its stewardship to someone else. Rather than commence a multitude of private conversations, I think it’s fairer, and better, and more in the spirit of TED to open up this process to our global community. Everyone who works at TED, everyone who’s ever come to a TED conference, every TED partner and donor, every one of our global volunteer force of translators and TEDxers, every TED Member, indeed everyone who’s ever given or been informed or inspired by a TED Talk … you all have a stake in this, and your collective wisdom is going to help us arrive at a better answer than anything I can come up with individually.

    Here are some of the elements whose oversight we would like to pass along:

    Even more exciting are the new initiatives currently underway. TED’s brand stands for new possibilities, and TED’s leadership has strategies in place to produce new events, invest in new content formats, and build new ventures in learning and education. With new capital, these and other initiatives can extend TED’s impact to the next 25 years.

    Given the potency — and complexity — of all this, who best to take over TED’s future stewardship? Who could best turbocharge it for even greater global impact? A university with a large endowment willing to do something radical for the world? Another non-profit organization with significant extra resources? A major philanthropist, or group of philanthropists, with a vision for sharing powerful ideas at global scale? A media company looking for new, trusted content? A social media platform looking to replace dangerous algorithms with crowd-curated wisdom? One of the big AI platforms? A major city that dreams of creating an annual festival of ideas? A Decentralized Autonomous Organization (DAO) made up of every passionate member of the TED community, including you? Or perhaps the best move forward is to keep TED inside its current foundation and simply appoint a group of visionary board members to oversee it?

    I don’t know… yet. But with your help and input, I’m excited to find out.

    Of course, this must be done wisely. TED is a unique offering in a complicated world, and I owe it to our community to ensure that TED continues to be animated by the values that have taken it this far. Any new leadership should have convincing plans on how they’ll approach TED both now and for the long term. Here are some of the questions that we’ll use to evaluate possible new stewards:

    1. What’s your vision?

    When I first took over TED all those years ago, we were at the dawn of a new era, as technological innovation and the web changed … everything. Now, with astonishing developments in AI arriving almost daily, it seems we’re on the cusp of another key moment. So what’s your vision to take TED into the future with clarity, confidence, and vigor?

    2. How will you ensure continued editorial independence?

    TED should continue to operate in service of the public good, never compromised by the commercial interests of any new owner. The engagement of sponsors, as we do at present, is fine, probably essential, and has helped TED immeasurably. But they and we know that we ultimately answer to the independent pursuit of truth, wisdom and hope.

    3. Will you commit to maintaining an open tent?

    In a divided world, it might be tempting to try and push TED to a comfortable spot on one or other side of the political divide. This cannot happen. TED must remain non-partisan and actually double down on efforts to embrace voices from a wide spectrum of viewpoints.

    4. How will you expand TED’s global reach?

    TED might have started in the US, but ideas know no borders. TED is for the world, and its journey toward a greater international footprint should continue. This should include ongoing support of our global community of TEDx organizers, TED Translators and TED-Ed educators, and our ambition to distribute TED content for free in multiple languages.

    5. How will you preserve TED’s content for the long term?

    TED is known for its TED Talks, which often reflect a lifetime of work from the speaker. In recent years, we’ve experimented with other formats too, and collectively the TED archive is a powerful catalog of human wisdom, expressed in that most ancient and powerful of communication forms: speech. Any future owner will need a plan to ensure these assets will be preserved in perpetuity.

    6. Will you commit to continued free distribution now and long term?

    Ideas are for everyone. TED should continue to offer free access to its core content to anyone in the world with an internet connection.

    7. How large of a capital commitment can you make to TED’s future?

    For TED to realize its full potential, it’ll need new funding for the future growth of new programs and products and to allow the smart leverage of new technologies such as AI. The willingness to commit significant capital for the long term will be an important deciding factor. (Again, 100% of this money will be for TED, not for me.)

    What about me? Am I quitting TED? No! I love TED. It’s a huge part of me. I want to be connected to TED as long as I live, and I’m willing to continue to serve as adviser, cheerleader or co-host if the new leadership wishes. It’ll be their call. 

    It’s going to take time to figure out who to pass TED on to. I know this period may be challenging for some, both on the TED team and in our community. I believe the outcome will be exciting, but of course the not-knowing will still need navigating. I want to thank you for your patience and trust.

    So. What now? Well, you can join the conversation on X, Facebook or LinkedIn. Or write to me at chris@ted.com. We have retained LionTree Advisors to help us navigate our next steps, and will ensure we work together as a community as we enter this new chapter together.

    Finally, just to be clear…

    This. Will. Be. Great.

    With excitement and gratitude,
    Chris

     

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