1) Jason Fried does a great job explaining in an engaging manner “Why work doesn’t happen at work”. His goal appears to convince people that productivity occurs everywhere but at the office. I should be upfront as I analyze this talk I believe in certain circumstances I agree with him. Did he write this after the pandemic…he should have because it’s can be so true. It is clear from the audience reaction that they can relate to his story of workers attempting to find time and a place to accomplish work.
The strategy that he uses to explain his ideas is one of folksy stories. One of the big laughs that he got from the audience is “You don’t have workdays anymore…you have work moments.” He points out that special creative people need long stretches of uninterrupted time, well I’d point out that all workers may need longer stretches of uninterrupted time to accomplish effective work.
Jason is invoking the audience’s emotion to gain acceptance and approval for the ideas expressed. He stirs the emotions of many employees who might have simmering resentment of their supervisors by noting, “Managers jobs are to interrupt people and make sure people are working.” While that got a chuckle from the audience, I think a grain of truth was in the statement which caused the reaction.
He ends the talk with three provocative ideas that are intended to generate strong emotions.
1) Instead of casual Fridays…“No-talk Thursdays.” Just one Thursday a month with a period of “quiet time” prohibiting coworkers from talking to each other and limiting distraction. It’s better than a new computer.
2) Replacing active communication such as face to face conversation, with passive forms such as email, IM and collaboration tools.
3)If you have a meeting coming up…go ahead and cancel the meeting.
Throughout his talk, Jason speaks in a calm, relaxed manner. He walks across the stage with authority and confidence. He uses pauses effectively as he describes the stories, makes his point, but is not too wordy (thus losing his audience’s attention). By using a full, resonant voice, Jason conveys an air of knowledge and I am drawn to his talk as the audience was.
2) Margaret Heffernan’s talk is one of a speaker working with evidence. The overall theme of her TED talk is about the unstable planet that we exist in…how prophetic! In an engaging talk, Heffernan provides numerous examples of skills that should be developed in our unpredictable world along with examples of companies and almost frightening predictions of what occurred since she made the speech in 2019.
As evidence she mentions the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness, CEPI. At the time of the talk, she commented that there will be more epidemics in future, although we don’t know the specifics so all we can do is prepare. Vaccines can be developed, knowing that we can’t predict which vaccines are going to work or which diseases will break out. However, some of those vaccines will never be used. While there’s a certain inefficiency to that it does mean that we have choices. Those choices mean the system is strong and healthy. I’m sure if she did the talk in 2021 she’d note the choices in vaccines that are available.
The bottom line according to Heffernan is the human skills are important in solving the problems of our unpredictable age. Margaret Heffernan walks the audience through her argument with examples from supermarket chains to the Bank of England to climate change. This talk was easy-to-understand and Heffernan conveyed the information with a passion that was clear to the audience.
Margaret Heffernan’s perspective is that of an entrepreneur, CEO, and writer. She is presently a Professor of Practice at the University of Bath School of Management in the UK. She teaches entrepreneurship, as well as mentors executives.
Hi Edward,
I was very drawn to Jasons talk as well. I agree with the points about invoking the emotion of the audience. I think his subtle humor and sarcasm makes his arguments more informal, relatable, and engaging. In regard to Margarets talk, I also agree- thinking about all that has happened when watching this video posted in 2019 is crazy (and proves her points). In my response, I discussed how I think she is so persuasive even without sources and data. Do you agree?
Joanna,
I agree that Margaret has a very convincing manner whether or not she mentions sources and data. I also think that as “Monday morning quarterbacks” her talk is prophetic. Also, for whatever reason a British accent…thinking Sir Richard Attenborough…always seems more authoritative :). I know it doesn’t make sense but it just seems that way to me.
Hi Edward,
Excellent analysis of Fried’s TED talk and why he is successful and making his argument. I don’t disagree with you at all and like how you point out that the work-from-home pandemic basically proved he is right. But as I was reading your post, a philosophical question came to mind: Is work supposed to happen at the office? Maybe the social connections people make at work make them more committed to the company? I don’t know, but it made me realize Fried doesn’t address the counterargument in depth. I agree with you that his practical suggestions were useful.
You mention the great evidence/stories Heffernan uses to make her point. Similar to you, I was amazed that she mentioned epidemics as an example of things that are hard to predict. But this shows she was smart about selecting examples, because financial, environmental, and medical crises are broad and encompassing categories. She can be sure that her audience can relate to them. Her tone was serious. I think she wanted to make her audience aware and a little scared of what is happening because of technology, but I wish she had offered some practical takeaways.
Hi Edward,
I really liked how you questioned what Fried would have thought about work during the pandemic because that was not something that came to my mind when I first watched the TEDtalk. Now that you mentioned it however, I cannot stop thinking about it. My dad used to have a 2 hour train commute to work and back home everyday. The few times I went to work with him, he was usually never in his office, always talking with various people or attending meetings; whenever he was actually in his office, someone would always be popping their head in and asking him questions. I noticed that during his time on the train, he would be on his laptop working on tasks, either finishing up for the day or getting a head start on tomorrows. When he started working in my house during the pandemic, the work seemed to be more necessity based, and since there are no more in person chats, more work gets done.
I also thought it was nice how you chose to tie in the vaccines from Heffernan’s talk into your answer for the second question. I know that the answers do not have to be related in any way but I thought it was cool how you connected both of your responses to the pandemic and epidemics in some manner and their inherent unpredictability.
It’s really interesting to watch these TED talks in light of the weirdness of the last year and a half–we certainly hear them differently than we would have a couple of years ago. Having had the experience–many of us–of working and schooling remotely because of a pandemic, this stuff hits differently.
This, by the way, is why considering rhetorical situation is so valuable. Part of what we consider is the exigence (the circumstances that give rise to the communication, the reasons why these talks take the shape they do) and the context in which it is received (our circumstances as readers).