Uploaded September 2018 | Updated September 2026, 4 days ago
Former Marine Corps lieutenant Drew Humphreys knows a thing or two about leadership. Before joining the business world, he was a platoon commander in Afghanistan, in charge of 36 Marines fighting the Taliban and maintaining a vital supply route through Helmand Province. He had to reconsider everything he knew about being a leader when he was forced to divide his platoon and give control over to other commanders. It was then Humphreys realized the surprising connection between this successful decentralized management model, and how we manage machine learning in business. His resulting leadership strategy offers three lessons on building a more effective team that every manager can learn from.
About the TED Institute: We know that innovative ideas and fresh approaches to challenging problems can be discovered inside visionary companies around the world. The TED Institute helps surface and share these insights. Every year, TED works with a group of select companies and foundations to identify internal ideators, inventors, connectors, and creators. Drawing on the same rigorous regimen that has prepared speakers for the TED main stage, TED Institute works closely with each partner, overseeing curation and providing intensive one-on-one talk development to sharpen and fine tune ideas.
Learn more at ted.com/ted-institute
Follow TED Institute on Twitter @TEDPartners
Subscribe to our channel: youtube.com/user/TEDInstitute
Former Marine Corps lieutenant Drew Humphreys knows a thing or two about leadership. Before joining the business world, he was a platoon commander in Afghanistan, in charge of 36 Marines fighting the Taliban and maintaining a vital supply route through Helmand Province. He had to reconsider everything he knew about being a leader when he was forced to divide his platoon and give control over to other commanders. It was then Humphreys realized the surprising connection between this successful decentralized management model, and how we manage machine learning in business. His resulting leadership strategy offers three lessons on building a more effective team that every manager can learn from.
About the TED Institute: We know that innovative ideas and fresh approaches to challenging problems can be discovered inside visionary companies around the world. The TED Institute helps surface and share these insights. Every year, TED works with a group of select companies and foundations to identify internal ideators, inventors, connectors, and creators. Drawing on the same rigorous regimen that has prepared speakers for the TED main stage, TED Institute works closely with each partner, overseeing curation and providing intensive one-on-one talk development to sharpen and fine tune ideas.
Learn more at ted.com/ted-institute
Follow TED Institute on Twitter @TEDPartners
Subscribe to our channel: youtube.com/user/TEDInstitute
