Uploaded November 2018 | Updated September 2026, 5 days ago
As the former COO of Delta, Jim Whitehurst thought he knew the rules for how to lead. “I thought I was the person ultimately responsible for solving the problems facing my organization. I was the one who was supposed to bring order and structure,” he says. His world was turned upside down when he left Delta to become CEO of Red Hat, an open-source software company. According to Whitehurst, it took this leap of faith, joining a company unlike any he’d ever seen, to realize that leadership isn’t about organizing chaos or controlling process. “Open leadership is about creating the context that allows the best answers to emerge for the organization.”
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
As the former COO of Delta, Jim Whitehurst thought he knew the rules for how to lead. “I thought I was the person ultimately responsible for solving the problems facing my organization. I was the one who was supposed to bring order and structure,” he says. His world was turned upside down when he left Delta to become CEO of Red Hat, an open-source software company. According to Whitehurst, it took this leap of faith, joining a company unlike any he’d ever seen, to realize that leadership isn’t about organizing chaos or controlling process. “Open leadership is about creating the context that allows the best answers to emerge for the organization.”
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
