Infectious Generosity

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Inside a Contagion

The surprising aftermath of a decision to give

Let me share with you the experience that opened my eyes to the Internet s potential to turbocharge generosity.

I m a media entrepreneur. For the first half of my career, I built a company in the UK and the US that published scores of hobbyist magazines, many of them about technology. In 1998 I was invited to attend a conference in California that, unusually, was devoted not to one industry but to three: technology, entertainment, and design. Yup, this was the TED conference.

Because of the conference s breadth of content, speakers had to make their work accessible to outsiders, and it turns out that when you do that, there is a crossover effect. Software creators were inspired by physical architecture, screenwriters and artists had their minds blown by technologists, and everyone felt the potential and significance of their work to be elevated. I was mesmerized.

A couple of years later, I had the opportunity to take over the conference from its charismatic co-­founder. I leaped at the chance ­partly because there seemed to be good prospects of expanding its sphere. It wasn t just technology, entertainment, and design that could cross-pollinate with one another; it was every subject. All human knowledge is part of a single elusive reality. We don t fully understand anything until we understand how it connects to the other parts of knowledge.

I couldn t afford to buy TED personally ­the dot-­com bust of 2000 ­2001 had ravaged my media company, Future plc. So, instead, TED became part of a not-­for-­profit foundation I had created a few years earlier, when times were good. And I left Future to focus full-­time on this weird conference and to ponder how it might grow.

Since it was now a nonprofit, TED had to be run for the public good. And that meant trying to find a way to gain a wider audience for the inspirational talks that were given there. In the early aughts, this

Chris Anderson has been the curator of TED since 2001. His TED mantra—“ideas worth spreading”—continues to blossom on an international scale, with some three billion TED Talks viewed annually. He lives in New York City and London.

This book was a much-needed gift to my weary and news-battered heart. In a time when we are constantly being told that we are more divided and combative than ever, and that the future will bring only more calamity and despair, Chris Anderson presents an inspiring body of evidence to support the tremendous and transformative power of generosity that most beautiful of human impulses. Infectious Generosity is a combination of inarguable data and incredibly moving stories. How wonderful to learn that seemingly small and humble acts of kindness can create exponential whirlwinds of benevolent impact, and that generosity is just as contagious as any virus! I flew through these pages with an increasing sense of joy, and was left inspired and hopeful. Elizabeth Gilbert, bestselling author of Eat, Pray, Love

Profound and compelling . . . This book is a masterpiece, and an important one. I want everyone I know to read this and everyone I don t know, too. Andrew Solomon, author and speaker on culture and psychology
 
Truly inspiring! . . . This book is the first page-turner ever written about human generosity. It will change the way you see the world around you. Elizabeth Dunn, social psychologist and expert on the science of happiness
 
Concise and profound, this truly excellent book is going to have a big impact on the key issues of our times. Alain de Botton, author and philosopher
 
A beautiful book lucid, warm, intelligent, and persuasive. Steven Pinker, author and professor of psychology, Harvard University
 
Warning: Reading this book may give you an irresistible urge to get up and take action. This is simply a wonderful book. Rutger Bregman, bestselling author of Humankind

An inspiring, timely book about ways to bring out the best in people rather than focusing on the worst . . . a joyful road map away from a polarized, selfish society to the hopeful, humane