C.I.S. Curated Intelligence · Video Collection Ten
Built to Lead: Voice, Purpose and the Courage to Take Your Place
Ten selected talks on identity, confidence, leadership, visibility, resilience and meaningful impact.
Why this collection exists
This Cultural Intelligence Studio video collection is inspired by the ideas explored through the She Was Built for This conference in Birmingham: women recognising their value, strengthening their voices, expanding their leadership and building work that reflects who they are becoming.
The conference takes place at Malmaison Birmingham on 26 September 2026 and focuses on identity, leadership, visibility, resilience, legacy, faith, purpose and women’s voices in business.
Editorial independence: this collection is independently curated by Cultural Intelligence Studio. It is not produced by, sponsored by or formally affiliated with the event.
Confidence is often described as a quality a person either possesses or lacks. Brittany Packnett Cunningham offers a more powerful interpretation: confidence can be cultivated and used to create wider participation. The talk examines permission, action and the responsibility of leaders to help other people recognise their ability.
What viewers can explore
Why confidence is necessary for meaningful action
How people learn whether their voices will be valued
The difference between possessing power and sharing it
How leaders can help others recognise their capabilities
This external video remains the property of TED and its respective creators and rights holders. Cultural Intelligence Studio has selected and contextualised it for educational purposes.
02 · Courage & Growth
Teach Girls Bravery, Not Perfection
Bravery makes room for experimentation, learning and recovery.
Reshma Saujani argues that girls are frequently encouraged to pursue perfection while boys receive greater permission to take risks and recover from failure. The consequences extend into entrepreneurship, innovation and leadership. She presents bravery as the willingness to act without a guarantee of success.
What viewers can explore
How perfectionism can restrict ambition
Why innovation requires experimentation
The relationship between courage and learning
How failure can become part of development
This external video remains the property of TED and its respective creators and rights holders. Cultural Intelligence Studio has selected and contextualised it for educational purposes.
03 · Leadership Capability
The Career Advice You Probably Didn’t Get
Purpose and confidence must be matched by strategic and commercial capability.
Susan Colantuono distinguishes excellent performance from being recognised as ready for senior leadership. She brings business, financial and strategic competence into the discussion about advancement and asks women to communicate how their capabilities contribute to organisational outcomes.
What viewers can explore
The capabilities associated with senior leadership
Why hard work does not automatically produce advancement
The importance of commercial and strategic understanding
How women can communicate their leadership value
This external video remains the property of TED and its respective creators and rights holders. Cultural Intelligence Studio has selected and contextualised it for educational purposes.
04 · Relationships & Advancement
How to Find the Person Who Can Help You Get Ahead at Work
A sponsor does more than advise: they advocate when important decisions are made.
Carla Harris explains the difference between mentorship and sponsorship. Careers are not determined exclusively by performance; visibility, trust, relationships and active advocacy also shape access to significant opportunities.
What viewers can explore
The difference between mentorship and sponsorship
Why excellent performance may not be sufficient
How credibility and relationships affect opportunity
The importance of advocating for other women
This external video remains the property of TED and its respective creators and rights holders. Cultural Intelligence Studio has selected and contextualised it for educational purposes.
05 · Women & Leadership
Why We Have Too Few Women Leaders
Leadership inequality reflects personal, organisational and social forces.
Sheryl Sandberg considers why women remain underrepresented in senior leadership. The talk encourages fuller participation while also opening a wider conversation about workplace structures, cultural expectations, care responsibilities and assumptions about who looks like a leader.
What viewers can explore
Why women’s leadership remains underrepresented
How expectations influence professional decisions
The relationship between participation and opportunity
Why organisations must examine their own systems
This external video remains the property of TED and its respective creators and rights holders. Cultural Intelligence Studio has selected and contextualised it for educational purposes.
06 · Race & Representation
Color Blind or Color Brave?
Fair leadership requires the courage to discuss difference and unequal access.
Mellody Hobson challenges the belief that avoiding discussion of race creates fairness. Her call to become colour brave matters because women do not encounter visibility and leadership in identical ways. Race and other dimensions of identity affect how authority is recognised and whose potential receives investment.
What viewers can explore
Why avoiding difference does not remove inequality
The role of representation in institutions
How leaders can approach difficult conversations
Why women’s experiences should not be treated as uniform
This external video remains the property of TED and its respective creators and rights holders. Cultural Intelligence Studio has selected and contextualised it for educational purposes.
07 · Identity & Narrative
The Danger of a Single Story
Narratives shape identity, reputation, authority and belonging.
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie explores what happens when a person, community or country is understood through only one narrative. For women building businesses and public platforms, storytelling is not merely promotion: it influences the futures people are permitted to imagine.
What viewers can explore
How repeated narratives influence perception
Why representation carries power
The relationship between storytelling and authority
How people can reclaim narrative complexity
This external video remains the property of TED and its respective creators and rights holders. Cultural Intelligence Studio has selected and contextualised it for educational purposes.
08 · Resilience & Potential
Why the Best Hire Might Not Have the Perfect Résumé
An unconventional journey may be the experience from which distinctive leadership is built.
Regina Hartley asks leaders to reconsider how they assess potential. Career changes, interruptions, rejection and nonlinear progress can develop adaptability, determination and practical problem-solving capabilities that a conventional résumé may not reveal.
What viewers can explore
Why conventional credentials reveal only part of a person’s value
How adversity can develop practical capabilities
The importance of recognising potential
How leaders can broaden access to opportunity
This external video remains the property of TED and its respective creators and rights holders. Cultural Intelligence Studio has selected and contextualised it for educational purposes.
09 · Authenticity & Connection
The Power of Vulnerability
Courageous leadership requires openness, learning, trust and appropriate vulnerability.
Brené Brown examines vulnerability, belonging, courage and human connection. The talk invites viewers to consider how perfectionism and emotional self-protection can limit creativity and trust, while recognising that authenticity does not mean sharing everything with everyone.
What viewers can explore
Why vulnerability and courage are closely connected
How perfectionism can restrict participation
The importance of trust and belonging
What authentic leadership requires
This external video remains the property of TED and its respective creators and rights holders. Cultural Intelligence Studio has selected and contextualised it for educational purposes.
10 · Presence & Visibility
Your Body Language May Shape Who You Are
Purposeful practices can help people enter demanding spaces with greater composure.
Amy Cuddy explores physical presence, confidence and high-pressure situations. The useful broader lesson is not that posture alone transforms a career, but that people can develop practices that support public speaking, negotiation and entry into unfamiliar professional environments.
What viewers can explore
How people respond physically to pressure
The relationship between presence and communication
Preparing for high-stakes professional situations
Moving from self-doubt towards purposeful participation
This external video remains the property of TED and its respective creators and rights holders. Cultural Intelligence Studio has selected and contextualised it for educational purposes.
Closing reflection
Taking your place is a continuing process.
It means recognising what you carry, developing the capabilities your vision requires and refusing to let perfection, invisibility or inherited expectations decide the limits of your contribution.
Together, these talks explore courage, identity, business competence, representation, relationships, vulnerability and the responsibility to create opportunities for others.
The central message is not that every woman must lead in the same way. It is that women should have the freedom, support and opportunity to develop forms of leadership that reflect their values, experiences and ambitions.
Selection, ownership and accessibility
Cultural Intelligence Studio curates external videos for their educational, cultural and strategic value. Selection does not constitute endorsement of every opinion expressed by a speaker, publisher or associated organisation.
All videos remain the property of their respective creators and publishers. C.I.S. does not claim ownership of external video content. Privacy-enhanced YouTube embeds are used; autoplay and automatic sound are disabled; players are responsive and lazy-loaded; descriptive iframe titles, caption controls and clearly labelled links to the original videos are retained.