2. BABA SHIV: Sometimes it’s
good to give up the driver’s
seat
By: Kasey Campbell

3. BABA SHIV
Shiv studies “how liking and wanting shape the choices we
make, and what that means in the world of marketing.
A professor at Stanford’s Graduate School of Business, he
is the director of the Marketing Management Executive
Program and teaches several popular MBA classes
including “The Frinky Science of the Mind”.
He served as the editor of the Journal of Consumer
Research and is also on the boards of the Journal of
Consumer Psychology, Journal of Retailing, Journal of
Marketing and the Journal of Marketing Research.
Throughout his career he has won awards like the William
O’Dell prize for an article that made a significant, long term
contribution to marketing theory and practice.
Two of his publications have received the Citation of
Excellence from Emerald Management Reviews.

4. Baba states that we must
give up the “driver seat” or
“control” in order to be
more happy. The less we
second guess ourselves,
the easier it will make
things. Sometimes we
need to be in the
passenger seat and let
someone else do the
driving and controlling. By
doing so this allows us to
focus more on other
things besides making all
the decisions.

5. Baba makes the argument
that sometimes having too
much choice makes us less
happy
Baba uses a study that
measures why choice opens
the door to doubt, and
sometimes having less
control is the best thing for
human beings.

6. The Ted Commandment that Baba Shiv
followed the best was Commandment IV:
Thou Shalt Tell A Story
By using a personal story of why it is so
important to sometimes give up the
drivers seat and let someone else make
the important decisions for you it really
helped show me the point he was trying to
get across and I could really tell what he
meant by giving up the drivers seat and
when are some important times to do so.

7. Baba Shiv kept his audience engaged throughout
the entire talk by keeping the audience involved.
He had them take part in his example and split
them into two groups. He stayed on topic and
didn’t ramble or drag it out. He made great
examples to keep the audience connected.

8. Baba Shiv captures the
attention of the
audience by using a
personal example of his
wife beating breast
cancer, and how they
gave up the drivers seat,
or control, to the
doctors and it worked

9. The tea study
Baba uses another example by
splitting the audience into two
groups, one group has control
to pick which tea they want to
drink in order to help solve a
series of 15 puzzles in 30
minutes, and the other group
has the tea already chosen for
them. One tea is chamomile
which allows the mind to be
calm. The other has caffeine
which allows the brain to be
alert. The group that had the
tea chosen for them shows that

10. Sir Ken Robinson Baba Shiv didn’t use humor
used alot of humor in at all and used a more serious
and person approach in order
order to engage his
to engage his audience and
audience and keep keep them informed and
them interested. interested.

11. Both Sir Ken Robinson and Baba Shiv used
similar speaking techniques because they
were both very knowledgable and passionate
about their subjects. They both had very good
eye contact with the audience and spoke
clearly and fluently without acting like they
were reciting their talks.

12. In dynanism I give Baba Shiv a 4. He spoke very
clearly and kept the audience engaged. However I
think he could have used a little more animation or
been a little more exciting, or add a little humor so
he wasn’t so serious. Otherwise I thought he
followed all of the Ted Commandments and was
very informative and interesting.

13. Focused and Prepared
These are some major tips from Nancy Duarte and
Garr Reynolds that Baba Shiv performed very well.
He knew exactly the point he wanted to make and
never got off subject. He was very professional
and was easy to understand. He also engaged his
audience and kept them interested in what he had
to say.

14. What I have learned about delivery from Baba Shiv
to make sure to use good eye contact and really
involved your audience so they feel more
connected to you. Telling a personal story is very
effective when public speaking and to make sure
you are well prepared like he was and not to recite
your talk.

15. Tips for my classmates:
Be well prepared
Be passionate and interesting
Make sure to have a good introduction
that will grab the audiences attention.
Tell a personal story or use a little bit of
humor to keep them interested.
Use good eye contact
Try involving the audience

16. Thank you and I hope you
enjoyed!