On the NPR TED Radio Hour, Sunday 27th September, Newstalk FM

'Getting Organized'

The world's largest ant colony stretches over 3,700 miles.  It succeeds, biologist Deborah Gordon says, because no one is in charge. Instead, ants communicate with each each other and use algorithmic patterns to survive and thrive. 

They are so organised that they regulate their foraging. She says 'an ant doesn't leave the nest until it meets another ant coming back with food' 

She also discusses how in humanity when we don't have the right algorithm ,we could 'look to see how nature has solved that problem and use that solution' and how we can learn a lot from ants. 

Morgan O'Neill and her sister accidentally became leaders of the town's recovery, despite being only 20 years old, when a rare tornado hit the town of Munson, Massachusetts,

They both spearheaded the effort to rebuild their town in the aftermath of a tornado. Afterwards, she developed software and a portable plan to help other communities rebuild after natural disasters. They describe the impact the tornado had on the town and how they accidently became leaders of their communities. 

 According to professor Zeynep Tufecki - all it takes to start a protest is a cell phone. But does the ease of social media impede social movements from making big gains? She also discusses how social media fuels protest movements.

In 2013 Professor Tufecki went to protests in Istanbul to see how social media impacted their protests.

Ricardo Semler was in his early 20s when he became the CEO of his father's small manufacturing company in Sao Paolo, Brazil.  He reorganised the company from the top town, believing less management and more flexibility meant a better workplace and bigger profits.   

Parents help their kids manage their lives.  But according to Bruce Feiler, it can work the other way around, too. It just takes a little insight, drawn from Japanese computer programming principles.   

Listen Back to TED Radio Hour 'Getting Organised' here