Christopher Bell

Scholar and consultant

Why you should listen

Dr. Christopher Bell is a nationally recognized, award-winning speaker, teacher, consultant and scholar who thinks deeply about the connections between people across cultures and identities. He holds a Ph.D. in Communication from The University of Colorado Boulder, and has a passion for using storytelling and play to unlock creative innovation for students, schools and organizations.

Christopher Bell’s TED Talks

Christopher Bell
Bring on the female superheroes!
15 minutes 38 seconds
Why is it so hard to find female superhero merchandise? In this passionate, sparkling talk, media studies scholar (and father of a Star Wars-obsessed daughter) Christopher Bell addresses the alarming lack of female superheroes in the toys and products marketed to kids -- and what it means for how we teach them about the world.
Posted Aug 2016
Jamie Woolf, Christopher Bell
Why good people become bad bosses
11 minutes 58 seconds
You’ve probably had a bad boss, but you might not realize how easy it is to become one. Leadership experts Jamie Woolf and Christopher Bell unpack “power blindness” — how authority can warp your perspective — and share smart, practical ways to break the cycle of toxic bosses for good.
Posted Jul 2025
Modupe Akinola, Christopher Bell, Jamie Woolf
Why good people become bad bosses
15 minutes 41 seconds
You’ve probably had a bad boss, but you might not realize how easy it is to become one. Leadership experts Jamie Woolf and Christopher Bell unpack “power blindness” — how authority can warp your perspective — and share smart, practical ways to break the cycle of toxic bosses for good. After the talk, Modupe shares one more exercise to help you become a better boss. This is an episode of TED Business, a podcast from the TED Audio Collective
Posted Dec 2025