You're listening to TED Talks Daily. I'm Elise Hu. Today, you're going to hear about a humble invention that changed global trade and the world economy.

Jim Hogman-Snabe, the chairman of Merrisk and Siemens, says it's time for human innovation to drastically change global trade again through sustainable freight shipping.

In his talk at the Countdown Summit in 2021, he shares a vision to achieve zero carbon shipping,

which would be a game changer.

A few months ago, my daughter asked me a very simple question.

Who are your heroes, Dad?

I said, well, besides my father, hoping she would get the hint,

one of my big heroes is Malcolm McLean.

I realized that Malcolm McLean is not really known on social media today,

but in 1955, McLean invented a metal box that changed the world,

the shipping container.

That invention reduced the cost of shipping cargo by more than 90% and as a consequence.

Global trade increased 200 times

and lifted hundreds of millions of people out of poverty

by connecting them and their goods to global markets

at very, very low cost.

I'm sure McLean's invention started with a big dream to transform the transportation industry,

and I know it took a lot of attention to details,

to change all of the equipment of all of the transportation companies worldwide to benefit from this container.

To me, that is what leadership is all about.

Dreams that inspire people to pursue opportunities

that may seem impossible and details,

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