WEBVTT - The Tools to Making a Contribution to Others 0:00:00.160 --> 0:00:03.760 This is Bloomberg Business Week with Carol Messer and Jason 0:00:03.840 --> 0:00:12.600 Kelly on Bloomberg Radio. All right, I am a little 0:00:12.600 --> 0:00:17.960 white man's everybody. Jason Kelly stopped dancing. It's a little horrifying. UM. 0:00:18.000 --> 0:00:20.520 I feel complete because I gotta have a little Beatles 0:00:20.520 --> 0:00:24.120 that always makes me happy, a little George Harrison specifically. Um. 0:00:24.239 --> 0:00:26.960 And then we get to talk about Life's Great Question. 0:00:27.000 --> 0:00:28.760 I just feel like this is right up our alley. 0:00:29.040 --> 0:00:31.480 It is, and I feel like it's a good thing 0:00:31.560 --> 0:00:34.520 to talk about on a week, on a day where 0:00:34.960 --> 0:00:38.800 they might feel hopeless. Cross currents have been fierce, to 0:00:38.880 --> 0:00:41.840 say the least. And uh, who better to talk about 0:00:41.840 --> 0:00:44.640 it than the author of Life's Great Question, Discover How 0:00:44.760 --> 0:00:48.600 You Contribute to the World. Tom Rath joins US number 0:00:48.640 --> 0:00:53.040 one New York Times bestselling author, world renowned in many ways. 0:00:53.080 --> 0:00:55.960 So happy to have him here on our program. Tom, 0:00:56.040 --> 0:00:58.520 nice to talk to you, Great to talk with you 0:00:58.560 --> 0:01:00.880 as well. All right, So I write this book. Why 0:01:00.920 --> 0:01:03.680 write it now? Well, you know, I think there are 0:01:03.680 --> 0:01:05.119 a lot of people out there who are just trying 0:01:05.120 --> 0:01:06.959 to figure out how they can have a little bit 0:01:06.959 --> 0:01:09.640 more meaning in their work and bring a little bit 0:01:09.680 --> 0:01:12.320 more purpose into the equation and problems as we end 0:01:12.400 --> 0:01:15.240 up spending a lot of time focusing inward on our 0:01:15.280 --> 0:01:18.200 personality and our passions, and a lot then at some 0:01:18.240 --> 0:01:20.920 point we finally realize that no matter how much we do, 0:01:20.959 --> 0:01:23.440 that the world isn't going to start revolving around our 0:01:23.440 --> 0:01:26.560 passions and our interests. And what I found is we 0:01:26.600 --> 0:01:29.640 need to do a lot more work investigating the demand 0:01:29.720 --> 0:01:31.720 side of the equation so we can figure out how 0:01:31.720 --> 0:01:35.240 our supply meets that. I think that is a really 0:01:35.600 --> 0:01:39.840 incredible UM thought. And what you just said, I mean, 0:01:39.880 --> 0:01:41.759 because I do feel like it's a it's we're at 0:01:41.760 --> 0:01:45.880 it this time tom where everybody is so focused on themselves, 0:01:45.920 --> 0:01:49.280 whether it's because of Instagram or social media or what 0:01:49.360 --> 0:01:51.760 I need, what I want UM that I think we've 0:01:51.800 --> 0:01:56.160 lost focus of UM the world at large. Yeah, most 0:01:56.240 --> 0:01:59.120 of us want to make a real contribution to others 0:01:59.200 --> 0:02:02.080 and see how our work has meaning on a day 0:02:02.080 --> 0:02:04.720 to day basis. But a lot of the tools and 0:02:04.880 --> 0:02:07.520 books that I've been guilty of riding myself and a 0:02:07.520 --> 0:02:10.840 lot of us have worked on UM really lead people 0:02:10.880 --> 0:02:14.200 to focus inward on self development and their personality and 0:02:14.200 --> 0:02:17.240 their passions. And if you really get into the science 0:02:17.240 --> 0:02:19.600 of it. We might be better off starting with what 0:02:19.720 --> 0:02:22.680 the communities around us, need, what the customers and clients 0:02:22.720 --> 0:02:25.320 around us need, and then working back to who we 0:02:25.400 --> 0:02:27.800 are and how we can fill those needs. All right, 0:02:27.880 --> 0:02:29.919 so give us some tips and tricks. We're gonna make 0:02:29.960 --> 0:02:32.799 people buy the books. So don't give it all away, um, 0:02:32.840 --> 0:02:35.399 but you know, give us a give us a sample. Sorry, 0:02:35.480 --> 0:02:37.840 Carol's planning at me, I am, because before we do that, 0:02:38.000 --> 0:02:42.520 what went into putting this work together? Yeah? You know, 0:02:42.560 --> 0:02:44.200 one of the things I tried to figure out is 0:02:44.240 --> 0:02:45.560 I look at this is if there's been a lot 0:02:45.560 --> 0:02:48.160 of good work done on personality and who we are 0:02:48.160 --> 0:02:51.080 as individuals, how do you begin to quantify what the 0:02:51.120 --> 0:02:53.000 world needs and what the demand is at there? So 0:02:53.040 --> 0:02:56.600 I went through thousands of guirreaus and labor statistics, job 0:02:56.639 --> 0:03:00.480 descriptions and essentially try to gather and code what people 0:03:00.560 --> 0:03:03.320 get paid to do and what the demand looks like 0:03:03.400 --> 0:03:05.120 and what the common themes are out there in the 0:03:05.200 --> 0:03:07.880 job market today. And that's where I can't honed in 0:03:07.960 --> 0:03:12.160 on twelve broad contributions that people can make through the 0:03:12.200 --> 0:03:15.440 work that they do that hopefully help not only individuals 0:03:15.440 --> 0:03:18.360 but teams to sit around from the outset and have 0:03:19.040 --> 0:03:23.200 level setting conversations about how each person can maximize their 0:03:23.280 --> 0:03:26.040 contribution to a given effort. And so when you were 0:03:26.080 --> 0:03:28.399 going through that data, Carol and I like to talk 0:03:28.440 --> 0:03:30.560 a lot about sort of wait, what moments was there 0:03:30.720 --> 0:03:33.600 something that jumped out at you where you just thought, wow, 0:03:33.639 --> 0:03:35.400 I did not see that coming, or I didn't think 0:03:35.440 --> 0:03:38.840 the data we're gonna show me that. You know that. 0:03:38.920 --> 0:03:40.600 One of the big ones is that we have to 0:03:40.720 --> 0:03:44.640 find ways to see the influence of our work on 0:03:44.640 --> 0:03:47.400 a daily basis. So real quick example, if you're in 0:03:47.440 --> 0:03:49.880 food service, you're working in a restaurant, you're preparing food 0:03:49.880 --> 0:03:53.080 for other people. If you can see people eating and 0:03:53.200 --> 0:03:56.520 enjoying the food that you cook, you make better quality food, 0:03:56.840 --> 0:03:59.280 it's more nutritious, and you feel better about your work. 0:03:59.680 --> 0:04:03.440 And same general theme applies in call centers, it applies 0:04:03.520 --> 0:04:07.760 for radiologists, it applies for software developers. We've essentially got 0:04:07.760 --> 0:04:09.920 to find ways to bring the face of the customer 0:04:10.280 --> 0:04:12.520 and some of the humanity back into our work and 0:04:12.640 --> 0:04:17.159 other important pieces, beginning to describe our work in ways 0:04:17.240 --> 0:04:20.320 that are much more personal and nowhere near as sterile 0:04:20.800 --> 0:04:24.120 and clinical and detached as the standard job description or 0:04:24.480 --> 0:04:28.120 resume you see out there today. It's interesting to um, 0:04:28.240 --> 0:04:31.359 you know, you talk a lot about teams and working together. Um. 0:04:31.400 --> 0:04:33.120 I feel like that is a concept that has been 0:04:33.160 --> 0:04:36.120 around obviously for a long time, but I think we've 0:04:36.200 --> 0:04:40.000 kind of forgotten that as well. Yeah, you know, and 0:04:40.040 --> 0:04:42.279 a lot of times we bring teams together and we 0:04:42.320 --> 0:04:44.880 have the best of intentions. You know, if I were 0:04:44.920 --> 0:04:46.359 to bring a team together, it's probably a lot of 0:04:46.360 --> 0:04:48.480 people who like doing the same things I do, passion 0:04:48.560 --> 0:04:50.520 by the same topics, and then we all hit me 0:04:50.600 --> 0:04:53.920 around running and it takes three, six, maybe even twelve 0:04:53.920 --> 0:04:56.440 months before we realized that we were all kind of 0:04:56.440 --> 0:04:58.320 doing the same thing, and we didn't sit around and 0:04:58.360 --> 0:05:01.000 say here's how I want to cont reviewed. And so 0:05:01.080 --> 0:05:04.080 we're each moving quickly in our lanes in complementary ways, 0:05:04.080 --> 0:05:07.960 and so to some extent, just having that conversation from 0:05:08.000 --> 0:05:11.400 the outset can make things move a lot faster and smoother. 0:05:11.640 --> 0:05:14.920 And Tom, I gotta ask you, because in reading this book, 0:05:15.120 --> 0:05:17.120 one of the things that really struck me was you 0:05:17.160 --> 0:05:20.880 have very practical advice for people at work, and you know, 0:05:20.960 --> 0:05:24.200 we're all in these situations at work I mean, I 0:05:24.240 --> 0:05:25.640 have the best job in the world. I have the 0:05:25.680 --> 0:05:27.960 best partner of the world, So no issues here. But 0:05:28.080 --> 0:05:30.800 other people I'm talking about, you know, might not have 0:05:30.880 --> 0:05:35.040 it as perfect as I do. What's your advice to them? Yeah, 0:05:35.080 --> 0:05:36.920 you know. I I think one of the things I've 0:05:36.960 --> 0:05:40.520 realized when I um AM at a cocktail party you're 0:05:40.560 --> 0:05:43.000 meeting new people is if you just ask people what 0:05:43.080 --> 0:05:47.400 they do, it yields such general and kind of generic descriptions. 0:05:47.400 --> 0:05:50.320 But when you step back and ask someone what they 0:05:50.320 --> 0:05:53.080 spend most of their time doing and to really paint 0:05:53.080 --> 0:05:55.480 a picture of a typical day, that's where you hear 0:05:55.520 --> 0:05:58.520 the stories from dad or mom who stays at home 0:05:58.880 --> 0:06:01.320 talking about coaching a kid soccer team and helping them 0:06:01.320 --> 0:06:04.520 with their development, or someone who volunteers is very active 0:06:04.520 --> 0:06:07.520 in their community talking about specific efforts and so I 0:06:07.960 --> 0:06:10.960 what I've learned is that the big contributions we make 0:06:11.000 --> 0:06:13.000 throughout the day, they can be very personal and take 0:06:13.000 --> 0:06:15.600 place within a family. They can take place within a 0:06:15.720 --> 0:06:18.720 faith based group or a community group, or with more 0:06:18.720 --> 0:06:21.640 of a typical job, and even if you're working nine 0:06:21.680 --> 0:06:24.760 to five in a normal role, um it's still really 0:06:24.800 --> 0:06:29.000 important to acknowledge the small and meaningful contributions you make 0:06:29.440 --> 0:06:32.520 outside of work, because those are some of the things 0:06:32.560 --> 0:06:36.040 that people really identify with when we take from to 0:06:36.160 --> 0:06:38.880 extended interviews and kind of put together profiles of what 0:06:38.960 --> 0:06:41.480 matters most. Well, since my partner just gave me a compliment, 0:06:41.480 --> 0:06:43.560 I'm going to toss it back because I think no 0:06:43.640 --> 0:06:47.640 one energizes others UM around our newsroom like Jason Kelly 0:06:47.720 --> 0:06:50.479 drives them a little crazy, but he's always excited and 0:06:50.520 --> 0:06:53.000 we talk about even together like just the joy in 0:06:53.080 --> 0:06:55.560 what we're doing. And I do think about, Uh, there's 0:06:55.600 --> 0:06:58.120 a line in your book when you talk about energizing 0:06:58.160 --> 0:07:01.840 specifically and you knowing you know, those those individuals who 0:07:01.880 --> 0:07:07.000 motivate um to inspire you know, or inspire others um. 0:07:07.040 --> 0:07:09.320 You know, we have such daily routines, things we have 0:07:09.360 --> 0:07:12.640 to do every day. They can become pretty boring, but 0:07:12.680 --> 0:07:14.600 you gotta do them. But when you have somebody who 0:07:14.640 --> 0:07:18.280 just either brings joy into the workplace um or inspires 0:07:18.320 --> 0:07:20.280 you and really get you to kind of keep going 0:07:20.320 --> 0:07:25.320 and even achieve more, that's pretty remarkable. Yeah. You know, 0:07:25.400 --> 0:07:27.080 one of the things that I've seen in working with 0:07:27.120 --> 0:07:30.000 a lot of leadership teams and businesses all over the world. 0:07:30.040 --> 0:07:33.000 Is it the one area where they're usually lacking is 0:07:33.040 --> 0:07:37.680 in that very specific domain of building strong relationships and 0:07:37.760 --> 0:07:40.160 energizing one another. And I mean some of it, frankly 0:07:40.200 --> 0:07:42.120 could be due to the lack of gender diversity and 0:07:42.120 --> 0:07:46.120 a lot of leadership teams, but there's there's a serious 0:07:46.160 --> 0:07:48.400 gap there in terms of you have these teams that 0:07:48.440 --> 0:07:51.320 are usually pretty good at the big idea thinking and 0:07:51.400 --> 0:07:53.800 creativity pieces, and a lot of them are good at 0:07:53.840 --> 0:07:56.240 execution and they've kind of come up through the organization 0:07:56.760 --> 0:07:59.680 because of that, but they just fall flat when it 0:07:59.720 --> 0:08:04.840 comes to energizing one another and forming initial relationships. What 0:08:05.000 --> 0:08:08.840 alone strengthening those relationships over time. But everything I've looked 0:08:08.880 --> 0:08:11.960 at in terms of research on well being and effective 0:08:11.960 --> 0:08:15.920 workplaces would suggest that that's probably the most important element 0:08:16.320 --> 0:08:20.280 to building successful teams and organizations over time. Yeah, it's interesting, 0:08:20.320 --> 0:08:22.880 you know, in at a time and you mentioned this 0:08:23.000 --> 0:08:25.120 in the first part of our conversation, you know, at 0:08:25.120 --> 0:08:28.400 a time when we're so focused on technology and our 0:08:28.440 --> 0:08:31.880 ability to leverage that minute to minute day to day, 0:08:31.960 --> 0:08:34.760 whether it's social media or even just all the tools 0:08:34.760 --> 0:08:37.520 that we use, it feels like we do often miss 0:08:37.600 --> 0:08:41.640 the opportunities for pretty basic human connection at work. And 0:08:41.679 --> 0:08:43.959 I guess what I take away. One of the things 0:08:43.960 --> 0:08:45.760 I take away from your book is you have to 0:08:45.760 --> 0:08:48.040 be sort of open to that to sort of understand 0:08:48.160 --> 0:08:53.559 that supply and demand equation that you talked about. Yeah, 0:08:53.679 --> 0:08:55.440 you have. You really do need to be open to 0:08:56.320 --> 0:08:59.840 talking about the emotional aspects of why you do what 0:09:00.080 --> 0:09:04.200 you do, because until you're able to connect your daily 0:09:04.240 --> 0:09:07.839 efforts with the influence they have on other people, you're 0:09:07.840 --> 0:09:10.760 not going to be anywhere near as motivated or energized 0:09:10.760 --> 0:09:12.920 as you could just to make a difference for the 0:09:12.920 --> 0:09:15.600 people around you. So I mean, even in a small 0:09:15.640 --> 0:09:18.600 interaction in a retail setting. Let's say, if a customer 0:09:18.600 --> 0:09:20.959 walks in who's irate about a problem that she's having, 0:09:21.280 --> 0:09:23.320 and you're able to at least get her to neutral, 0:09:23.720 --> 0:09:26.640 that's a victory worth taking a moment to recognize because 0:09:26.960 --> 0:09:29.760 you've probably changed the trajectory of that person's day. And 0:09:30.160 --> 0:09:33.240 it's those little moments that accumulate and shape our work 0:09:33.360 --> 0:09:36.560 to a great degree. Hey, well, last question before we go, Um, So, 0:09:36.679 --> 0:09:39.080 somebody who you're saying, you know, as your book is 0:09:39.080 --> 0:09:42.080 called Life's Great Question, discover how you can contribute or 0:09:42.160 --> 0:09:44.360 how you contribute to the world. If someone needs to 0:09:44.400 --> 0:09:46.640 kind of begin on this mission, what do you suggest, 0:09:46.640 --> 0:09:48.760 Obviously take a look at your book, but what's kind 0:09:48.760 --> 0:09:51.560 of the first step that we need to make. Yeah, 0:09:51.679 --> 0:09:55.080 I think it's stepping back and asking what are the 0:09:55.120 --> 0:09:57.160 big roles that you play in life? So for me, 0:09:57.200 --> 0:09:59.199 it's being a husband and a dad and me sure 0:09:59.240 --> 0:10:01.240 you're in a writer, and saying, how do you how 0:10:01.240 --> 0:10:03.040 do you take those rules that you're proud of and 0:10:03.080 --> 0:10:05.520 you want to play in life and connect that with 0:10:05.600 --> 0:10:08.760 who you are and your life experiences and to try 0:10:08.800 --> 0:10:12.160 and be as efficient as possible. That's saying, based on 0:10:12.200 --> 0:10:14.360 who I am, here's how I think I could make 0:10:14.360 --> 0:10:17.760 a meaningful contribution to the world really on a daily basis, 0:10:17.760 --> 0:10:20.079 and try and make that more practical instead of a 0:10:20.080 --> 0:10:24.200 big philosophical thought about your broader purpose or mission or whatever. 0:10:24.480 --> 0:10:26.199 All Right, I really like it. Thank you so much, 0:10:26.240 --> 0:10:29.199 Tom Wrath. Congrats on the book. Life's Great Question, Discover 0:10:29.320 --> 0:10:31.800 How you contribute to the world. Check it out. It's 0:10:31.800 --> 0:10:34.760 stop provoking. It definitely got me thinking about even you know, 0:10:34.840 --> 0:10:37.480 sort of our our day to day how we interact. 0:10:38.160 --> 0:10:40.440 I have some questions. I bet you do anyway. It's 0:10:40.440 --> 0:10:41.959 a nice way to kind of wrap up what's been 0:10:42.240 --> 0:10:43.840 another crazy day here at Bloomberg.