What if the greatest problem in the world was a lack of moral ambition among the best and brightest people? As a recent interview with author Rutger Bregman notes, “the world is full of highly intelligent, impressively accomplished and status-aware people whose greatest ambitions seem to start and stop with themselves.” This is the audience Bregman writes for in his new book Moral Ambition which is paired with an organization he started called The School for Moral Ambition. The idea is simple—challenge people to take on more meaningful work instead of just going for the highest paying job.
“We like to see ourselves as the Robin Hood of talent. Robin Hood took away the money from the rich; we take away the talent … I think there are quite a few people who work at Goldman Sachs or Boston Consulting Group who are looking for a way out. There’s a real lack of ambition among progressives these days.”
Bregman is known for his work as a “professional optimist,” and his past books have focused on how the world is better, healthier, safer and more prosperous today than any time in the past. It’s a message that is regularly lost or buried amidst the avalanche of negative news we often see. His optimism is what first drew me to his work, but the idea of this new book is undeniably ambitious and important. His call to action in the subtitle of the book is to “stop wasting your talent and start making a difference.” If he can get more people to listen to his message, this can indeed be a movement that changes the world.
