Let’s Make The World Wildly Better: Rutger Bregman On Moral Ambition

As we head into the holiday season, I want to offer something I’ve said before, but that’s worth repeating:

We are all far more capable than we permit ourselves to believe. Every one of us has a reservoir of potential we’ve barely begun to tap—begging to be expressed into reality.

To set our minds right, I can think of nobody better than Rutger Bregman: Dutch historian, author of Utopia for Realists, Humankind, and most recently, Moral Ambition, and the guy who went viral telling Davos billionaires to pay their taxes. What I find captivating about Rutger is the clarity with which he diagnoses the crisis of meaning so many of us feel, and the pragmatism with which he charts a path forward.

His latest book inspired him to co-found The School for Moral Ambition. He describes it as “Robin Hoods of talent,” a nonprofit organization redirecting brilliant people away from “bullshit jobs” and toward the world’s most pressing challenges.

It’s one thing to talk some shit in front of billionaires. It’s another thing to write well-researched books. And it’s another thing entirely to actually build something. I find that courageous. Rutger believes our deepest hunger isn’t for wealth, prestige, or security—it’s for contribution. For a life in service of something larger than ourselves.

Today, we discuss:

• The crisis of meaning and the epidemic of “bullshit jobs”
• What the abolitionists teach us about pragmatic coalition-building
• Why “follow your passion” may be the worst career advice ever invented
• Factory farming as our generation’s defining moral catastrophe
• How small groups of committed people actually change the world
• Why doing good must become prestigious again

This conversation has something for everyone. But if you feel like something is missing—that you’re not using your gifts the way you could—this episode is an appointment pod and mandatory listening.

For those who prefer a visual experience, the conversation is available on YouTube. As always, the audio version streams wild and free on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

Rutger’s challenge is simple: make your life about something more than yourself. As my friend Scott Harrison says, “Do not fear work that has no end.”

This is where meaning lives.

A Personal Note: Some conversations stay with you. Others change you. This one moved me to commit $25K to Rutger’s mission.

The School for Moral Ambition is launching a US Food System Reform Program to train the next generation of leaders reshaping how we produce food. Following the success of their European program, they’re now tackling this urgent challenge here in the U.S.

Through December 31st, every dollar to moralambition.org/food is matched, doubling your impact. I hope you’ll consider joining me today in making a donation to this impactful organization. Let’s do something truly meaningful, together.

So get into it—and get mobilized.

Peace + Plants,