Latest / What Does The World Need More Of? / What The World Needs More Of - Ron Baker - S01E06

Transcript

What The World Needs More Of - Ron Baker - S01E06 · What Does The World Need More Of?

• 0:07
  Speaker 1: Well, hello, everybody, and welcome back to What the World
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: Needs More of podcast. Today, I'm really pleased to introduce
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: my guest, Ron Baker. Now, I've had the luxury of
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: knowing ron for approximately 30 years he's a prolific author
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: and writer and leads a podcast called the soul of
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: enterprise that you should definitely subscribe to i do not
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: know what ron thinks is the most important thing we
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: should be working on to make the world better so
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: ron why don't you uh let us know what you
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: think and then we'll go from there thank.
• 0:56
  Speaker 2: You well thank you danielle i'm thrilled to be here
• 1:00
  Speaker 2: and thanks for this question this question is phenomenal And
• 1:03
  Speaker 2: it really stumped me for weeks, literally. I mean, because
• 1:07
  Speaker 2: I could think of 10 things, 12 things off the
• 1:09
  Speaker 2: top of my head, and you forced me to prioritize,
• 1:14
  Speaker 2: which essentially means one thing. And it comes down to this.
• 1:20
  Speaker 2: You know, when you look back at history, our ancestors
• 1:23
  Speaker 2: worried about having enough calories. And today, we worry about
• 1:28
  Speaker 2: having enough battery life. We're living in the greatest explosion
• 1:35
  Speaker 2: of human prosperity in history. And somehow we've convinced ourselves
• 1:41
  Speaker 2: we're victims. The British author Aldous Huxley, who I know
• 1:46
  Speaker 2: you know, Brave New World, he said most human beings
• 1:49
  Speaker 2: have an almost infinite capacity for taking things for granted.
• 1:55
  Speaker 2: So when I think about your question, I think about
• 1:57
  Speaker 2: the default setting of the human population. condition has been
• 2:02
  Speaker 2: scarcity and civilization is the story of overcoming that scarcity
• 2:08
  Speaker 2: and gratitude is remembering that story so my answer is
• 2:13
  Speaker 2: we need more gratitude.
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: Well thank you for thank you for that i'm so
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: let's let's chat about gratitude and when when you think
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: of gratitude it's got to be more than just a
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: lubrication absolutely So from a personal standpoint, how do I
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: employ gratitude in my life and in my local community?
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: That could be my family or my real region. And
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: then how can gratitude really influence the betterment of our world?
• 2:52
  Speaker 2: Well, because I think the world doesn't have a shortage
• 2:55
  Speaker 2: of critics. We all criticize things we don't like. It
• 2:59
  Speaker 2: has a shortage of grateful people. You know, gratitude doesn't
• 3:02
  Speaker 2: go viral. Grievance does and complaints and whining, but gratitude doesn't.
• 3:09
  Speaker 2: But gratitude isn't pretending everything's perfect. I'm not trying to
• 3:12
  Speaker 2: be Pollyannish here, but it's recognizing how astonishingly good so
• 3:20
  Speaker 2: much that we have already is. And I come back
• 3:23
  Speaker 2: to Deirdre McCloskey, one of my favorite all-time economists, as
• 3:27
  Speaker 2: you know. She reminds us that the great enrichment wasn't 20%.
• 3:33
  Speaker 2: It wasn't 40%. It wasn't 200%. It was 3,000 to 4,000%
• 3:40
  Speaker 2: improvement over two centuries. Wealth is relatively young. Wealth in abundance.
• 3:47
  Speaker 2: And it's the single greatest improvement in the human condition.
• 3:52
  Speaker 2: And we won history's lottery. And she says, and we
• 3:55
  Speaker 2: complain that the champagne isn't cold enough. And I think
• 4:00
  Speaker 2: that's a great way to put it.
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: I think the highlight message is already here. Gratitude doesn't
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: go viral. How can we make gratitude go viral? How
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: could we change this so that we're standing on You know,
• 4:21
  Speaker 1: you remember the Sunday Pink section in the San Francisco
• 4:24
  Speaker 1: Chronicle when the movie reviewer was out of the seat,
• 4:27
  Speaker 1: you know, just couldn't fall forward, right? I mean, you
• 4:31
  Speaker 1: knew that was a movie to go to and you
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: would be grateful for attending. So let's frame moving gratitude
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: in a viral setting. What would it take? What would
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: the structure need to be to... be graceful, and viral?
• 4:53
  Speaker 2: That's another great question that I'm not even sure I
• 4:56
  Speaker 2: have a good answer for. One thing I can tell
• 4:59
  Speaker 2: you that's really helped me is to literally keep a
• 5:02
  Speaker 2: gratitude journal. So when you ask me for actions of
• 5:06
  Speaker 2: what people could do tomorrow, just keep a gratitude journal
• 5:10
  Speaker 2: for all the things that you're grateful for. One of
• 5:16
  Speaker 2: the things about gratitude is it's It's evidence that you
• 5:20
  Speaker 2: understand history. There's a historian by the name of David
• 5:24
  Speaker 2: Hackett Fisher who made the point that if America is
• 5:29
  Speaker 2: the only country you know, you don't even really know America.
• 5:34
  Speaker 2: Because gratitude is all about comparison. Until we've been to
• 5:38
  Speaker 2: other places, we don't see or we take for granted
• 5:42
  Speaker 2: what we have here at home. And I think that's
• 5:45
  Speaker 2: quite a profound observation. That if you only know one country,
• 5:50
  Speaker 2: you don't know any because you have no frame of
• 5:53
  Speaker 2: reference of comparison.
• 5:56
  Speaker 1: You and I have had the privilege of a great
• 5:59
  Speaker 1: amount of travel. And I think like you, when we
• 6:05
  Speaker 1: cross back across our border, I am grateful for being home, right? And,
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: you know, recently the United States and Canada and Mexico
• 6:15
  Speaker 1: hosted the World Cup. And Forget the world strife and
• 6:20
  Speaker 1: whether or not your team won or didn't win. What
• 6:22
  Speaker 1: I was listening to was the stories of, you know,
• 6:27
  Speaker 1: just admiration of who we are and the kinds of
• 6:31
  Speaker 1: things that we get to have. Buc-ee's, right? Buc-ee's became the,
• 6:36
  Speaker 1: and if you don't know, if you're listening, you don't
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: know Buc-ee's. Buc-ee's is a fueling station that has like
• 6:42
  Speaker 1: 150 pumps, but it has like this almost grocery store atmosphere.
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: and it's got quite the following.
• 6:51
  Speaker 2: And the cleanest bathrooms.
• 6:53
  Speaker 1: Actually, I read that. I read that. That's exactly what
• 6:57
  Speaker 1: they wanted. They wanted travelers to be grateful for clean
• 7:03
  Speaker 1: restroom facilities.
• 7:06
  Speaker 2: It's on their signs on the highway. That's what they
• 7:09
  Speaker 2: focus on. I find that fascinating just from a branding
• 7:12
  Speaker 2: messaging standpoint.
• 7:14
  Speaker 1: So when we're I want to follow up on your
• 7:18
  Speaker 1: gratitude journal. I've known you for a really long time,
• 7:21
  Speaker 1: and this is the first time I think you've ever
• 7:24
  Speaker 1: shared with me that you have a gratitude journal. Without
• 7:27
  Speaker 1: going into the private spaces there, what are the kinds
• 7:31
  Speaker 1: of things that you jot down in your gratitude journal?
• 7:35
  Speaker 2: Well, obviously relationships and loved ones and dear friends such
• 7:39
  Speaker 2: as yourself, but also relationships. I walk around kind of
• 7:46
  Speaker 2: in amazement at everything that we have here, Danielle. I
• 7:51
  Speaker 2: really do. I mean, markets don't just create wealth. They
• 7:54
  Speaker 2: create opportunities for gratitude every second. I mean, every meal,
• 8:00
  Speaker 2: every airplane I step on, I'm like a little kid.
• 8:02
  Speaker 2: I mean, we both fly a lot. And I'm like
• 8:07
  Speaker 2: a little kid on the airplane. I don't like everything
• 8:09
  Speaker 2: we have to do before and after. But I love
• 8:13
  Speaker 2: sitting on that plane and just taking off. I'm in
• 8:16
  Speaker 2: awe of it. And every MRI, every pencil, every pencil,
• 8:25
  Speaker 2: nobody in the world knows how to make this thing.
• 8:28
  Speaker 2: And the coordination of millions and millions and millions of
• 8:32
  Speaker 2: people that may be warring with each other, have different religions,
• 8:37
  Speaker 2: different world beliefs, different political views, and yet somehow... When
• 8:42
  Speaker 2: I walk into a Staples or go onto Amazon, I
• 8:45
  Speaker 2: can find the exact pencil, even in different colors, and
• 8:48
  Speaker 2: the exact lead I want. I'm in awe of it.
• 8:52
  Speaker 2: It's a miracle. It really is a miracle.
• 8:55
  Speaker 1: You know, we used to chat when we were teaching
• 9:00
  Speaker 1: our ethics class. We would talk about Adam Smith, and
• 9:04
  Speaker 1: I see that you have Wealth and Poverty by Gilder
• 9:06
  Speaker 1: on your bookshelf. You know... Adam Smith's invisible hand, right?
• 9:12
  Speaker 1: That just reason that things work together and whether that's
• 9:19
  Speaker 1: self-interest or whether it's an advanced influence, right? Whether you
• 9:25
  Speaker 1: want to call it religion or God or nature or whatever.
• 9:30
  Speaker 1: But that system, that system just works. Do you think
• 9:35
  Speaker 1: that's a whole lot of this? Is it We just
• 9:38
  Speaker 1: don't pay attention to what it takes for these things
• 9:42
  Speaker 1: to land in our lives. And therefore, we're lacking that
• 9:47
  Speaker 1: childish honest that you just talked about being on an airplane.
• 9:52
  Speaker 1: And I don't mean you're a child.
• 9:54
  Speaker 2: But I feel like one. And yeah, I just think
• 9:58
  Speaker 2: we're so acclimated. to it, we just take it for granted.
• 10:02
  Speaker 2: But I think our ancestors would be blown away, not
• 10:07
  Speaker 2: just because of the iPhone in our pocket that's got
• 10:09
  Speaker 2: more computing power and access to the world's knowledge that
• 10:14
  Speaker 2: kings of yore would never come near having, but also
• 10:18
  Speaker 2: just because we walk around and I hand a plastic
• 10:26
  Speaker 2: card to somebody and they give me a car in
• 10:29
  Speaker 2: a foreign country where I can't even speak the language.
• 10:32
  Speaker 2: I mean, that's just bizarre. The caveman or the people
• 10:35
  Speaker 2: that roamed around in tribes would not understand that. Or
• 10:39
  Speaker 2: I can walk into a deli in New York at
• 10:41
  Speaker 2: 2 a.m. and get a bagel and cream cheese and
• 10:47
  Speaker 2: New York grows nothing. How does it even get there?
• 10:50
  Speaker 2: And why is it there? At the exact time I
• 10:54
  Speaker 2: need it. I never tell my grocery store when I'm
• 10:56
  Speaker 2: coming in what I'm going to buy. I don't make
• 10:59
  Speaker 2: an appointment with them. I don't give them any warning.
• 11:02
  Speaker 2: I just walk in and boy, if they don't have
• 11:03
  Speaker 2: what I want, I'm going to be very upset. That's
• 11:07
  Speaker 2: a miracle to me.
• 11:09
  Speaker 1: So let's flip the coin over, right? What is it
• 11:13
  Speaker 1: that you think makes people's frustrations go viral? If they're
• 11:18
  Speaker 1: not grateful, I mean, if grateful If gratefulness isn't going viral, right,
• 11:24
  Speaker 1: what is it about the antithesis of gratefulness, sadness, disappointment, whatever, frustrations, shock,
• 11:33
  Speaker 1: what is it that leads that to be viral?
• 11:38
  Speaker 2: I don't know. There's something negative that we're all wired,
• 11:41
  Speaker 2: our lizard brains, for resentment, grievance, whining, complaining. a pessimist's
• 11:48
  Speaker 2: view of life. Not that I'm a sunny optimist all
• 11:52
  Speaker 2: the time, but I'm a paranoid optimist. I look around
• 11:59
  Speaker 2: and go, it's never been better. I'd rather be poor
• 12:02
  Speaker 2: today in the United States of America than anywhere else
• 12:07
  Speaker 2: in the world. Period. Put me in the bottom 1%
• 12:11
  Speaker 2: and I'd rather be in this country than anywhere else.
• 12:15
  Speaker 2: And You could even carry that back and say, I'd
• 12:18
  Speaker 2: rather be poor today than rich 300 years ago or
• 12:24
  Speaker 2: 200 years ago when a simple infection would have killed
• 12:29
  Speaker 2: you and did kill many who were quite wealthy. Rothschild
• 12:33
  Speaker 2: or something had a son who died from an infection
• 12:37
  Speaker 2: that you and I could run down to CVS and
• 12:39
  Speaker 2: spend two bucks or get for free an antibiotic that
• 12:44
  Speaker 2: would cure us. It's astonishing to me, and we just
• 12:47
  Speaker 2: kind of take it for granted. We don't ever sit
• 12:50
  Speaker 2: back and reflect on how far we've come. This isn't
• 12:54
  Speaker 2: to say everything's perfect. This isn't to say there aren't problems.
• 12:58
  Speaker 2: But I think if you have gratitude, it makes you
• 13:02
  Speaker 2: aware and very optimistic that you can make tomorrow even better.
• 13:05
  Speaker 2: You can build on it. It's like standing on the
• 13:07
  Speaker 2: shoulders of giants of yore.
• 13:10
  Speaker 1: You know, I have a favorite saying, and I think
• 13:12
  Speaker 1: I've shared it with you before, that All discontent starts
• 13:16
  Speaker 1: with comparison.
• 13:17
  Speaker 2: Yes, that is very true.
• 13:20
  Speaker 1: I think that fits into this. Envy is probably the
• 13:26
  Speaker 1: wrong word. Jealousy is definitely the wrong word. But we
• 13:30
  Speaker 1: have a natural look for comparing ourselves and our lot
• 13:38
  Speaker 1: with those of others, right? And that creates... that can
• 13:43
  Speaker 1: create some of our challenges. I see that in the gratitude.
• 13:47
  Speaker 1: You know, I'm with you. I'd like to find ways
• 13:50
  Speaker 1: to block these negative constructs, right? And the viralness of that.
• 13:58
  Speaker 1: I think that we do tend to share, we tend
• 14:04
  Speaker 1: to share the negative and we seem to harbor, you know,
• 14:10
  Speaker 1: keep within ourselves those things that we're really grateful for.
• 14:14
  Speaker 2: It's kind of, it's become the new business model, at
• 14:17
  Speaker 2: least in the political punditry world. You know, if you
• 14:20
  Speaker 2: can rile up resentment and, you know, victimization and all
• 14:25
  Speaker 2: these other things, then there's always going to be a
• 14:28
  Speaker 2: monetary yield there. But I just think that, you know,
• 14:32
  Speaker 2: we need more gratitude. I mean, abundance is an economic
• 14:35
  Speaker 2: fact and I can prove it a lot of different ways,
• 14:37
  Speaker 2: but gratitude is our moral response to that abundance.
• 14:42
  Speaker 1: You know, I think that you and I have talked again.
• 14:45
  Speaker 1: We have a long history. What would Adam Smith in
• 14:49
  Speaker 1: his book, Moral.
• 14:52
  Speaker 2: Theory of Moral Sentiments.
• 14:53
  Speaker 1: Theory of Moral Sentiments. And if I understand it right,
• 14:56
  Speaker 1: and I'll be candid, I haven't read it, but I
• 14:58
  Speaker 1: think Smith was more proud of that than... He was.
• 15:04
  Speaker 1: than his capitalistic book. So what do you think Smith
• 15:08
  Speaker 1: would think about our lack of gratefulness?
• 15:13
  Speaker 2: Yeah, that's a really good question. I wish I knew
• 15:15
  Speaker 2: more about Smith and his views of gratitude. I know
• 15:19
  Speaker 2: he talked about it, but it wasn't the central insight
• 15:24
  Speaker 2: that he had, really. But I think he would express
• 15:28
  Speaker 2: incredible gratitude just because he thought the wonders of the
• 15:32
  Speaker 2: invisible hand is kind of a miracle. You know, I
• 15:35
  Speaker 2: think you wrote a substack about why do Wyoming ranchers
• 15:39
  Speaker 2: get up at 5 a.m.? so New Yorkers can go
• 15:42
  Speaker 2: into a restaurant and get a great steak. It's certainly
• 15:46
  Speaker 2: not for love of New York or New Yorkers, but
• 15:50
  Speaker 2: it's because they're self-interested. I mean, if you think about it,
• 15:53
  Speaker 2: nobody goes into a store for the pleasure of the merchant.
• 15:58
  Speaker 2: The merchant has to serve us. They have to please
• 16:01
  Speaker 2: our interests first, just like the pilot has to fly
• 16:03
  Speaker 2: us to do whatever we do to earn our money.
• 16:07
  Speaker 2: Even though the pilot doesn't know us, They don't necessarily
• 16:11
  Speaker 2: care about us. They may have different political views or
• 16:13
  Speaker 2: religious views or ethnic, you know, there could be hostilities
• 16:17
  Speaker 2: between our ethnicities going back hundreds of years. And yet,
• 16:21
  Speaker 2: here's somebody that gets up and goes to work and
• 16:24
  Speaker 2: flies me to where I need to be, along with
• 16:26
  Speaker 2: a bunch of other people, you know, above and below
• 16:29
  Speaker 2: the wing who coordinate that trip. That fascinates me. And
• 16:34
  Speaker 2: it all works without a czar in the White House
• 16:36
  Speaker 2: directing it all.
• 16:38
  Speaker 1: I think that's a phenomenal way to transition to our
• 16:42
  Speaker 1: final question, which is assuming we've got somebody who's listening
• 16:46
  Speaker 1: to this on a podcast, they're driving a car and
• 16:48
  Speaker 1: we want them to get to where they're going safely.
• 16:50
  Speaker 1: What can they do tonight, tomorrow, the next time they
• 16:55
  Speaker 1: have an opportunity to dampen that negative spirit and just
• 17:01
  Speaker 1: reflect on what they should be grateful for?
• 17:04
  Speaker 2: I think the best way to do it is literally
• 17:06
  Speaker 2: to write it, keep a journal and write just one
• 17:09
  Speaker 2: thing that you're grateful for, for the day. You know
• 17:11
  Speaker 2: how we talk about after action reviews, right? What went right?
• 17:14
  Speaker 2: What went wrong? What just, just write down one thing
• 17:17
  Speaker 2: that you're grateful for that day. It could be meeting somebody.
• 17:19
  Speaker 2: It could be a conversation such as this. It could,
• 17:22
  Speaker 2: it could be a whole host of things, a nice thing,
• 17:24
  Speaker 2: a neighbor did whatever. I think just doing that. And
• 17:28
  Speaker 2: then when you get resentful or you're upset, You have
• 17:32
  Speaker 2: a lot of different things to look back on and
• 17:35
  Speaker 2: count your blessings. If you want to be wealthy, count
• 17:37
  Speaker 2: your blessings.
• 17:39
  Speaker 1: That is an excellent way to wrap this up. Everybody,
• 17:42
  Speaker 1: this is Ron Baker, founder of Threshold and a podcaster
• 17:48
  Speaker 1: at the Soul of Enterprise and my good friend. And
• 17:51
  Speaker 1: until next time, and I'll put all of Ron's contact
• 17:53
  Speaker 1: information in the notes. Thank you, Ron. And thank you, listeners,
• 17:58
  Speaker 1: to listening to What the World Needs More of podcast.