“I study how to make work not suck,” organizational psychologist, Wharton professor and this week’s “Beast of the Week”, Adam Grant explained on The Daily Beast Podcast. “I feel like work has been demotivating and meaningless for too many people for too many centuries now. We ought to do something about it.”
His advice? Focusing on meaningful tasks. “The best antidote to helplessness is a sense of helpfulness,” Grant explained: “Something that grabs my attention and allows me to concentrate on something other than what’s going on in the world that’s beyond my control.”
Relevant both to “meaningful” work and the broader state of the world, Grant and co-hosts Joanna Coles and Samantha Bee addressed the whirlwind of grand plans and headlines surrounding President-elect Donald Trump as he prepares for his return to the White House.
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“I spent some time over the weekend with people who’ve spent some time with the Trump transition team,“ Coles said. ”And their point of view on it was that Donald Trump is ecstatic to be in this position, that he didn’t think it was happening... what he wants to do is ensure a good economy and have a good time.”
“He doesn’t want to spend his last years in constant fights with people,” Coles continued, noting that goal seems unlikely, given his “default position” is mercurial. “But actually what he wants to do after a fairly difficult four years is enjoy himself.”
For Grant, effective leadership isn’t about being a “super genius”, but about building coalitions and surrounding oneself with people who challenge one’s thinking—qualities he argued are missing in Trump and his new bestie Elon Musk.
“There’s a lot of evidence that people who are high achievers in business actually fail in politics... The way that you solve problems in politics requires relationship building and coalitions, not exactly Elon’s strong suit,” Grant argued, putting it lightly.
“If you look at what makes, what makes Elon a great innovator in particular, he’s a genius when it comes to hardware engineering... I don’t think that he’s our greatest manager,” he said. “I wouldn’t necessarily hold him up as an exemplar for a lot of the leadership skills that I study and teach at his alma mater.”
Real change, Grant suggested, comes from “internal disruptors” dedicated to public service. “Let’s not bet on Iron Man,” he concluded.
Of course, not even Iron Man is betting on “Iron Man”, as Robert Downey Jr. endorsed Kamala Harris and openly wished the SpaceX tycoon “would control his behavior a little more.”
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