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The Rich Roll Podcast

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

The Rich Roll Podcast

Rich Roll

Self-improvement, Society & Culture, Education, Health & Fitness

4.812.9K Ratings

🗓️ 15 December 2025

⏱️ 125 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Rutger Bregman is a Dutch historian, bestselling author, and the guy who went viral telling Davos billionaires to pay their taxes. This conversation is a salve for the crisis of meaning percolating through modern life. We explore Rutger's pragmatic antidote—moral ambition—and discuss why a quarter of workers believe their jobs are socially useless, what the abolitionists teach us about coalition-building, and why factory farming may be the ethical abomination future historians judge us for most harshly. Rutger's conviction is rare and infectious. By the end of our conversation, I was so inspired that I committed $25K to his organization’s new US Food System Reform Program, a cause area that is deeply important to me. Final Note: Through December 31st, every dollar to moralambition.org/food is matched.  I hope you’ll consider joining me today in making a donation to this impactful organization. See the links in our newsletter, on our website, and in our Substack. Let’s lean into our own moral ambition and do something truly meaningful, together. Show notes + MORE Watch on YouTube Newsletter Sign-Up Today’s Sponsors: On: High-performance shoes & apparel crafted for comfort and style👉🏼https://www.on.com/richroll Roka: Unlock 20% OFF your order with code RICHROLL👉🏼https://www.ROKA.com/RICHROLL AG1: Get their best offer ever – Welcome Kit, Omega 3's, D3+K2, Flavor Sampler, plus AGZ sleep supplement FREE ($126 in gifts)👉🏼https://www.drinkAG1.com/richroll Bon Charge: Get 15% OFF all my favorite wellness products w/ code RICHROLL👉🏼https://www.boncharge.com BetterHelp: Get 10% OFF the first month👉🏼https://www.betterhelp.com/richroll Squarespace: Use code RichRoll to save 10% off your first order of a website or domain👉🏼http://www.squarespace.com/RichRoll Check out all of the amazing discounts from our Sponsors👉🏼https://www.richroll.com/sponsors Find out more about Voicing Change Media at https://www.voicingchange.media and follow us @voicingchange

Transcript

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0:00.0

When I study the great moral pioneers of the past,

0:05.0

I don't read biographies of people who were very relaxed.

0:09.0

They were working their ass up.

0:11.0

We think that Follow Your Passion is probably the worst career advice ever invented in the history of humanity.

0:16.0

Let's not just check our privilege. Let's use it to make a massive difference. If you can achieve your goals

0:23.6

in your own lifetime, then I think you're not thinking big enough. And this is a movement that's way bigger than us. So we're in the midst of the holiday season, and so many of us are trying to get our heads around what we're going to do differently in 2026.

0:52.8

And in thinking about this, I think what I want to do is offer

0:57.6

you something to think about, something I've said many times before, but bears repeating around

1:02.8

this time of year. And that is this. We are all far more capable than we permit ourselves to believe.

1:09.6

Each and every one of us is in possession of a

1:13.3

reservoir of potential we've barely begun to tap. That is just begging to be expressed into reality.

1:20.5

And I say this as somebody for whom hopefulness comes hard. I am hardwired to dismiss these kinds of optimistic proclamations as pretty much nothing

1:31.3

more than pure polyana drivel. But at the same time, I actually know for a fact that this statement

1:37.4

is true. I've experienced it myself and I have witnessed it many, many times as true in others as well. So basically what I'm saying

1:46.2

is that I need to be constantly reminded that transformation is our birthright. And all of us

1:53.4

possess the agency to change for the better. And the impending New Year is really just this

1:59.2

opportunity to ritualize this fact and render it into reality.

2:04.3

So to set our minds right, I can think of nobody better than Rutger Bregman to help us consider what's possible, both for ourselves and the broader world.

2:13.5

And as somebody who can help us incite the expression of our interchange agent in the interest of our

2:19.6

future betterment. And I say this because Rucker is a guy who dreams big, and today he brings to the

2:26.0

table a big call to action, asking us to use what we have, whether it's our privilege or our resources,

2:34.1

or most importantly, our human

...

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