The Office's Rainn Wilson on meaning and happiness

Worklife with Adam Grant

TED

Management, Worklife Podcast, Worklife With Adam Grant, Work Life Balance, Ted Talks, Podcast About Work Life, Ted Adam Grant, Adam Grant Podcasts, Ted Podcasts, Adam Grant, Organizational Psychologist, Business

4.8 • 9.4K Ratings

🗓️ 14 November 2023

⏱️ 48 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Rainn Wilson was a late bloomer: he landed the role of Dwight Schrute on “The Office” after over a decade of struggling as an actor. But success didn’t solve all of his problems — and it even created some new ones. In this live conversation for the Authors@Wharton series, Adam asks Rainn about his unlikely journey to stardom and how it led him into exploring the insights that philosophy, psychology, and the world’s great spiritual traditions can offer on modern life’s existential questions. They also discuss Rainn’s favorite moments from “The Office” and do some improv when Dunder Mifflin invites a certain organizational psychologist to talk to Dwight.

Transcripts for ReThinking are available at go.ted.com/RWAGscripts

Transcript

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0:00.0	Ted Audio Collective.
0:02.0	Collective.
0:04.0	Hi listeners, it's Chris Gotey, producer from the Masters of Scale Podcast.
0:11.0	Before today's episode, I wanted to let you know about a special AI series
0:14.9	we're launching called AI and you. In this series, you'll get a front row seat to
0:20.8	fascinating discussions with some of the world's leading minds in AI, like computer
0:26.0	scientist Fay Faye Faye Lee, entrepreneur Mustafa Suleiman, and adept co-founder David Luan
0:31.5	among other AI trailblaz Trail Blazers and the best part is that you'll walk away
0:35.8	with game-changing analysis for Masters of Scales host with legendary investor Reed Hoffman
0:41.9	along with brand new insights on how to use AI in your work and life.
0:46.9	So be sure to search Masters of Scale wherever you get your podcasts and follow us to hear each
0:52.2	new episode in this limited series.
0:54.3	Hey everyone it's Adam Grant.
0:58.1	Welcome back to Rethinking, my podcast on the science of what makes us tick.
1:02.2	I'm an organizational psychologist and
1:04.5	I'm taking you inside the minds of fascinating people to explore new thoughts and
1:08.8	new ways of thinking.
1:11.8	My guess My guest today is actor and comedian Rain Wilson, who start on the office is everyone's favorite paper salesman, Dwight Shroop.
1:21.0	This year, Rain published his latest New York Times best-selling book, Soul Boom.
1:26.0	It's a delicious smorgasbord of existential philosophy, self-reflection, psychology, and Star Trek,
1:32.0	that explores the missing role of spirituality in the modern world.
1:35.6	I was thrilled to host Rain for this live conversation in the Authors at Wharton series.
	...

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