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Purpose And Strengthfinding With Tom Rath – This Week’s Thinking With Mitch Joel Conversation

Episode #1048 of Thinking With Mitch Joel is now live.

This conversation with Tom Rath gets into one of the most persistent myths in modern work and personal development: that purpose is something we are supposed to find. As if it is hiding somewhere. As if one day we will discover the perfect title, job, passion or identity, and everything will suddenly make sense. Tom makes a very different case. Purpose is not something we uncover once and then protect forever. It is something we build through the choices we make every day, especially when we stop looking inward and start asking how we can contribute to the people around us. Tom is one of the most influential voices in the fields of leadership, strengths, wellbeing and human performance. He is a researcher and the #1 New York Times bestselling author of books including How Full Is Your Bucket?, StrengthsFinder 2.0, Eat Move Sleep and many more. His work has shaped how millions of people think about work, health, talent, energy and personal growth. His latest book, What’s The Point? – Turning Purpose Into Your Daily Superpower, challenges the idea that fulfillment comes from endless introspection, personal branding or chasing some fixed version of ourselves.

That idea feels especially relevant now.

AI is reshaping work, organizations and the value of many traditional tasks. Responding to assignments may become less valuable than creating new ideas. Careers may become more entrepreneurial, fluid and project-based. Younger generations are asking better questions about meaning, flexibility and contribution. The old employment contract is changing, whether organizations are ready for it or not. In this conversation, we talk about the future of work, the limits of personal branding, the changing relationship between employees and employers, and why looking outward toward customers, colleagues and communities may create more fulfillment than constantly searching inside ourselves. We also get into strengths, wellbeing, entrepreneurship, service, exposure to different career paths and why purpose can become a practical daily lens rather than an abstract life mission. Mostly, this is a conversation about becoming more human in an age of intelligent machines. The opportunity may not be to become endlessly productive. It may be to become more useful, more connected and more intentional by asking one simple question before the next meeting, project or day begins: What’s the point?

The episode is now live. Listen to my conversation with Tom Rath here: Purpose And Strengthfinding With Tom Rath – TWMJ #1048.

Before you go… ThinkersOne is a new way for organizations to buy bite-sized and personalized thought leadership video content (live and recorded) from the best Thinkers in the world. If you’re looking to add excitement and big smarts to your meetings, corporate events, company off-sites, “lunch & learns” and beyond, check it out.

Mitch Joel

Mitch Joel lives at the intersection of technology, business transformation and consumer culture. He is the Executive Director of Next Era Institute, a strategic intelligence platform helping leaders understand the forces reshaping business, technology, culture and society. The Institute identifies which shifts matter, explores their wider significance and translates them into strategic direction and momentum. Mitch is also a globally recognized keynote speaker. He has delivered thousands of presentations across both B2B and B2C industries to organizations including Google, Walmart, LEGO, Shopify, Microsoft, Procter & Gamble and Unilever. Strategy Magazine has called him “one of North America’s leading visionaries.” Mitch built his career by working directly inside the waves of change that reshaped modern business. He founded and built a digital marketing agency that worked with some of the world’s largest brands and was later acquired by WPP, where he served as President of a firm operating in 25 countries with almost 3,000 employees. Mitch is the bestselling author of Six Pixels of Separation and CTRL ALT Delete, and the host of Thinking With Mitch Joel, one of the longest-running business podcasts in the world. His writing and commentary appear in outlets including Harvard Business Review, Fast Company and Inc. Magazine. He is a member of Dr. Marshall Goldsmith’s 100 Coaches and was named to the Thinkers50 Radar. Mitch also hosts Groove – The No Treble Podcast, documenting the oral history of electric bass players. Mitch is also Co-Founder of ThinkersOne, a platform that enables companies to bring personalized thought leadership from world-class experts into meetings, events and off-sites in focused 15-minute bursts.