What is a Problem I Can Help Solve? S8 | E11
From Radical Candor: Communication at Work by Kim Scott, Jason Rosoff & Amy Sandler
April 22, 2026 · 48 min · Season 8 · Episode 11
About this episode
Kim Scott interviews Tom Rath about his book 'What’s The Point' and discusses career choices in the context of current workforce challenges.
While the podcast team is taking a Radical Sabbatical, Kim is interviewing authors of the books that have had a big impact on her in the past two years. In this episode she’s speaking with Tom Rath about his new book What’s The Point. Graduation speeches are often filled with lofty advice for how to approach the upcoming transition from school to the real world–a topic that feels especially fraught at this moment of AI Anxiety. Speakers often urge newly minted graduates to “follow your passion.” But is that the best way to decide what type of work to focus on as a career? Perhaps a better approach is to figure out what the world needs and how you can best contribute. Tom Rath stresses the importance of surveying the landscape and identifying the big problems the world is facing. Then, identify your skills and develop them so that you can help address the issues that concern you. One fascinating point Tom makes is that 90% of people in the workforce fall into roughly 50 different occupations. However, most of us are only exposed to a handful of these 50, often only what their parents or parents’ friends do for a living. Wouldn’t it be better to give young adults exposure to a much…
People in this episode
Host: Kim Scott
Guest: Tom Rath
Topics covered
- career advice
- AI anxiety
- personal development
- workforce trends
- exposure to careers
Keywords
- career
- passion
- skills
- workforce
- exposure
- AI
- transition
Mentioned in this episode
Books & works: What’s The Point
More episodes of Radical Candor: Communication at Work
- Oliver Bullough - Everybody Loves Our Dollars - S8 | E17 · June 3, 2026 · 1h 2m
- Gary Gerstle on The Rise and Fall of the Neoliberal Order - S8 | E16 · May 27, 2026 · 1h 4m
- Steven Johnson - The Infernal Machine S8 | E15 · May 20, 2026 · 47 min
- Luke Burgis - The One and the Ninety Nine S8 | E14 · May 13, 2026 · 58 min
- Daniel Coyle - Creating Teams that Flourish S8 | E13 · May 6, 2026 · 48 min
- Eric Ries - How Great Companies Stay Great S8 | E12 · April 29, 2026 · 1h 2m
Explore listener stats, chart rankings, contacts and more on the Radical Candor: Communication at Work podcast page.