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Jan 14, 2022

In this episode of the EMEA Recruitment podcast, we were proud to welcome Daniel Pink, New York Times bestselling author of seven books, including the forthcoming The Power of Regret.

“What we end up regretting is not taking the risk; our regrets about taking risks are relatively small.”

With his new book coming out this year, Paul Toms, our Founder, asks Daniel how he got into writing in the first place. It was something that he discovered over many years, after writing as a hobby on the side of university, graduate school and his first jobs. During his 30s, Daniel realised that he shouldn’t be writing on the side; it should be the centre of his life. 

Although it’s an act of thinking and learning for Daniel, writing is also “really hard”. In fact, his new book, The Power of Regret, isn’t something he would have written in his 30s. Now, in his 50s, he explains that it felt “inevitable”. It’s also a topic that people wanted to talk to him about.

Unlike his previous books, which have been about “big ideas”, this one is about “big emotion”. When Daniel invited people to speak about their regrets, he found that they weren’t hesitant at all; regret, it turns out, is one of human’s most prevalent emotions. 

As part of his research, Daniel set up the World Regret Survey, which collated over 16,000 regrets from people within 105 countries – people clearly want to talk about this subject and, Daniel believes, unburden themselves. If we understand our regrets, we can also become better people and lead a good life, he explains. 

Paul finds out which regret was the most common – make sure to listen to the full episode below to find out. 

We explore the regrets people have regarding relationships, not just between family and friends, but also with our co-workers. Daniel has found that what people really value are the basic things in life, which are also the elements of a strong and coherent corporate culture.

Had he navigated his life differently, Daniel explains how he may have become a scientist himself. Now, though, he enjoys talking to them and building bridges between disciplines. 

Despite his strong network, one of Daniel’s own regrets is that he never fostered a mentorship relationship with anybody; he was too certain about everything in his younger years.

Nevertheless, Daniel gives a truly inspired answer to Paul’s question of who he would interview on his own podcast – what a line-up! Tune in towards the end of the episode to find out.

 

If you’d like to find a particular part of the episode, please use the timestamps below:

  • 01:27: The last thing that made Daniel smile
  • 03:07: How Daniel got into writing
  • 05:06: Why writing is “really hard”
  • 06:07: Why Daniel wrote The Power of Regret
  • 07:41: How people opened up about regrets
  • 11:10: The regret that stood out
  • 16:24: Is Daniel a carefree person?
  • 19:20: Why we should reach out
  • 21:37: How companies can learn from regret
  • 23:56: Choosing the field of science and human motivation
  • 29:32: The politics of linguistics
  • 33:45: Who will benefit from the book most?
  • 36:56: Why Daniel never had a mentor
  • 39:27: Daniel’s dream podcast guests
  • 41:23: How to reach out to Daniel

If you’d like to find out more about Daniel and his work, visit his website: danpink.com

 

We’re proud to support international medical charity Operation Smile through the EMEA Recruitment podcast. We’re hoping to create 100 new smiles through this partnership – to help us achieve this target, please donate: https://www.emearecruitment.com/operation-smile

 

The EMEA Recruitment podcast is hosted by Paul Toms and Rose Jinks.

Visit our website for more information on our international recruitment services: https://www.emearecruitment.com/

You can also keep up to date with us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/emea-recruitment-limited/

To connect with Paul, visit his profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/paultoms/

Or follow him on Twitter: https://twitter.com/paul_toms

 

If you have any suggestions for the EMEA Recruitment podcast, please get in touch with Rose: rose.jinks@emearecruitment.com 



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