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    The Work: My Search for a Life that Matters
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    The Work: My Search for a Life that Matters
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    The Work: My Search for a Life that Matters
    Audiobook6 hours

    The Work: My Search for a Life that Matters

    Published by Penguin Random House Audio

    3.5/5

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    Currently unavailable

    About this audiobook

    The acclaimed author of The Other Wes Moore continues his inspirational quest for a meaningful life and shares the powerful lessons-about self-discovery, service, and risk-taking-that led him to a new definition of success for our times.

    The Work is the story of how one young man traced a path through the world to find his life's purpose. Wes Moore graduated from a difficult childhood in the Bronx and Baltimore to an adult life that would find him at some of the most critical moments in our recent history: as a combat officer in Afghanistan; a White House fellow in a time of wars abroad and disasters at home; and a Wall Street banker during the financial crisis. In this insightful book, Moore shares the lessons he learned from people he met along the way-from the brave Afghan translator who taught him to find his fight, to the resilient young students in Katrina-ravaged Mississippi who showed him the true meaning of grit, to his late grandfather, who taught him to find grace in service.

    Moore also tells the stories of other twenty-first-century change-makers who've inspired him in his search, from Daniel Lubetzky, the founder of KIND, to Esther Benjamin, a Sri Lankan immigrant who rose to help lead the Peace Corps. What their lives-and his own misadventures and moments of illumination-reveal is that our truest work happens when we serve others, at the intersection between our gifts and our broken world. That's where we find the work that lasts.

    An intimate narrative about finding meaning in a volatile age, The Work will inspire readers to see how we can each find our own path to purpose and help create a better world.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherPenguin Random House Audio
    Release dateJan 13, 2015
    ISBN9780804190923
    Unavailable
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    Reviews for The Work

    3.5/5

    38 ratings19 reviews

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    • 4/5
      I read this as part of the early reviewer program. I think his other book The Other Wes Moore is much better as he uses his life story to delve into society. This one is more about his journey in his 20s, but is somewhat disjointed on how he came to life decisions and how he supports himself and his family. The best part of the book were the stories he shared of people he met who are doing their life's work whether that is helping veterans, changing the school systems, or helping single mothers break the cycle of poverty. Despite the shortfalls there were multiple quotes and highlights that made it worth reading. Here was one of my favorites: "The huge challenges the globe faces can be met only if we're all pulling together, if we can make use of all the human's resources. And for people driven by religious or secular ethics, it's hard to argue that the needs of Americans are somehow more important than the needs of people anywhere else in the world. The question is What need can I best help address? For some of us, we can do our best work in our own homes and communities; others of us are called to do work in other parts of the world. The opportunity to help is not limited by borders--and the beautiful part is that when we reach our hands across the globe to serve others, we don't return empty-handed."
    • 2/5
      I think that Wes Moore is an amazing man. I really do. However, his books tend to say the same thing and they tend to repeat themselves.
    • 4/5
      If you read The Other Wes Moore, you should enjoy The Work. It begins right after college when Wes is accepted into the Rhodes Scholar program and follows him through various positions (investment banker, Army officer in Afganistan, White House Fellow).His story is interesting as a memoir and a great follow up to his first book.Interspersed are brief stories of other's meaningful work. These are less effective. Their narratives are too brief to be more than somewhat interesting. They also don't really fit in with Moore's narrative. The text would be stronger with either without them or with more varied detailed choices.
    • 5/5
      I really enjoyed this book. It is inspirational and uplifting, giving people hope to achieve their dreams. It''s also quite encouraging in the way Wes shares his story and others' stories with us. I even asked my library to order a copy of it, so others could enjoy it. I highly recommend this book- it's a great read.
    • 5/5
      The work is a piece I could read in one sitting. I had to digest it in increments that allowed me to be Wes. Feel Wes...Think Wes. Because his story mirrors any & everyone who has chosen to overcome challenges, difficulties & setbacks.These sometimes, sing-song words, strung together, like gleaming pearls, were enablingly defiant of normalcy, mediocracy or status quo. They shouted and rang "DARE" to be different and all God put you here to be. Truth bled through the pages to validate wounded hearts everywhere; Giving permission to go against the grains established by unknown power that be.It was a joy to be nourished by these words. Thank you, Wes & LT.
    • 4/5
      This was an inspirational collection of stories that added a layer of complexity and understanding to the man who wrote The Other Wes Moore. Not a game changer on it's own or worthy of any best of list, it is worth investing a couple of hours in reading it and walking away a little more inspired.
    • 4/5
      Very well written, this book grabs your attention from the first paragraph. The examples Wes Moore uses, both his and those of others, are both interesting and inspirational. They make you evaluate what is important in life and be more thankful for what you have.
    • 3/5
      Bland. That is what I was left feeling after reading this book. Wes Moore has had a very interesting career, and I was hoping for some inspiration from that. Instead I felt I was somehow supposed to extract the meaning from his life and somehow do the same for mine - but there was no decoder ring. It is possible that this book will find a younger college bound audience and find resonance there. Recommended only for discussion groups that can help unpack the material found within.
    • 3/5
      This review based on an ER copy. I have not read anything else by Moore.As I begin the Intro, I can almost hear his voice declaiming, giving a rousing speech. He's caught my attention. The chapters alternate between his life and lives of other, less well-known, people who work to make a positive difference. From each of those role models, he clearly articulates specific lessons for the reader who is considering how to do more with his life. The Appendix summarizes these lessons as questions for us to reflect on. The book moves rapidly through his early years, dwells on lessons he learned as a Rhodes Scholar, as a an army officer in Afghanistan, a White House Fellow. He is more self-aware than most people I know, recognizing even as a boy that he was "code-switching" (adapting his behavior and speech to fit into his surroundings) not out of shame but as "cultural multilingualism," a strategic tool for connecting with people and accomplishing goals. As one role comes to an end, there always seemed to be another mentor offering a new challenge. Moore presents himself as a risk-taker, willing to try something new, to research and study intensely in order to be fully prepared. He searches for ways to be of service, to make his skills useful. And while I may doubt how risky it is to work as a banker, and question how much service there is in salvaging an investment company that has overextended itself, Moore does redeem himself by leaving the job, also recognizing that this "safe" career was not fulfilling. Here the book seems to peter out. We hear of him praying with friends and being inspired to start a ministry, called Worthy, but then he seems to be spending his time on TV talk shows and book promotion. Has he really found his path? Or will he continue to jump from career to career? He has written this book as a model to inspire others to find what they are passionate about, but he doesn't seem to have found that for himself.Because of the guidance in the final Appendix and the selections from other people's lives, this book may be of interest to someone younger than I, just considering who they want to be, or to someone in a midlife career crisis, dissatisfied with the work they are doing and needing a little inspiration to take a risk. I will pass it on to a nephew for his perspective.
    • 1/5
      OMG. I really disliked this book. I read over half of it, forcing myself to read as much as I did. I finally decided to stop torturing myself. I didn't care about anybody in this book, or their stories. Boring book with no redeeming humor. I LOVED Wes Moore's previous book, the other Wes Moore.
    • 3/5
      Wes is no doubt an outstanding human being, and some of the traits that makes him so are his positive, upbeat, optimistic view of the world and his ability to appreciate and find the good in most all people and situations. However, these same characteristics make for a bland read. I was hoping for inspiration, motivation, and a jolt of electricity for my current situational search, but didn't find it here. Additionally, I found the book to be choppy as it jumps between stories of Wes' life and stories of others. While the book was a pleasant read, some deeper soul searching and more details of Wes' extraordinary experiences would have made for a more riveting book.
    • 3/5
      I finished this book last night, which was my LT Early Reviewers book for December. The author's previous book, The Other Wes Moore: One Name, Two Fates, described his experiences growing up in a single family in a troubled Baltimore neighborhood, and compared his life to another African American young man with the same name who lived nearby. The author found success, whereas his subject was incarcerated for murder.In his new book, Moore looks back on his impressive life as a Rhodes scholar, an investment banker in London and New York, a U.S. Army officer with the 82nd Airborne fighting in Afghanistan, and a White House fellow. Despite his enviable career, he struggles to find meaning in his work, and he looks to the experiences of past mentors and current friends and colleagues on his journey toward personal fulfillment, as he shares the lessons he has learned along the way. Despite my somewhat similar but far less interesting path to find this book didn't resonate within me, similar to the self-help books that I read before I chose to pursue a career in medicine. I suspect that other readers will find The Work much more rewarding than I did, though, and the author's own story is an interesting and inspirational one, so I would recommend this well written book to readers at a personal crossroad, or young people who are at the start of their careers or in the process of discovering what they want to accomplish in life.
    • 5/5
      The Work is a memorable read that I highly recommend. It creates a desire to evaluate what we think about life's events on many levels. Wes Moore shares his own internal thoughts plus allows many others to share their own experiences and the lessons they've learned from their own life events.It is a timely book because the experiences of those in the book relate to current international and national events. When he spoke of civil rights and Martin Luther King, it was a reminder of this summer's events in Ferguson, Missouri. King and his teams of civil rights workers were labeled "outside agitators". Many who have recently tried to march in peaceful protests and their leaders have been labeled the same. It is frustrating to see that in 2014, we are dealing with the same issues faced by others in the 1960s.Here are some examples of why I found the book so appealing. The book should appeal to a wide audience of readers."SPOILER ALERT"(p. 7) Colin Powell wrote the following letter to one of his children upon turning sixteen. This is good advice for anyone. I would like to read his biography entitled My American Journey."You now begin to leave childhood behind and start on the road to manhood. . . . You will establish definitively the type person you will be the remaining fifty years of your lifetime. You know what is right and wrong and I have confidence in your judgement. Don't be afraid of failure. Be more afraid of not trying. . . . Take chances and risks-not foolhardy actions, but actions which could result in failure, yet promise success and reward. And always remember that no matter how bad something may seem, it will not be that bad tomorrow."(p. 30) Daniel Lubetsky CEO, KIND"People tend to confuse determination and positive attitude with false optimism or naivete."(pp. 69-70)Abdullah was an interpreter who worked with the 82nd. Airborne to which Wes Moore was assigned during his deployment in Afghanistan."In Afghanistan, a person's loyalty was first and foremost with the immediate family and then the extended clan. After family, loyalty spreads) to one's tribe. Abdullah fought as much for the legacy of his family as anything else. I remember on one patrol we were handing out supplies to a group of Afghans, and among the items we were distributing were flags that carried a beautiful silhouette of Afghanistan filled in with black, red, and green, Afghanistan's national colors. One villager started speaking to Abdullah in Pashtu, with a clouded expression on his face. After their conversation ended, I asked Abdullah what was the conversation about. Abdullah explained to me the man had not understood the significance of the image on the flag, so Abdullah told him it was a picture of Afghanistan-a picture of his country. At that, the man had shrugged and walked away. That's when I started to understand that our goal of establishing loyalty to a national government was possibly in trouble."(p. 73) Edmund Burke"All it takes for evil to triumph is for good people to do nothing."(pp. 80-81) John Galina and Dale Beatty founders of Purple Heart Homes"We saw other units come back into the base, washing blood out of their trucks after a really bad mission. We'd drive down the road and seen vehicles-a Hummevee mangled and burned down to nothing. We destroyed the vehicle and wouldn't leave it for them. Our training was clear and certain. Trained to react to contact. Trained to react with overwhelming force.""They honed their ability to take in everything around them, looking for IEDs, insurgents, and snipers.""Every day I thought, 'All nine of my guys in my squad are going to come home alive.'...'I would try to be more loyal to my squad than to leadership and the directives we got. We still got the mission accomplished, maybe just not the way the orders were given.'...'I was obviously doing the right thing. Bad commanders play by the book all the time; good commanders let their people make decisions.'""Only 2 percent of the population in Iraq were our enemies. The rest were scared or hated us because they'd been programmed to hate us."(p. 98-99) Wes Moore drew some of the following conclusions upon returning to the states after leaving active duty."I had stumbled-always grateful-from Oxford to finance to the army, always at the behest of others and out of a desire to do the right thing, the best thing, the unimpeachably correct thing. Prestige, financial security, duty. But coming back home from combat, sitting in this conference room at the pinnacle of American power, was maybe one moment of whiplash too many.""I know I am coming off of one of the most important and life-changing experiences of my life and I want to continue serving in some way....But I know in this year I hope to learn a lot and help some as well.""We have well over two million veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts in this country....I'm one of them, but I don't think I fully grasped, in those weeks right after my return, how that experience changed all of us. I don't know if I ever will, I didn't see yet that it would be impossible to simply go back to being the person I was before my deployment. I wasn't broke, I wasn't irreparably damaged, but I was different."Sargent Bowe Bergdahl has been in the news since he was traded for five terrorists held in Guantanamo. Bergdahl has been accused of being a traitor. Men died trying to bring him back when he left the battlefield. He was held by the Taliban from 2009-2014. (p. 99) Wes Moore comments that post-traumatic stress can strike before a soldier leaves the battle zone.(p. 108) Moore discusses American policy in the international arena."And even when things go right, the massive indifference of the American public can sometimes shift into resentment over the amount of resources being spent. Some people would prefer that fewer-or none-of our resources ever leave this country at all.""Americans became fatigued by stories from Afghanistan and the procession of American-flag-draped coffins that the honor guard escorted back to Andrews Air Force Base. We became frustrated by the slow progress of the country's developments toward democracy and stability. Afghanistan. . . started to seem like a sinkhole.""If we are impatient about an exceptional case such as Afghanistan, then how much more impatient will we be when our efforts are driven more by humanitarianism and compassion than self-interest and security? Even when you talk to aid workers or workers at nonprofits whose philanthropic work takes them overseas, they will tell you that Americans ask them: Why don't you just focus your work on America? Why go to Africa or Asia or South America to help kids or help with disasters: Why not do it right here?"(pp. 108-109) "I'm not a warmonger-like many who have worn the uniform, I am particularly averse to war. I'm also not someone who believes in empire building or imperialistic or paternalistic attitudes about the world outside of America. But our passion, influence, and responsibility as humans can never end at our borders."(p. 120) A trait common to successful people is their passion for the work they do "... in business, in philanthropic work, in human rights, in government, or in raising a family." They "...shared one common trait: they were fanatically passionate about the work they did. They breathed it. They needed it. It was their lifeblood."It was interesting traveling into the mind of someone who asks many of the same questions we ask ourselves. Wes Moore doesn't try to slant your vision in any direction. He does share his own quest which is the same expedition that many of us share making this a worthwhile real-life adventure.
    • 5/5
      inspiing tale. easy read
    • 5/5
      I received a free copy for an honest review from LibraryThing.I had the pleasure of meeting Wes after a lecture at the University of Central Florida. He is a brilliant speaker and very down-to-earth. He was speaking on his first book, The Other Wes Moore, and after hearing he was working on a sequel, my curiosity piqued. BTW I don't think anyone who hasn't read The Other Wes Moore will be at a disadvantage by reading this first.Wes presents us with an account of his own experiences after college and how the decisions he made altered the course of his personal narrative. He starts out by telling us that this book is not a guide to make your life better. He only hopes that we might relate to some of the stories and find within ourselves what we can do to "make it matter." The biggest takeaway I had: don't ask yourself, "What do I want to do?" Ask yourself "Who do I want to be?" Thank you for the words of wisdom Wes
    • 5/5
      In the spirit of full disclosure...I received the ARC here on LibraryThing. I was also a Wes Moore fan from reading his previous book and from hearing him speak at the annual AP conference. Reading The Work has only deepened my admiration, respect, and, if I am being honest, hero worship for Mr. Moore. This book is simply life inspiring. The message, in a nutshell, is "live a meaningful life." There is no one right way to do that, although there is a very strong emphasis on giving in some way to the world beyond yourself. I found the book to be both inspiring and affirming. It made me feel good to be doing the work that I am doing, but it also reminded me that I can be doing more. I am inspired to be on the lookout for the way(s) in which I can do more for my community at large.I am starting by giving copies of this book to several people (staff and students alike) on campus.
    • 2/5
      I wanted to like this book. I believe Wes deserved everything he accomplished in his life and he sounds like a great guy. But the premise of the book, to show how to live a life that matters, was not met. The book is essentially a narrative of Wes' life. He goes into great detail about each person he encounters along his arduous journey. But the narrative doesn't provide anything actionable or easily duplicated. How does one live a life that matters?All I got from the book was you become a Rhodes Scholar, attend Oxford, work in politics, work in finance, go to war, have lunch with the president of Johns Hopkins who happens to know an executive at Citigroup who gets you another job in politics, and so on. I guess that's the lesson - get friends in high places to get what you want. And I'm not being sardonic. That may very well be the path to success and a life that matters, but how do you do it?If you want a play by play of Wes' charmed life, filled with unnecessarily detailed histories of each of his friends and acquaintances, buy a copy. If you're looking for a way to make your life matter, the first step is to get another book.
    • 4/5
      I received an early review copy of Wes Moore’s The Work: My Search for a Life that Matters. Thank you LibraryThing.My main take away from this memoir is that kindness, support and friendship in key moments of our lives help that us to reach our potential, and one of our greatest avenues to a meaningful, truly successful life of our own is to give the same to others.I liked Moore’s stories about choosing to serve in Afghanistan rather than continue in a lucrative job in Wall Street as Army Reserve, and leaving that world of golden handcuffs again to eventually to pursue his passion and put him on the path to who he is today. In these stories he really did take unexpected risks and opportunities, and was rewarded on multiple levels for them.The book is not so much self-help, but self-reflection, though there are a good set of questions to walk through inspired by the lives of those who touched his in the appendices if one wanted to continue to discuss a person’s journey for finding fulfilling work.I haven’t read Wes Moore’s first book, The Other Wes Moore, which I understand some people prefer to this one, but he is an eloquent writer and knowing what this and the other one in general is about, I could see them used as texts for the exploration of self and how our environment contributes to who we are – perhaps in a cultural anthropology or civic subject matter course.I’ll be interested to follow Wes Moore’s future work, in all its forms.
    • 3/5
      I've known about Wes Moore since his first book, and greatly respect his work. When I see him on a news program or other show, I'll make sure to stop whatever I'm doing and listen to him. But this book didn't quite hit the mark for me.

      It tries to be a memoir, revealing personal growth through change and adversity, but just feels more like autobiography, a string of incidents told in chronological order.

      What I found most compelling were the pieces at the end of each chapter where he profiled others who were answering their callings.