Sunday Pick: The Office’s Rainn Wilson on meaning and happiness | ReThinking with Adam Grant

**Elise Hue** (0:04)
Happy Sunday, y'all, Elise Hue here, and today we're bringing you a Sunday pick where we share an episode of another podcast from TED, handpicked by us, for you.
You may know actor Rainn Wilson for his work playing the character Dwight Schrute on The Office, but did you know that he was a late bloomer and struggled to get work for a decade before he landed that role? In this episode of ReThinking with Adam Grant, which was recorded live, Rainn shares how success didn't solve all of his problems and why, in truth, it created some new ones. He and Adam discuss his unlikely journey to stardom and how it led him to explore the insights that philosophy, psychology, and the world's great spiritual traditions can offer on modern life's existential questions. Yes, they do also discuss Rainn's favorite moments from The Office and more. To hear more deep conversations, you can find ReThinking wherever you get your podcasts. Learn more about all of TED's podcasts at podcasts.ted.com.
Now on to the episode right after a short break.

**Adam Grant** (1:15)
Hey everyone, it's Adam Grant. Welcome back to ReThinking, my podcast on the science of what makes us tick. I'm an organizational psychologist, and I'm taking you inside the minds of fascinating people to explore new thoughts and new ways of thinking.
My guest today is actor and comedian Rainn Wilson, who starred on The Office as everyone's favorite paper salesman, Dwight Schrute. This year, Rainn published his latest New York Times bestselling book, Soul Boob. It's a delicious smorgasbord of existential philosophy, self-reflection, psychology, and Star Trek that explores the missing role of spirituality in the modern world. I was thrilled to host Rainn for this live conversation in the Authors at Work series. Our goal was to light up your brain, warm your heart, and tickle your funny mode. We delve into happiness and meaning, motivation and ambition, mental health and meditation, and yes, of course, The Office. When Rainn offered me my dream job at Dunder Mifflin, I couldn't resist asking if he would improvise a scene. Yep, finally living my improv dream.
Welcome to Authors at Wharton, Adam Grant. I could not be more delighted to welcome Rainn Wilson.

**Rainn Wilson** (2:35)
Hi, everybody.
Thanks, Adam. Nice to see you.

**Adam Grant** (2:42)
You know, it is not every day that the world's greatest business school welcomes the world's greatest salesperson. Can I call you Dwight?

**Rainn Wilson** (2:58)
No.

**Adam Grant** (3:00)
All right. I have so many questions for you.

**Rainn Wilson** (3:02)
Good.

**Adam Grant** (3:03)
And our students had a lot of questions for you too. So we all obviously love The Office. Some of us have binged it more times than we can count. I think you played the most iconic character of our time.

**Rainn Wilson** (3:14)
That's very kind. Thank you very much.

**Adam Grant** (3:20)
But we don't know much about how you got there.

**Rainn Wilson** (3:22)
So give us one of the most iconic bald heads of all time.

**Adam Grant** (3:28)
I wish I could say that was a deliberate decision.

**Rainn Wilson** (3:30)
Mr. Clean, Charles Barkley, Adam Grant.

**Adam Grant** (3:36)
No one has ever had that thought. But you're welcome. Tell us the backstory. I know you were a theater actor for a long time. And this was not part of your plan?

**Rainn Wilson** (3:45)
Not at all. I was a nerdy little disturbed kid from suburban Seattle. And I grew up kind of with a television kind of raising me and watching all of those great sitcoms from the 70s. I would record Monty Python sketches on a Panasonic tape recorder held up to a PBS television station at like 1 AM to record Monty Python. And then memorize the sketches. And then when I started doing theater, I kind of thought, hey, you know, I'm pretty good at this and I can make people laugh. Maybe I'll go to New York and study theater. And that's really where I thought I was going to make my living. So I spent 10, 13 years total in New York kind of pursuing a life in theater and never really making it above the poverty line as an actor in all truth.
So the idea of being like a star or a celebrity or making a lot of money and being a part of one of these most iconic shows, like one of those shows that I grew up watching as a kid is beyond my wildest dreams and not at all the path that I thought I was going to take.

**Adam Grant** (4:56)
Oops.

**Rainn Wilson** (4:56)
Uh-oh.

**Adam Grant** (4:57)
I feel like it worked out okay then.