Bestselling author Daniel Pink likes to explore big, weighty topics: he’s written books about good timing, what motivates us, and creativity. His latest book, The Power of Regret: How Looking Backward Moves Us Forward , delves into what he believes is the most misunderstood and underappreciated human emotion. Pink studied six decades of research on regret through the lenses of social science, social psychology, developmental psychology, cognitive science, and neuroscience. He also set up a World Regret Survey for people to share their regrets and received more than 20,000 submissions from more than 100 countries. Pink categorized the different types of regret that people reported. For instance, action regrets (“I over-hired during the pandemic”) versus inaction regrets (“I should’ve taken that other job that challenged me more”). He also shares valuable insights about how leaders should deal with their regrets, and how we can all use them to make smart resolutions for the year ahead.
Pink is the final guest for Season 3 of Microsoft’s WorkLab podcast, in which hosts Elise Hu and Tonya Mosley have conversations with economists, technologists, and researchers who explore data and insights into why and how work is changing.
Three big takeaways from this conversation:
WorkLab is a place for experts to share their insights and opinions. As students of the future of work, Microsoft values inputs from a diverse set of voices. That said, the opinions and findings of the experts we interview are their own and do not reflect Microsoft’s own research or opinions.
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Here’s a transcript of the Episode 8 conversation.
