Call it deep thoughts with David Brooks. The New York Times columnist and bestselling author closed out Schwab’s annual IMPACT conference on Friday morning in Boston with a thought-provoking presentation on the nature of success and happiness, punctuated with personal stories and historical references.
Brooks began with Henny Youngman-style rapid-fire one liners before quickly pivoting to a serious note.
“Being a conservative columnist at The New York Times is like being the chief rabbi at mecca, not a lot of company,” he said to laughter.
Ruminating on his childhood, and how he came to be a writer, he quipped, “The first book I read was Paddington Bear. I knew then I wanted to write children’s books and I’ve been doing it ever since.”
But it was when he described his children that it turned somber. In his low-key, understated and even academic style that gave his words more weight, he recounted a time when he found true, “almost transcendent happiness.”
“I came home one day and could see my boys in the backyard,” Brooks said. “I stopped in the driveway and saw them kicking around a supermarket rubber ball. It was one of those moments that they were so full of joy, and I was truly happy, and at that moment almost felt like I didn’t deserve that happiness.”
He went on to describe the balance between day-to-day life versus making an impact over time, which he called resume virtues and eulogy virtues.
“Resume virtues involve the logic of the marketplace, inputs and outputs, effort leads to reward. Eulogy virtues are what people say about you after you are dead. They are filled with contradictions; you have to give to receive, success leads to the greatest failure which is ego and pride.”
He said the two are often at odds, and we have to sometimes defeat resume virtues in the service of eulogy virtues.
He shared a story of Dwight Eisenhower as a young boy who wanted to go trick-or-treating on Halloween. His mother said no, he was too young. He threw a tantrum, and hit a tree so hard in his backyard that the skin rubbed off his fists. His mother sent him to his room. After he calmed down she went to dress his wounds. She repeated the verse, “He who conquers his own soul is greater than he who takes the city.”
“That stuck with Eisenhower,” Brooks said. “He knew he needed to conquer his enemy, which was anger, in order to be successful.”
He also recounted the story of Francis Perkins. In New York at the time of the famous Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire in 1911, the labor activist and future labor secretary witnessed people leaping to their death to avoid being burned alive.
“It was at that moment her ambition became purified. She committed to worker rights and safety and eventually became Roosevelt’s Secretary of Labor.”
He told these stories in the context of what he claimed are four stages of happiness that build on one another. They are:
- Spouse and family
- Vocation as a moral calling
- Personal philosophy and faith
- Community
“They involve concepts like freedom, but not freedom from, rather freedom for—meaning more commitment makes you stronger. It also means passionate love versus enduring love and how commitments are enduring. Aristotle said activity is the father of virtue. Act kind and you will be kind. Act disciplined and you will be disciplined. Outward acts form the person within.”
With more than 20 years serving financial markets, John Sullivan is the former editor-in-chief of Investment Advisor magazine and retirement editor of ThinkAdvisor.com. Sullivan is also the former editor of Boomer Market Advisor and Bank Advisor magazines, and has a background in the insurance and investment industries in addition to his journalism roots.
