On Topic with David Brooks

“We live in a culture that emphasizes the résumé virtues in an educational system that frankly teaches people how to have a great career,” Brooks said, speaking with Judge Starr on the stage of Waco Hall before an audience comprised of Baylor faculty, staff and students as well as Baylor alumni and friends from Waco and beyond. “A lot of us are clearer on how to build a career than how to build our character.”

One of America’s most prominent political commentators, David Brooks writes a bi-weekly op-ed column for The New York Times and is a regular analyst on PBS NewsHour and on National Public Radio’s All Things Considered. He previously wrote for The Wall Street Journal and has published several books.

The author of The Social Animal: The Hidden Sources of Love, Character and Achievement, Brooks uses the story of a fictional American couple to explain the importance of neuroscience and sociology in understanding America’s politics, culture and future. His other books, New York Times bestseller Bobos in Paradise and On Paradise Drive, are written in a style he calls “comic sociology” – descriptions of how we live and “the water we swim in” that are described by critics as “as witty and entertaining as they are revealing and insightful.”

Brooks’ most recent book, The Road to Character, explains why selflessness leads to greater success. He tells the story of 10 great lives that illustrate how character is developed and how we can all strive to build rich inner lives, marked by humility and moral depth. In a society that emphasizes success and external achievement, The Road to Character is a book about inner worth.

During their conversation, Judge Starr praised The Road to Character, saying it should be considered as required reading for today’s students and young adults. In the book, Brooks compares the career-oriented “résumé virtues” to “eulogy virtues,” which are established over a lifetime of pursuing more selfless, creative goals.

Answering questions from the audience toward the end of the program, Brooks pointed to C.S. Lewis and George Orwell as writers who have influenced his own work. Asked if he had any tips on writing, Brooks jokingly responded, “Don’t do it.”

Brooks is currently teaching a course at Yale University. He holds honorary degrees from Williams College, New York University, Brandeis University and Occidental College, among others. In 2010, Brooks became a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Brooks has worked at The Weekly Standard, joining the magazine at its inception and serving as senior editor. He has been a contributing editor at Newsweek and the Atlantic Monthly. He worked at The Wall Street Journal for nine years in a range of positions, including op-ed editor.

A series of conversations about critical issues facing the United States and the world, On Topic has previously hosted such figures as financier and alternative energy proponent T. Boone Pickens; former U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice; retired U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor; and philanthropists Sean and Leigh Anne Tuohy of The Blind Side.