‘Moral ambition is the will to make the world a wildly better place. To devote your career to the greatest challenges of our time. To be one of the best, but measured by a new standard of success.’ – Rutger Bregman

The brightest minds of our generation may dream of changing the world. But in reality most high achievers will settle for making a lot of money for themselves and their family. World renowned historian and bestselling author Rutger Bregman is on a mission to change that. 

This April, Bregman comes to Intelligence Squared at venues across the UK to convince us that in our age of crisis, we need to stop wasting our talent in jobs that solely provide personal enrichment. Instead if we want to live a successful life we must devote our careers to making the world a radically better place.  

Bregman will discuss why in 2025 social progress is not only stagnating in places but actively going in reverse. He will argue that there are lessons from history that can help us overcome this trend and explain that the greatest change-makers have always needed to be both idealistic and ambitious. Drawing from his new book Moral Ambition: Stop Wasting Your Talent and Start Making a Difference, he will discuss why efforts to ‘raise awareness’ of social problems are overrated and uncover what he believes are the real qualities that have made change possible. He will tell the stories of some of history’s great changemakers such as the German soldier who refused to salute Hitler or the Cambridge University student who dedicated his life to abolishing slavery. 

Bregman will explain what made these changemakers so persuasive, influential and effective in achieving their goals. He will show how we, too, can lend our talents to the biggest challenges of our time. With moral ambition he will argue, we can do more than be on the right side of history: we can start to make history itself.

Join Bregman live this April. Hear the arguments. And ask your questions. 

In addition to the book Rutger Bregman will be launching The School of Moral Ambition. To find out more click here