>> to see what other books congressman cole has recommended, visit cole.house.gov. >> next on "after words," wes moore, combat veteran of the war in afghanistan and author of "the work" talks with the search for a meaningful life and the people who have inspired him along the way. he is in conversation with wendy spencer, chief executive officer of the corporation for national and community service. >> host: i'm so thrilled to be here today. i am wendy spencer with corporation for national and community service, and wes moore i'm with today, i'm so glad to talk about your book "the work: my search for a life that matters," which i think everyone has that goal. my search for a life that matters, right? that's what your book addresses. so thanks for being with me today when you talk about this great work of literature that you put together. so i wanted just a little over

the that you. i studied all of the roles that you effective let's see army captain, rhodes scholar white house fellow at the state department international investment banker, tv producer host, best selling author, political and economic analyst, founder of a nonprofit to support struggling freshmen. by mike as you are 60 years old. but you don't look at 60. i know you have small children and you've been married recently. so i don't know how that works, so you're not 60? >> guest: not yet. >> host: but somehow you of all of this great life. already in these accomplishments is really great. which because of these experiences you've been able to now due to books articulate the experiences in life lessons and other examples of your journey to this time in your life.

and it's really amazing. you're a talented writer and to really good storyteller, and this is a very good weekend read, they tell you but i thoroughly thrown into it. and i'm busy like a lot of professionals who work or. it was really worth my time to read this. talk to, first, let's talk about the book generally, why write this book, what compelled you after of the great book the other wes moore, what inspired you to write this? >> guest: first it's an absolute honor to be with you. you know, remove the conversation i had with the publisher about what turned into be the work was they were telling one of the most common questions we get about the other wes moore was what happened next? the other wes moore stopped abruptly in 2000. i wanted to try to get people waiting for both of those two

stories, so when i thought about this idea of telling what happened afterwards i knew there was no way i could tell more about my life since then and the other wes moore because it's impossible to get people my story and it is to his at this point but i can write about his life since 2000 aircraft. that's his life. that's a life a decision made by the life he now looks forward to. every single day. so when they say what is right about your time in afghanistan your time working in the white house, your time working in finance, the time doing these things and what does success has meant to you, it actually cost me a coupon for a second. outward success, and what that actually means because i felt like over the past decade it wasn't so much an easy life to define what i was aware i would be, but it was this constant

search to find something that matters, find a sense of impact, to find a sense of greatness that you can latch onto and have the be all of your own. so what i've been trying to do with "the work" us understand this idea of "the work" isn't necessarily your occupation. your work is when your greatest gift in your greatest joys begin to start overlapping with the worlds greatest means and then you actually choose to do something about it. what this torquemada want to talk about was both my adventures and misadventures but just a sucker what the work is and so many workers and people who are in so many different industries have found their point which makes life really exciting. >> host: i think what's unique about this bookish go back and forth to your people in your life to come in an afterlife that you talk about in chapters and then you we been your experience, very cleverly done, but a couple things want to talk about today but one of the

things i really liked when you talk about that work and that you can make a meaningful for your life and others is to have passion. now, i'm a big believer in having passion for your work. in fact, so much so that i talk people out of jobs because they didn't have passion for the work. it's not that they were not an effective contributor as an employee, in the cases i'm referring to it was the fact that they didn't have the passion for the place there and at that date. they could move into another place and have great passion and become an outstanding contributing team member. i think about, and, of course volunteerism is our thing, cooperation senior corps millions of americans are volunteering with our support as a federal agency in partnership with nonprofit but one of my

board members at one time, she was the wife of a senate president in florida and she had a great phrase that stuck with me. have passion you, put your passion into action. i think that is what you are referencing oftentimes throughout this book where if you're passionate about something, you'll be successful. there's another thing we'll talk about with passion and it to me, if you find someone whose passion and you said wow you sure passionate about your work, it's also think your authentic your genuine you are the real deal. i don't think you can fake passion. so how do you feel about some of the individuals the right about blacks do you feel -- you write about? >> guest: i think it's a unifying thread. i've come to really believe that

if you look at people who are really great at what they do really, really great after work, after job at what they take on, there's only one thing that all of them have in common. not where they came from not their family history, not what part of the country or even if they are from this country. defend every person that hasn't falls into the great category of what they do it's they are incredibly passionate about. i have never met anyone who is good at what they do and when you ask them you joined and they say it's okay. i have never ever heard that before but it's only people awake in the morning thinking about it they go to bed at night thinking about what they do because its lifeblood. i remember when i was leaving to head back into the world of finance but cautiously my time at the white house. i went to go see a mentor of mine bill brody was a former president of johns hopkins university. he asked the what are you doing next? i told of going back into the world of finance to he said

really and i said that's not the answer i'm expecting to get me. he said, just tell me why. why did you choose to do this after that express? i told them to act like it's a poor skills that i wanted to like i was good at it and i was protecting and supporting my family in ways i'd i've never been able to support them before. and he said to me listen, i'm never going to get you on the decisions, particularly things you think are best for your family. but he said i just ask this. the moment you feel like that you can leave, leave, because every day you do something that you're not passionate about, judy extraordinarily ordinary. >> host: well said. >> guest: and that hit me like a ton of bricks because we all are striving to make a mark on this world so the long after we're gone our impact is still

around. and it's impossible to do that if you find yourself becoming extraordinarily ordinary it is you don't about what it is you're doing. >> host: i totally agree and i think passion turns into authenticity, caring and success. i think if you can lie that the. so in our life's work we need to make sure we land in a place where actually care about. otherwise it's not worth anyone's time. the organization you're serving for yourself, family members and others but i think it creates pain that works against you if you're not happy and you don't feel passionate. >> guest: you become dispensable. if you are not great at what you do you become dispensable and that's one thing i think we saw with all these people as well. if they cheat to the great is because as dr. king said, everyone can be great because everyone can serve. that's part of the beauty of it. when you lose yourself in other people, when you lose yourself in this idea that i've something

to continue, something big and i'm part of the world that is bigger than just myself, that's often anyways how people find their passion and the greatest. >> host: there are a couple things i want to go through, but i also want to reference one particular individual in here in your life, and his name is daniel. in every book you read lisa please are me there's always a moment that you just, you almost excel. this is one of those moments. i will set this up for the jurors today, but what this is about is his grandfather assuming jewish, lithuanian they were jewish his grandfather was and his father so his father and his grandfather in europe and the nazis and the lithuanian people are literally killing jews in this time. and this is pretty tragic. he comes back to his apartment

complex and he sees the superintendent who was there on a regular basis, and the superintendent and he says there's something going on that's tragic. he doesn't know exactly what was. you go into the description that i will let readers read but he says it looks really bad. the superintendent says what's going on? he says, well unfortunately i have had to tell the nazis who the jewish residents are and they killed all of them. and he said, oh, my. and here's what the superintendent said to daniel lubetzky's grandfather and his father was there. but i spent you because you treated them with respect. you look me in the eye so i spared you. now get your stuff and get out of here. daniel lubetzky goes on. the grandson now, goes on and certainly influenced by his parents and his grandfather's story, goes on to create an

opposition called kind. but that is such a powerful statement because this gentleman was just being himself and he obviously was a kind individual. he cared about others to it didn't matter who it was but this is the superintendent of the building. most of us never pay attention to this and imagine if we dug deep into his grandfather's life he would've been that way, trade people in all of his life that way. it's a powerful lesson to us about treating others with respect and generosity and kindness. tony mauro about how you feel about -- tell me a little more about how you feel about daniel. >> guest: daniel is such a role model to me. you think about that decision, and daniel is also a clear your i can't condone the actions of that man in many ways because

yes while he saved my family there were so many others that were then given up and were killed. but you think about how to -- how a different decision had been made by the individual i never would've known daniel lubetzky to the world never would've known the contributions that dan is given to this world every single day. we don't know how much our actions are going to impact ourselves and others in many cases. i had a student once like, are certain decisions more important than others? and i thought that was an interesting question and i told him, i said my honest answer is i think yes. certain decisions are bigger than others. the problem is that we don't know which ones are which. so what then happens is we then have to treat every decision that we make with the kind of gravity that that decision might one day earn. so this idea that you go in one direction or another do you say

hello to holding the door for you? do you treat that person who is down on their luck with a sense of respect or with a sense of apathy? what decisions we make every day, and part of the beauty of is and this isn't just for an adolescent. oath of us, we're going to make 25 decisions before we go to bed tonight that will help determine what our tomorrow looks like. and we didn't have to treat each and every one of those decisions with a sense of gravity. i, for one, of the other things that was powerful about daniel's story is he talked about how his mother, how his father would tell them that story and i was mother would tell the father and say, don't tell them they are so small, don't tell the kids of those stories. his father was saying they have to hear it. we had to live it. and it goes to show the importance of making sure that stories are then passed on. people understand the nature of what we're talking about, the humanity behind about what we talk about. sometimes we think we don't sure things is because we are saving

or we are sparing. they don't need to hear that they don't need to know that. but if they don't know their own path and own history, how within going to keep that in a sense when we think about our own future? so daniel's story in so many ways epitomized how we should think about our past and future and our store, that also how kindness can truly change the world. >> host: and make you feel good, too. i tell you i'd understand people who walk around their life and are just down and withdrawn. it makes you feel good. i'm so he talks to strangers in the elevator. but, you know, from the wrong want to talk to about this but it lifts me up. when you speak to others. another individual, very uplifting, and this is abdullah. so a young afghanistan, young man, and i think when you met him maybe in his late teens or

real young. he actually worked for the army i guess as an interpreter. and he had a tragic story on its own, but it was really uplifting to hear your connection with this young man and how he helped your unit at great risk of peril, i mean, to himself and other loved ones i'm sure. what was so special about abdullah? >> guest: i would actually argue that abdullah had more risk than even us. there wasn't a single mission that we went on offense of our otherwise, that abdullah wasn't right there in the fight with us. there wasn't a single operation that we conducted, and some pretty dangerous operations that abdullah wasn't right there. because we couldn't do our job in many ways without them. we needed him. he spoke all the local in which

it. whenever we are communicating with people he was the person right there with us helping us to understand what people were saying. he was passing on messages. the thing that was so amazing about it for us is abdullah, when we were done with nations and we returned back to the forward operating bases, we had all of our soldiers around us and that anything. we had soldiers patrolling. abdullah went back home. there were these things called night letters in afghanistan. and what night letters were where these letters that were literally left on the doors of people who are working for the coalition or whatever and they would say we know that you are working for the coalition we're going to kill you and your entire family. they were left by the taliban or whatever groups that were inside the area. and abdullah was getting these letters all the time. because everybody knew who he was and who he was working for. every single day he showed up

for work. every single day despite knowing that risk he showed up for work. he's a person his father was killed by the taliban. he did it because he felt like i dream of a future in this country without the taliban. i dream of a day when they are no longer a force and where we can live our life in freedom. that's what he did. he thought they needed because he believed in something bigger. and to see the level of courage and bravery that he brought on was just remarkable to me because i deeply have a great admiration for my soldiers and my paratroopers who i served with. but the admiration i have for abdullah and all these other people who risked their lives every day is tantamount to that as well. >> host: you didn't give yourself enough credit about your invalids on abdullah's life. because if we interviewed abdullah right now imagine the within one of my mentors from in iraq, you played well and maybe others indian as well. let me shift to another thing in

the book i really like. it seemed like every individual in the book including yourself, all had a guardian angel or someone in their lives that kind of help steer them. not necessarily out of trouble because many lots of problems which articulates so well, but there was always a theme of somewhat like my present keeper, you know president obama is now talking a lot about for all young boys and girls. that we need to really as adults we need to be a guardian angel for these young boys and girls. if you think about a country that always have someone to guide them, i really think it would make a difference. there's statistical research and mentoring really has so many positive effects on individuals. now we know by research, we've

known this. we know it is now legitimate. i think, so you don't give yourself enough credit to but my guess is that abdullah would say yes, wes moore was my rock as well. >> guest: really i think it's the definition of family. i think that's something we all collectively have to do the family isn't just someone who you are born to or born around for someone whose dna runs through your veins. family is someone who you love and respect and to protect just like anyone else. i bring a theological perspective to it as well what it's like if we are all god's children, then by definition we are all brothers and sisters. i think we do need to treat each other that way. >> host: the world would be a better place. and i think we are making progress, i really do. i just came from a mentors conference here in washington and it was the largest attendance at the event since

they started the summer. so that's very encouraging. what's encouraging is now we have corporations involved in mentoring at a very structured successful, curriculum-based, sometimes even evaluated measured way. i sat with a great corporation that is doing amazing work with their colleagues and having a lot of fun doing it. nonprofits, philanthropic leaders, some included government leaders. so we're getting a lot of people and organizations of all types. the faith-based community has been there a long time. they are even stepping up their game, all of our faith leaders. i think we're going in the right direction with this. i think this is something that is again service volunteerism in america is part of our dna and this is part of how we can serve others. >> guest: absolutely.

and also how we think about it. because part of the beauty of it is we think about the world we want to live in the only way we can have the world we want to live in pacific and have a broader, more inclusive conversation where everyone feels like there's a vested interest in your success where everybody feels like they're part of the conversation. so there's a couple things i think that are interesting about this idea of service. one is the best way to think about service is even if he not going to do it to be selfless do it to be selfish. because it creates a better world in order that you will live and that your family will live in, that people, as talking to a friend of mine who's an engineer, i wanted him to come speak to some kids in baltimore, and i said just spend literally tells what what you do everyday because of our kids to understand professions and i can think he was telling me, listen, i really admire the work but to be honest with you my service is i work with my daughter's. he's an amazing father for his

daughters but my point back to them was i completely respect that but to be very honest how are you helping her daughters when they go to school that has a 54% graduation rate? how are you helping her daughters when a certain time of night they need to be held because the streets are no longer safe? how are you helping win at some point to look for partners spend a life with? if you look at young people, young men inside the area, 61% are in some form of supervision supervision-state. if you want to your daughters, create a society that they can be safe and prosperous and happy and. i think about someone that a toggle in the book harry belafonte can wear a chance to interview him on msnbc one day and it was great because he was a huge like a legend in my household growing up. part of it is because he's an amazing talent and my grandmother was incredibly attracted to him. iconic right? but he made his liberty actually

mean something. there's a lot of people who once they continued to rise they stay away from controversial issues because they are a free people won't buy my sneakers or won't buy my books. and harry belafonte never to the. he always looks like head first into controversial issues of the day. things that could potentially sacrifices grew. i asked him a question and i said, what is it that it was so important to you to get involved in issues that other people stayed away from? and he says to me because, he said it helped me to live a more interesting life. and he said you know some people wake up in the morning and they call their accounts. i wake up in the morning and i called nelson mandela. whose life do you think is more fun? >> host: that's a good one aspect because it's like we serve both because it's the right thing to do but we serve because it just makes life more interesting. >> host: it is so true, yet we actually have researched links

health benefits to volunteerism and service. which is fantastic to we know that make you happier. if you're volunteering there's health benefits like you live longer, you have reduced sense of isolation. your endorphins kick in to your stress levels are reduced to it's pretty fascinating to study how the human body responds to volunteerism. we do have some thing interesting recently. we have some new research that shows if you are unemployed and you volunteer during your time of unemployment, you increase the likelihood of getting a job by 27%. it's phenomenal. if you live in a row community, that likelihood shoots up to 55%. so now i'm talking to young and old, but a lot of high school

graduates, those in college who are worried about getting a job immediately after college. consider volunteering. you're going to expand your horizon, gain, your network will be increase, gain soft and hard skills. so i'm kind of taking it like not only is it good for nonprofits and people receiving it, but it's good for your career as well. we never had this research or data to prove it gets put it so powerful. from the most important professional relationships that i have made has been because of things i've done on the service side, boards you seven, things you volunteer, organization javon to with. or just the way it helps you think differently about something. all that stuff matters. >> host: i want to go back and i'm going to continue to switch between characters in your book and things, but i want to go back to somebody that i know and admire and that's mayor michael hancock of denver.

i did not know that he was one of 10 children with three sets of twins. i mean, i don't know anybody that's just wild. and to look at him today in fact i was just with him recently and we're working on a problem and he was very helpful very attentive and care deeply about this particular issue we were working on in denver, and he was working with me on a solution which is just great. he's such a positive guy. i never would've guessed that he's one of 10, struggle growing up. his father divorced his mother. he actually had help from an older sibling that helped raise him on with his mother. i mean really, it's amazing that he is the mayor of a major united states city. it's really incredible. tell me about your impressions of mayor hancock. >> guest: you talk about someone who's had so many stacks

lined up against him. what's amazing one of the things i love about this story was he really has almost a single definition of success when he was growing up. and that was denver. e. associate everything negative about his childhood with his hometown, with the denver. if others almost like an inherent flaw in the city. even when -- >> host: he was blaming the committee. >> guest: blaming the committee for whatever. to think now he is the mayor of that city is what he did was he took his greatest hurt and his greatest pains, and instead of spending all his time running away from them, he actually turned and did a 180 and ran right into it. which goes to show not only the personal internal strength that he has and the vision that he thought the way i'm going to conquer this is actually by facing it on instead of turning away from the. the other thing i think you realize was, there are other michael hancock's coming up behind you to there are

thousands of michael hancock's growing up in my city. who would i be to turn my back on them? who would they be to know that i could make an impact and i then chose not to? i remember, when i did something my sister told my younger sis which is taught by her definition of hell. and she said my definition of help would be one day god showing me everything i could have accomplished had i only tried. ..

the question then becomes what do we do with it? and we can compartmentalize it, run away from it, but it's coming as fast as it can. or we can look at it eye to eye and see who flinches first. >> host: yeah. well, it certainly showed me why he had compassion for his leadership role and the issue we were dealing with he -- i know now more. i didn't know this about him. so now you've helped me understand -- >> guest: ing amazing. >> host: it is pretty amazing. let's talk about the expanded military family and our veterans today. >> guest: yeah. >> host: at our agency the corporation for international community service, we have americorps and senior corps

programs, and we embrace -- and the social innovation fund in other ways to support veterans. but we embrace supporting not only veterans, active military personnel but also their families. very key to families too. especially these children who are seeing their parents father or mother, being deployed for extended periods of time. and i think there's probably a larger issue there than we're acknowledging throughout america that we really need to address more. but one of the ways that we are trying to help as an agency is -- there's two ways. we actually provide grants to organizations to support, you know mel tear families -- military families veterans, the entire extended military service personnel wherever they are in their life lots of ways. whether it's connecting them to services or resources, helping them with housing, food

security, education opportunities, whatever it is. so we actually -- it's part of our service delivery. >> guest: yeah. >> host: but i think almost more important we are providing opportunities especially for these young veterans who are returning from iraq and afghanistan to become americorpss members. >> guest: yes. >> host: to join our forces as an americorps member. and the reason why i know it's working is because i am talking to them, and they are telling me that when they came back to stateside, that it was not as easy as they thought to just jump right into a sense of normalcy and just right into gainful employment or an education pathway. but service in particular i'm speaking about americorps gave them four of those steps back in where we could tap their leadership and organizational skills, hard and soft skills to apply that to provide service.

and they could be still providing service to our country. >> guest: yeah. >> host: while they're trying to figure out their next step. >> guest: that's right. >> host: and i'll take that any day. i'll take a returning soldier any day who wants to continue to give back to our country as an americorps member, because we benefit from it as well. >> guest: yes. >> host: we even have programs taking it a step further where we have americorps members who are veterans who are serving in a program that is delivering services to veterans and military family members. who relates better. >> guest: yeah. >> host: so we have 26,000 americorps or senior corps members who are veterans today and then we have several thousand more who are serving veterans as part of our portfolio. so it's a big part of our work, and it's a big part of our priority. do you think this is a worthwhile investment for, in our case, government partnering with the local nonprofit philanthropic, corporate

organizations matching our fndz? is this a worthwhile indiffer for us to continue to -- earn def for us to continue to pursue? >> guest: i think the corporation has cracked this larger nut that the country is wrestling with how exactly do we prepare the country for the return of these 2.6 million people who are vets of iraq and afghanistan? and that's only iraq and afghanistan. it doesn't even include wars past. but then also how do we prepare the vets, the warriors for their return back home? and it's interesting because i think one thing we have to, you know, we have to be able to accept -- and you said a word here that was so important, normalcy. that there is going to be a new normal. and that's okay, right? things are going to feel different, are going to be different, and it's not as simple as simply saying okay now that i'm home everything now is going to be all right. and often times i think that becomes one of the biggest challenges of family and community where they'll look at you, and it's like this whoo, i'm glad you're back home and

i'm glad that's over with. but the experience, the sights the sounds the urgency that we felt over there it's not like that can easily be replicated once you come back home. so there is a new normalcy that we have to fall back into. the other thing that we have to fall into is every day while you're deployed there is that sense of now about it, right? >> host: uh-huh. >> guest: you wake up in the morning thinking, okay what's the mission for today, how do i accomplish it, and it's kind of a big deal if we accomplish it. at the end of the night, you decome press, you process, but you know the next morning i'm going to jump right into that type of framework. to then go back to, you know, a job -- hopefully you have a job you're coming back to -- but to come back to a family where there's a need but in often cases spouses or girlfriends or whatever have been dealing with everything while you've been gone, so you're still trying to figure out what's my role now that i'm back --

>> host: yeah. >> guest: -- we have to be able to help a lot of these warriors as they're coming back home understanding, a, there will be a transition, and that's fine, b, we still need you inside of the fight. and when i say "the fight," it isn't necessarily the military fight, but for the communities in our society and, c, we understand and respect your skill set. you know often times people think one of the largest misconceptions is we're somehow these robots. no ma'am, no sir, yes, sir how high should i jump because they think about the military structure. one of the things i learned about my paratroopers and soldiers is these are some of the most entrepreneurial people you'll meet because the only guarantee we know is that tuesday will probably look nothing like monday and wednesday will look nothing like tuesday. there's a constant adaptation that has to happen physically mentally emotionally in the work that we're doing while we're overseas. there's an extraordinary skill set that these men and women are bringing back home and we're doing a great service the our large society when we can tap

into it when we can understand how teamwork and units actually really do support movements and when you're giving a person a continued sense of mission that you really are helping them to integrate into a society in a much smoother fashion than simply by say well, i'm glad that's over with and somehow thinking that old normal will somehow apply. >> host: well, i think -- good. so we're going down the right path. of i'm glad we're going down this path. i feel very passionate about it. and i'm seeing results, and i'm hearing so many amazing stories that are being told. and i do want to -- even military spouses have the same kind of connection and can have the same kind of impact as well because they know what it's like to live the life of a military family. >> guest: yeah. >> host: and so i think they understand those trials and tribulations as well. >> guest: in some ways it's something i realized, i almost think in many ways they have et ion tougher. -- it even tougher. we had good days and very bad

days, but we always had each other. we leaned on each other we supported each other, we were there for each other. the spouses don't. so in many ways i actually feel like, and it's through experience, in some ways the families had it even tougher. the families sit there and try not to watch the news or hope that the enigmatic unknown doesn't show up on their phone, and they just pray for that. >> host: yeah. >> guest: it becomes really difficult for them for that transition as well. >> host: you have started a new nonprofit, and it's called bridge edu. this is an area that i really feel great about. it's -- you are focused on college freshmen who are struggling and there was a recent statistic that was amazing that how few of our high school graduates are even well prepared for college. >> guest: that's right: >> host: for a lot of reasons. just their personal development, being able to be out on their

own, the new freedom, you know, that you have, it's been a few years for me, but i do remember that first year, and it was very freeing. you know, it was an exciting point in my life. but it's also a time when you start making some serious mistakes as well. tell me about bridge edu. what are you doing in this nonprofit, and how are you affecting these college freshmen? >> we're so excited because really i became increasingly on to accessed with what's happening with students as they matriculate on higher education. we're actually doing nationally a much better job in k-12. last year we hit 80% for the first time in the nation's history. really exciting that 80% of kids are finishing high school. the challenge we're seeing for students starting higher ed that the numbers have remained stubbornly low when you think about student persistence. 900% of the -- 100 percent of the students who start college every year 34% will not reenroll for their sophomore

year. we know if more many students that chokepoint is their freshman year. if they do well, they have a high propensity for finishing and finishing on time. we said let's create this social enterprise where it's like, you know what? if the chokepoint is a freshman year, then why don't we reinvent the freshman year? so the students are getting a softer and a more personalizedded onramp into higher education. so we then partner with institutions of higher education around the country both community colleges and four-year schools, and we say, okay, you know, they're going to be taking classes with these institutions but they're only taking one to two classes at a time in nine week chunks because a we want them to focus on mastery of the subject work and b we want to keep them away from heavy remedial course work because part of the challenge as you correctly indicated, is you'll have a student who is then taking remedial classes for the majority of their freshman year. they're paying the same amount as every other student but at the end of the year they have

three credits or six credits or no credits because no classes they took actually counted for any credits. that student, chances are will never finish college. >> host: and they're the ones that can't afford tutors as well. >> guest: and they're burning through their financial aid. in addition to that, we have them taking personalized assessments because we want to know where their skill sets match their interests and they're doing internships and service learning opportunities in their area of focus. we have coaches working with them on an individual basis, we have a co-curriculum and the co-curriculum they're teaching is learning everything from how do you properly fill out the fafsa to what's proper business attire to, you know, how do you address a subordinate versus a colleague versus a boss? basic skills that for so many kids, they just don't have that. but we somehow expect them to then have that as they're matriculating through higher education. we're hoping to address both the college completion crisis and

the job placement crisis all at the same time while the students are actually still getting academic credit and momentum. and we're currently in the baltimore, and the success of the students that we've had for our grouping of students onboard has been remarkable. the level of student persistence, the level of intrigue and knowing the kind of work now that they want to do, they're going to continue on with their higher education with a much clearer sense of direction and focus and purpose. and that's exactly what we want for our students as they're entering into that higher ed equation. so we continue to expand and to grow it's the same type of assets we want to bring to each individual community and institution that we then work with. >> host: that is fantastic. and i'll tell you something we're doing that i think this would be a very good partnership in the future in we're in the middle of selecting -- in a grant process, and here's the goal. and we will be announcing the winners very soon. the goal is to find at least one community in america that is willing to guarantee that every

high school graduate on june 1 when they graduate is going to be offered one of five opportunities to join the military, a noble and great place to start your career, to have access to college and hope fully college scholarships as well if there's a need there to get a job right out of high school, have one ready for them right in that town, to be provided with a paid apprenticeship or a paid nonprofit of stipend, nonprofit experience, and the fifth one is to join americorps. >> guest: yes. >> host: so the community is going to rally around all of the high school graduates in this community that we select. we're going to place americorps members in the school working and carving out a pathway and a plan for every high school senior. and then we're going to have americorps businesses in the community working on the resource side, working with the colleges to recruit scholarships working with the business community and ask them can you provide a job for a high

school graduate here in town? if you can't provide a job could you provide maybe a stipended apprenticeship? if you can't do that, could you contribute to a college scholarship or a nonprofit for their living stipend? certainly, we'll work with the military recruiters as well. >> guest: yeah. >> host: and ramp that up. but -- so the idea is that every high school graduate is going to have an opportunity waiting on them in their hometown -- >> guest: love it. >> host: isn't that great? now -- >> guest: love it. >> host: -- we're going to have some people, some of these students that are going to, you know, join maybe a first generation college student or start a job with, but they're not as prepared as they need to be. your program could help start and help them with that journey. because we're not going to just say, okay on june 1 here's the opportunity, good luck. >> guest: right. >> host: for those who need it, we want to stay with them. >> guest: yes. >> host: at least a year. >> guest: that's right. >> host: to be their coach, their mentor, to guide them, to make sure they know what it's like to start a job and what is

expected of you, what you're going to need to be successful in college. >> guest: yeah. >> host: and so your kind of program, and i'm looking for others around the country that are going to be able to embrace these young high school graduates. and i think with, in time as we measure this we're actually going to see the high school graduation rate in that community -- >> guest: absolutely. >> host: -- raise because the ninth and tenth graders, not only the students but the parents are going to say, wait a minute, if we get you to high school graduation, you stay on with that, this community's going to take care of you. >> guest: yes, yes. >> host: but you've got to get to that goal. >> guest: you've got to. >> host: you've got to do some things, the community's going to be helping with you as well. so that connection -- >> guest: that's, and i love this idea. that sounds incredibly exciting. and i love it because what it's also doing is it's helping students to even understand what's even available. because that i think is part of the challenge that we have for so many students. they're looking around and they don't even know what options there are. nationwide it's 476 kids per

guidance counselor. in california the number is 710 -- >> host: just overwhelming. >> guest: it's completely overwhelming. and guidance counselors are doing layman's work, but they're incredibly overwhelmed. it happens once, maybe twice during the year, it's a ten minute meeting, and they basically ask you what are your test scores and this is where you might want to consider going to college. >> host: not enough. >> guest: it's not enough. we have to get to know our students and help them figure out what is going to be the best path for them and by providing all these different options for them, it then can become a much more robust conversation and a much more personalized conversation. i think, i really also believe part of the challenge that students have once they enter higher education is they're just picking the wrong schools for them. and so their takeaway from that experience, from that one semester or one year they're there is i'm not college material. that might not necessarily be the right takeaway. >> host: no. >> guest: maybe that wasn't the right school for you maybe the right supports weren't there,

maybe they don't even have the major you're interested in. but you did not know that going into that process. >> host: nope. >> guest: we have to be able to make sure that each and every student understands what options are available and which ones are the best options for them as they think about their career path. >> host: and i think, i mean, we are all trying to really steer and encourage all of our high school graduates towards some kind of higher education. >> guest: yeah. >> host: and i think the timing is important. like some high school seniors may be taking care of younger siblings depending on the family situation, they may need a job for a year and maybe take some courses on the side. some might need to join the military and then use their g.i. bill resources to complete college. >> guest: that's right. >> host: so, you know, i want this to be a bigger picture. i do have this goal that i share with the president and other leaders that are saying we need college education, it needs to be available to all of our high school graduates. but it depends -- each situation is unique. so we're trying to offer an

opportunity five different vehicles of how you get there and what it's going to take for you to get there. >> guest: that's right. >> host: so stay tuned on this, this'll be a lot of fun. >> guest: absolutely. >> host: we'll have to work with you on it, and we're going to name at least one community that's going to take this and the mayor and the superintendent in the community's going to be very proud -- >> guest: that's right. >> host: -- to to make sure we're taking care of our own. just a few minutes left. in your book "the work: my search for a life that matters," which i love that title you do reasons your grandfather who was clearly a member to have to you -- mentor to you, and you learned many lessons from you. can we close by talking about your grandfather and his influence on you and what kind of gentleman was he? >> guest: he, um, he was one of the most important people in my life and i don't have many -- there's things that i, you know regret doing but there's not many things i said i would take

back per se because i think all of our experiences make us who we are. i wish i would have better appreciated him more and the sacrifice he was making for all of us when i was younger. he was the first black minister in the history of the dutch reform church, and that was the official religion of apartheid of south africa. so when he became a minister in this religion it wasn't welcomed by all to think that here is this, you know, this black man who is now taking over, you know taking over, you know this congregation. >> host: yeah. >> guest: but he was a person who firmly believed in this idea of legacy, and he firmly believed in this idea of everyone doing their part. and there was a sermon and i talk about it a little bit in "the work," but there was aer sermon that i used to give -- that he used to live, and he talked about the relationship between joshua and moses and how neither one of them could do everything on their own, but basically one's job was to part the sea, the other one was to

lead the people through this parted sea. and how in many ways life is very much like that. where none of us are asked to run the whole race ourselves. we're asked to go as long and as hard as we can. and then when we can go no further, to then reach our hand out and pass that baton to that next person who's waiting, and then their job is to run as long and as hard as they can, and then they -- and that's how we actually complete this race. he was a person that helped me to understand that our impact does not come from titles. it doesn't come from business cards. it doesn't come from whether there were airports named after us. it comes from us digging into our basic humanity and making our time here matter. making it matter so the fact that when people look back at what we did while we were here, did it matter to anyone else that you were here? did it matter to anybody else

that you spent time on this planet? and if the answer is yes then you've done your part. and if the answer is yes then you've done everything you've ever been asked to do. and he was not just an extraordinary example for me in that, but he serves as a constant reminder to me every single day of what it means to serve and what it means to love. >> host: that's, it's just very powerful, and you speak often about him in the book and i think that it's a message that we really need to tell the world that we need to grow gentle kind grandfathers and grandmothers, and we need to start at a young age -- >> guest: yeah. >> host: -- to develop that natural ability to to care for others and be a leader in your own family. >> guest: yes. >> host: and it's, you know it's so important that we think about our influences as we come

into adulthood and how we can change lives. and he evidently had a tremendous impact on yours. wes, it's been great. you're amazing. i can't wait to see the rest of the chapters of your life and i hope you'll continue to share it with us, and my best to your wife and your two children too. thanks so much. this has been the best part of my week. >> guest: mine too. thank you. >> that was "after words," booktv's signature program in which authors of the latest nonfiction books are interviewed by journalists public policymakers and others familiar with their material. "after words" airs every weekend on booktv at 10 p.m. on saturday 12 and 9 p.m. on sunday and 12 a.m. on monday. and you can also watch "after words" online. go to booktv.org and click on

"after words" in the booktv series and topics list on the upper right side of the page. >> here's a look at some books that are being published this week: