2 Things Bono Teaches Us about Work

Yes, that Bono.

Bono, the iconic front man to the legendary band U2, has finally told his story.

Bono’s new autobiography, titled Surrender and released in December 2022, chronicles his long and wildly successful career. In this book, we can learn so much about Bono (named Paul Hewson at birth, btw), why he earned a Nobel Peace Prize nomination, and was named Person of the Year by Time magazine.

Unlike the typical rock star, this Irish singer-songwriter has held tight to his morals (same wife for his whole career!), and has used his influence to talk about politics, religion, and social activism. He has founded a non-profit focused on fighting poverty and AIDS in Africa. On top of that, he is a pretty amazing human that can teach us a thing or two.

In reading Surrender, two stories stand out to me as lessons we can apply to our own careers:

1) In the first chapter, Bono recounts a concert tour during the height of their popularity. He talks about meeting with the other band members backstage before the performance, where they gathered to pray. Yes, pray.

Bono shared that the members of U2 always pray before every concert, and their prayer is essentially the same every time. They pray that THEY MIGHT BE USEFUL. By this, he clarifies that they want people who interact with U2 to be made different, and that conversely, the band itself would also be made different by their interaction with the audience. He wants to make a useful impact in people’s lives.

Being USEFUL? What an interesting prayer. Doesn’t it seem like maybe there are several other higher order things to request upward? What does it even mean to be useful?

What if we thought about our own work that way?

If we put our main goal at work as being useful, it would change everything. Rather than worrying about the stock price, getting noticed by the boss, or winning that big sales contract, we’d be focused on the human element. We’d be thinking about helping, building, growing, sharing, and befriending.

Maybe being useful means encouraging a co-worker after a hard meeting or reaching out to a customer to fix their issue, or building a great product that solves a problem. Usefulness means being helpful in achieving something good, offering value, and being irreplaceable because of one’s change-making impact.

Start your workday tomorrow by reciting your own mantra that you can and will be useful.

2) Secondly, Bono recalls his early years, post-high school, when it was trying to figure out his career, stating, “I was smart enough to know that I wasn’t smart enough.” He shares this in a spirit of humility, knowing that in certain places/jobs/careers, he just wasn’t the right fit. Looking up to others around him who were more experienced and more educated, he revealed his own meekness and down-to-earthiness.

Again, imagine if we went through our workday, echoing this quote of Bono’s: “I’m smart enough to know that I’m not smart enough.” HUMILITY. That is what Bono offers us as wisdom that can make us more appealing, authentic, approachable, and relatable human beings. Don’t we all want to work with people like that?

So, in the spirit of the beloved Bono, consider taking this week at work to focus on BEING USEFUL and HUMBLE.

You just might be as popular as U2.