John B. Wells was joined by one of the most prolific comedy directors in Hollywood, Tom Shadyac, who has worked with some of the biggest names in the business on such huge hits as Liar Liar, The Nutty Professor, and Bruce Almighty. He discussed his book, Life's Operating Manual, which questions society's standards for measuring success. Shadyac said he had erroneously defined his own success by how much material wealth and status he had acquired. "When I got those things I found them, at best, neutral," he noted. Shadyac discovered the opposite to be true and confessed that giving to others is what has actually brought him true joy. Shadyac revealed how he began re-crafting his life, in line with the principles of love and service to one another, as he awakened to his own hypocrisies.
A near fatal bicycle accident and suffering with post-concussion syndrome motivated him to share his newly embraced outlook on life in the documentary I AM and in his new book, he said. Shadyac commented on negativity in the media and warned listeners against a steady diet of such fearful and toxic ideas, since people become what they feed upon. Media and the cultural hum is the collective energy of those buying into it, he proposed. Shadyac recommended avoiding complacency by living an unsettled life marked by service and love. Cooperation should be a higher ideal than competition and love should walk in the business world, he suggested. "All systems that are thriving in nature are in states of cooperation," he explained, noting that humans react to positive emotion in ways which renew their being. Love is how we move forward as a race, Shadyac said.