I saw Mike Rowe (of Dirty Jobs fame) on Meet the Press last Sunday (link here) talking about how his former show connected with Donald Trump voters and was a type of early indicator that something was happening to America’s working class. This got me thinking – what is a reality TV host and voice over actor doing on America’s premier Sunday morning political talk show? What did Mike Rowe do differently than, say, Jeff Probst (of Survivor)? Of course, Jeff Probst may not want to be on the Sunday morning shows. But the point remains.
Mike Rowe connected the idea behind his show to a larger narrative which totally eclipsed his show. The idea is simple and profound: All work is valuable, performed by individuals who have value and collectively have a voice. This idea is not generally embraced by large swaths of the country. Yes, many of those people tend to live in big cities near the coasts. I know, I live in a big city near the coast. I grew up in the “dirty jobs” environment (despite a hilarious lack of mechanical/technical abilities). My dad was (is?) an aircraft maintainer. I tell people in DC my dad worked an aircraft maintainer and they look at me cross-eyed.
Mike Rowe saw this disconnect between work, skills, and value, and started a foundation to promote skilled trade work in America. He partnered with change makers and heads of corporations to work toward closing the so-called skills gap. In essence, he connected his day-to-day work with a trend which extended far beyond his work, and in doing so created much more value value for himself and society than if he were to just be a TV host.
The question for me then is, “How does my work connect to a larger narrative?”; and “What is that narrative?”.
Britton Giroux 