something that are foisted on us,

but the truth is, we do this to ourselves.

Collective illusions destroy social trust.

When we are under illusions about other people

no longer sharing our values,

when in fact they actually do,

everything from basic cooperation

to social innovation can come to a standstill.

To the extent that we distort our private values

in the name of belonging,

now we realize that doesn't just harm us,

it harms the whole society.

One of the most important collective illusions

that we've ever discovered has to do

with the way that people define a successful life.

We looked at the private opinions of the American public

across 76 different attributes

that could go into a successful life.

Out of those 76, the vast majority

of the American public believes

that most people would rank 'fame' as number one.

There's just one problem:

In private, it's actually dead last.

It is 76th out of 76 possible attributes.

We don't care about fame, but we believe

that most everybody else cares about fame

more than anything else.

Our public institutions are actually being built

around a false view of what people want out of life,

in our media, in our businesses.

Those people are also under the same exact delusions.

We have commercials, we have movies

and television shows all telling us

that a successful life is about being famous.

Now, the dominant thing

that kids talk about is wanting to be famous.

One kid, I remember saying, "I want a million followers."

He couldn't tell ya for what,

he just wanted a million followers.

We know that most people,

even in the younger generation,

do not privately value fame,

but they are even more convinced

than the older generations that most people do.

They are internalizing the illusion

as their own values,

and that will become the dominant view

in society in the future

if we don't do something about it.

Being aware that collective illusions exist

is the starting point,

and it comes down to us being honest

about ourselves, to each other.

Populace asked, "What does a fulfilling life mean to you?"

What we found was really astonishing.

Out of those 76 trade-off priorities in the thousands

and thousands of people that we have studied,

no two people were identical.

Nobody can tell you what a successful life is;

you have to discover that for yourself.

It's about knowing who you are.

If you wanna understand whether the people you care

about are pursuing a life that's not their own,

ask 'em why they care about what they're doing.

Why do you wanna be famous?

By having your ideas challenged,

that gives you a better sense

for who your true self is.

If we recognized our true, shared values,

it fundamentally changes how we see one another.

We now recognize that investing in each other

and enabling you to pursue the life you wanna live,

is actually better for you,

and for me.

- This series is brought to you by Stand Together,

a community of changemakers tackling our biggest challenges.