Worklife with Adam Grant: ReThinking — Matt Damon on Solving One of the Planet’s Biggest Problems, in Partnership with Gary White

Release Date: February 24, 2026
Guests: Matt Damon (Actor and Activist), Gary White (CEO, water.org)
Host: Adam Grant

Episode Overview

This episode of “ReThinking” brings together acclaimed actor Matt Damon and social entrepreneur Gary White to discuss their innovative efforts to tackle the global water crisis. Hosted by organizational psychologist Adam Grant, the conversation breaks down how Damon and White built a highly effective partnership and why they believe access to safe water is a catalyst for human potential. They share the strategies, struggles, and successes behind water.org’s microfinance model, highlight the challenge of rallying global attention, and reflect on lessons from creative collaboration in both Hollywood and humanitarian contexts.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Building Impactful Partnerships

[03:12–06:01]

• Creative Chemistry & Partner Selection:

  • Matt Damon credits his success to “partner selection,” saying most of his proudest achievements are through long-term collaborations, such as with Ben Affleck and now Gary White.
    • “If I have a strength... I think it is a strength for me is partner selection.” — Matt Damon [04:11]
  • Damon and White’s partnership began with inquisitiveness and alignment over innovation, leading to the merger of their organizations (H2O Africa and Water Partners) into water.org.

• Role of Humility:

  • Gary White spotlights Damon’s humility, an underrated but essential skill in forging trust and effectiveness.
    • “We talk about our ethos being boldness with humility... Matt exemplifies that, and that’s the culture we’re trying to build.” — Gary White [06:21]

2. The Microfinance Approach to Water

[07:05–10:08]

• Innovating Traditional Aid:

  • Gary White adapted microcredit models pioneered by Muhammad Yunus, using them for water solutions: rather than relying on grants to dig wells, they enable households to secure microloans and gain lasting ownership.

• Women at the Center:

  • 90% of microloans go to women—whose water-collecting duties hinder education and economic participation.
    • “These loans... 90% of them are women, by the way, pay back at 98%.” — Matt Damon [09:00]

• Scalable and Sustainable:

  • Water.org’s model drives the cost-per-person down from $25 (traditional well-drilling) to $5.
    • “In 2012, we reached our first million people. We reach a million people every six weeks now... We’ve now hit 85 million people that we’ve reached.” — Matt Damon [09:00]

• Multiplying Impact:

  • $7 billion in microloans have flowed through local partners, representing philanthropic leverage and market validation.

3. Making the Water Crisis Relatable

[12:22–16:40]

• Challenge of Awareness:

  • Damon and White describe how people in developed countries struggle to relate to water scarcity because of constant, effortless access.
    • “If you grew up in the developed world, you were never more than five steps away from a clean drink of water.” — Matt Damon [12:35]

• Personal Stories:

  • Damon shares impactful field stories (like a Zambian girl’s dreams enabled by water access and a Haitian girl who finally has time to play), illustrating water’s transformative power and need for humanized advocacy.

    • “I said, what are you gonna do with all this extra time? And she looked at me and goes, I’m gonna play. And it was like, it just absolutely nailed me. So that’s what’s at stake. That’s what $5 gives you.” — Matt Damon [15:48]

  • White shares about Mama Florence in Uganda who leveraged a water microloan into multiple income streams, showcasing the entrepreneurial ripple effect of water access.

    • “She started using it to water a garden... then she was selling bricks... then she would start building some small rooms on her property that she could then rent out… It just blew me away.” — Gary White [16:40]

4. Rethinking Goals and Scaling Impact

[21:00–26:09]

• Questioning Growth Limits:

  • White and Damon raise the challenge of self-benchmarking in the absence of direct competition: how to know if they’re maximizing their impact.

• Adam’s Advice: Zero-Based Budgeting & Innovation Tournaments:

  • Adam Grant warns against incremental thinking (“last year’s numbers plus 10%”), advocating for zero-based, blue-sky goal setting:

    • “If we were taking over this organization for the first time, what would be our moonshots?” — Adam Grant [22:12]

  • He suggests engaging local teams in setting ambitious, ground-up goals and running “innovation tournaments” to surface scalable ideas from all corners of the organization.

5. Lessons on Rejection & Resilience

[26:36–27:47]

• Matt Damon draws parallels between facing rejection in acting and overcoming setbacks in philanthropy: resilience is crucial, and learning from failure is key to impact.
  • “You become really comfortable being rejected. And that’s been a huge help to me... you don’t take things so personally.” — Matt Damon [27:47]
  • “If we were stuck to an idea... and we didn’t have flexibility to go where the work took us, we’d be in a really different place.” — Matt Damon [28:10]

Memorable Quotes

• On Opportunity:
  “Talent is distributed evenly around the world. Opportunity is not. And that’s what water does.” — Gary White [03:12]

• On Making a Difference:
  “It’s $5 to get somebody clean water. So that’s a very direct way [to] impact.” — Matt Damon [33:22]

• On Microfinance as Empowerment:
  “It [the model] unleashes the entrepreneurial spirit of people once they have access to water... all of our economies are built on water.” — Gary White [10:08]

Notable Moments & Timestamps

• Matt Damon’s Dad and “How do you like them apples?” — [01:56]
  Fun opening as Damon recalls his father’s bad script advice.

• Forming water.org through merger and $7.95 URL — [05:16]
  Illustrates the organic and practical roots of the organization.

• Describing water’s impact on women’s lives and time — [07:45–09:38]
  Clear, passionate explanation of why water access is a gender and education issue.

• Comparing models: $25 vs. $5 per person — [09:00]
  Demonstrates scale efficiencies of innovative finance.

• Amina in Tanzania and Mama Florence in Uganda — [11:40–16:40]
  Personal anecdotes that showcase system-wide empowerment.

• Challenge: How do we raise the internal bar? — [21:14]
  Adam coaches them on non-profit benchmarking and unleashing internal creativity.

• Resilience from Hollywood rejection to humanitarian setbacks — [26:36–28:45]
  Matt Damon shares what acting rejection taught him about grit in philanthropy.

• Lightning Round — [30:55–33:34]
  Quickfire insights on what the guests have changed their minds about, hidden Matt Damon performances, and who they’d draft for a dream water crisis team.

• Closing Call to Action — [33:22]
  Matt Damon and Gary White urge listeners to get involved and highlight the low cost of making a massive difference.

Action Steps for Listeners

• Learn more and support: At water.org, $5 provides one person clean water.
• Spread awareness: Humanize the issue by sharing stories, not just statistics.
• Rethink scale: Innovate in your own organizations by inviting broad input and radically reassessing goals.

Notable Quotes with Speaker Attribution & Timestamps

• “If I have a strength... it is partner selection. All of the things that I’m proud of and that give me value are in partnership with others.”
  — Matt Damon [04:11]

• “We talk about our ethos being boldness with humility. There’s always so much more to learn in order to conquer this. Matt exemplifies that.”
  — Gary White [06:21]

• “These loans that are taken out by the most economically vulnerable people on the planet, 90% of them are women, by the way, pay back at 98%.”
  — Matt Damon [09:00]

• “If you grew up in the developed world, you were never more than five steps away from a clean drink of water... it’s in our bathrooms. The water in our toilets is cleaner than 2 billion people have access to.”
  — Matt Damon [12:35]

• “You become really comfortable being rejected. And that’s been a huge help to me... you don’t take things so personally.”
  — Matt Damon [27:47]

Conclusion

Through authentic conversation, data-informed innovation, and deeply personal stories, Matt Damon and Gary White deliver a compelling case for both the importance and achievability of solving the world’s water crisis. Their partnership, marked by humility, resilience, and creative problem-solving, offers inspiration for anyone seeking measurable social change through collaboration and innovative thinking.