Last month, the U.S. Surgeon General named “mattering at work” a top priority for improving mental health. The announcement reaffirms what we’ve known for many years: Mattering and well-being are inseparable, especially where humans spend 35% of their waking lives. The official call to prioritize mattering at work is the culmination of several conspiring forces … Read more
I can’t forget the smell, like the aftermath of banging two rocks together as a kid. This time, it was the reek of the driver’s side of my pickup scraping across the asphalt after it flipped. Pieces of glass sprayed my face and settled in my weekend slip-on shoes. The right side of my face … Read more
As people “return to work” during the COVID-19 pandemic, employers should be ready to address a hidden issue: a meaning deficit. Historically, every significant disruption of how we work inflicted profound distress flamed by existential crises and the search for meaningfulness. At the height of the second Industrial Revolution, in 1897, sociologist David Émile Durkheim … Read more