THE NEW SEARCH FOR MEANING AT WORK

Abstract The author, CEO of Purpose Linked Consulting, is an expert on how leaders and teams find meaning in the workplace. Leaders must help those they lead find things that are meaningful to them, and then make those things an integral part of their day‐to‐day contributions. She relates that leaders should “understand the core internal drivers of an employee’s search for meaning, the impact of career phases on these drivers, and the four personal insights they must gain to guide employees on the journey.” She discovered that “Behavioral economics provides some insights if we extend the application of market norm and social norm thinking to the search for meaning at work.” She describes the effects of how Covid changed society, inside and outside of workplaces, the role of discovering and incorporating one’s passions into work, and the career phases of exploring and expressing. She describes four insights for leaders, which in her words are (1) There is power in knowing who you are (2) Work can be both an adventure and in service to a higher goal. (3) Learning and self‐improvement are a lifelong process (4) They don’t waste energy with low value comparisons.