Burnout is a significant public health problem. Just this year, the World Health Organization upgraded its assessment of the threat posed by burnout. The condition, says the WHO, is a “syndrome” involving a range of symptoms related to chronic stress. The WHO statement explicitly ties burnout to the workplace. According to one...
read more
Sep
29
Sep
29
In spite of increased awareness, suicide continues to be a major public health problem in the United States, and around the world. Suicide is the tenth leading cause of death in the U.S., where the rate is higher than at any point since World War II. The majority of suicides...
read more
read more
Sep
29
To everything there is a season. We associate summer with warm weather, vacations, and a more relaxed work schedule. As September begins, we may be mourning the end of summer—but we can also embrace the opportunity that comes with a new season. We can use the approach of autumn to...
read more
read more
Sep
29
Earlier this month, Bloomberg released the results of a survey designed to find the happiest occupations in the United States. The results were surprising and revealing. Firefighters came out on top, scoring a 9 of 10 on the job satisfaction scale. Pediatricians were not far behind. Tied for fourth were communications professors...
read more
read more
Sep
29
In the ten years since Dr. Atul Gawande published The Checklist Manifesto, the use of checklists has proliferated in fields from medicine to investing. Gawande, a surgeon, made a particular focus on the benefits of checklists in hospitals, where they have been credited with saving lives. Charlie Munger, Warren Buffet’s right-hand man,...
read more
read more
Sep
29
Across the board, employee engagement is a top priority for today’s business leaders. American businesses spend hundreds of millions of dollars on employee engagement initiatives each year, but with less than impressive results. What if we are focusing on the wrong thing? What if employee engagement is more of a symptom...
read more
read more
Sep
29
When the U.S. Women’s National Team defeated the Netherlands on Sunday to win the World Cup, a chant broke out amongst the crowd in Lyon, France. “Equal pay! Equal pay!” The sound was described as deafening. It was a striking confluence of sports and politics. While pay equity is at...
read more
read more
Sep
29
Recently I received an email from American Express providing a mid-year summary of my spending. It can be a useful exercise to step back and see longterm patterns and trends we may not be aware of on a day-to-day basis. However, this email spurred me to look at spending differently....
read more
read more
Sep
29
The optimism of younger workers—both Millennials and Generation Z—is in steep decline. The Deloitte Global Millennial Survey 2019 reveals a growing sense of “uneasiness and pessimism” amongst the younger generations, who are desperately searching for “safe havens” and “beacons of trust.” The good news? Millennials and Gen Z show deep loyalty to...
read more
read more
Sep
29
4 Impactful Actions Leaders Can Start Doing Today To Improve Employee Engagement And Company Culture
Leaders either make or break the job for their employees. People typically leave bad managers, not bad companies. It seems obvious: If you want engaged employees, you have to be an engaged leader. You have to engage with your employees. Nevertheless, many leaders engage with employees too infrequently and unconstructively. The millions...
read more
read more
Sep
29
At a time when men need to step up to the challenge of the #MeToo movement, it appears many of them are doing the opposite and standing back. A new survey finds that 60% of male managers say they are uncomfortable participating in regular work activities with women, especially one-on-one like mentoring...
read more
read more
Sep
29
The World Health Organization is finally taking burnout more seriously than ever. Now is the time for business leaders to follow suit. Burnout was included in the previous edition of the WHO’s handbook of diseases, but was described in general terms as a state of exhaustion. The new edition upgrades...
read more
read more
Sep
28
Loneliness kills. It poses a greater threat to health than obesity, and its life-shortening effects are comparable to smoking 15 cigarettes a day. Furthermore, it is rampant in today’s workplace. Those are some of the conclusions reached by Vivek H. Murthy, former Surgeon General of the United States. Due to the significant...
read more
read more
Sep
28
Gaining a competitive advantage in today’s world is serious business. The problems we face as a society are serious as well. Even the most seasoned business leader can become weighed down with life’s challenges, and we rarely perform at our best when we feel that way. Sometimes we need to...
read more
read more
Sep
28
Resilience is a major weapon in the fight against mental illness. One of the best ways to build resilience is to identify and support those things in our lives that revitalize us. For many people, pets provide significant emotional support and joy. Smart business leaders would do well to be mindful of...
read more
read more
Sep
28
At the risk of stating the obvious: most of us spend a lot of time at work. How we feel about work goes a long way toward determining our mental health. As business leaders, the work experience we create for our employees has a significant influence on their engagement, productivity,...
read more
read more
Sep
28
For all of the progress we as a society have made in bringing mental illness out of the shadows, a stubborn stigma persists. That stigma prevents us from talking openly about mental health issues and prevents those who need help the most from seeking it. The cost to business and...
read more
read more
Sep
28
You have more control over stress than you think. That is the message I would like to leave you with as we conclude Stress Awareness Month. No, we do not always have control over potentially stressful situations. In a fast-moving business world, certain things are out of our hands. Yet we...
read more
read more
Sep
28
Stress is inevitable. We cannot wish or hack it away. However, by being smart—and playful—about stress, we can rob its power over us. We can be proactive instead of reactive. Similar to the skilled practitioner of martial arts like judo (which translates as “gentle way”), we can artfully deflect stress...
read more
read more
Sep
28
Stress is often the byproduct of having a full plate, sometimes an overflowing plate. It is easy to lose sight of the fact that we have much choice about what goes onto our plate. We can choose where to devote our time, energy, and attention. Instead of saying yes to...
read more
read more
Sep
28
When stress inevitably hits us, there are ways to manage it and mitigate its effects. But why wait? Why not be proactive and build up the stress-busting quality of resilience so that, when stress arrives, we are ready for it? Building resilience is like making regular deposits into a rainy...
read more
read more
Sep
28
Let us kick off Stress Awareness Month by looking at the opposite of stress. Certainly, there are times when stress is telling us that something in our lives is straining our capacity—a stressor we need to identify and deal with. However, often times, stress can be a sign that something is missing....
read more
read more
Sep
28
5 Timely Leadership Lessons From “R.B.G.”: The Oscar-Nominated Documentary About Ruth Bader Ginsberg
“She’s the closest thing to a superhero I know,” women’s rights activist Gloria Steinem says at the start of the film “R.B.G.”. Despite her tiny stature, Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg has become a larger-than-life-figure in recent years. She has been given a hip-hop moniker—the Notorious R.B.G.—that is featured...
read more
read more
Sep
28
It is tempting to think of happiness as a soft quality, and a largely individual one. In recent years, however, researchers are studying and measuring the collective happiness of organizations and nations. Additionally, they are looking at how happiness relates to productivity and economic growth. International Day of Happiness is...
read more
read more
Sep
28
Economists are debating the possibility of a recession. But could it be that we are already in the middle of a sleep recession? Despite regular reminders of the importance of a good night’s sleep, our collective sleep habits are getting worse. The problem has become so serious that the Centers...
read more
read more