Ashish Kothari explains how finding meaning at work improves your health and performance. Research shows people with purpose at work live longer, have lower Alzheimer's risk, and are about 8% more productive. They also experience less depression and anxiety.
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The cost we are paying dear friends from not finding meaning in our work is actually a very heavy cost. So let's think about why it's important to really find meaning at work. Let's look at it from different lenses. So let's start with physiology. In my book Hardwired for Happiness, I highlight several studies that showed how those who find meaning at work live longer, are more resilient, are in better physical health, have lower risk of Alzheimer's, even psychological health. When we look at the research, what we find is those who find meaning are more resilient, are more adaptable, they face lesser depression and anxiety. Finally, let's look at it from a business performance point of view as an organizational leader, while we care. If you look at research and you can search McKinsey and purpose, you'll find tons of research because this was a really important part of work that we did as a firm when I was still there. What we found in the research was that employees who find meaning have higher energy, but organizations, more importantly who infuse meaning and lead with purpose also get higher productivity, almost 8% and higher attrition. This is not something that is just nice to do. Everywhere we see this work around purpose and meaning and it's linked to performance is being shown both individually and collectively.
