Meaningful Work

How to Ignite Passion and Performance in Every Employee

By: Wes Adams, Tamara Myles

Length: 9 hrs

Publisher's summary

A powerful argument that finding meaning at work is the most powerful driver for employee happiness, talent retention, and profit, and a roadmap for exceptional leaders to make it the cornerstone of their management approach.

For employees, finding meaning in the work they do is not only important to them, it's tangibly beneficial to the bottom line of any company. When people value the work they do, they operate at their highest potential while delivering outsized business results.

Based on years of academic study and business application, More than a Paycheck argues that work that has real purpose comes from the combination of community, contribution, and challenge. But when any one of the three pillars is missing, there’s disengagement, burnout, and turnover. And it’s up to an organization’s leaders to provide the tools to help their workers.

Global consultant Wes Adams and positive psychology professor Tamara Myles draw on decades of research and data from companies including KPMG, Zappos, and Marriott, to outline how leaders can successfully apply their proprietary "Three Cs" Framework to help employees connect with their work. With evidence-backed tools, including a Leadership Assessment, you'll learn:

• How the power of beginnings shapes each employee’s experience, with suggestions for updating the onboarding process for new hires;
• How to leverage stories of impact to make work meaningful;
• The surprising power of gratitude in fostering meaning for employees;
• Practices for keeping your teams in the Zone of Possibility and providing the autonomy they need to stay engaged and motivated.

Meaningful work is the key to building a culture that becomes the fuel for innovation, creativity, performance, and engagement. It is a core value of leadership and the next frontier in a new work landscape.

©2025 Wes Adams and Tamara Myles (P)2025 PublicAffairs