IN CASE YOU MISSED IT:

THE KEY IDEAS

●       A New Kind of Fuel: Move over, crude oil. Today’s knowledge economy is operating on an entirely different type of energy: the talents, passions, and motivation of human beings. We live in an era when human and intellectual capital are the primary fuel source driving economic growth. There are deep reservoirs of this stuff within our people, but most companies are tapping into only a fraction of it.

●       Today’s Energy Crisis: A full 66 percent of American workers rate themselves as unengaged at work, and the cost is significant. The low productivity, higher absenteeism, and greater workplace stress among this population is imposing a significant invisible tax on companies, and harming employee well-being.

●       A Significant and Grave Cost: Disengagement costs the American economy trillions of dollars in lost productivity each year. But what’s even more alarming is that the workplace stress that many within this disengaged population experience is responsible for up to 120,000 excess deaths per year.

●       The Ping-Pong Table Myth: Just because your office offers free kombucha and an in-office masseuse does not mean everyone can suddenly become happy and stress-free. These sorts of perks are well-intentioned, but merely bandages over deeper challenges.

●       But There’s Hope: When people are engaged by their work and feel empowered by their leaders, otherwise stressful work can become exhilarating and invigorating. And it pays. Organizations with higher employee engagement enjoy significantly better financial performance, whereas organizations with lower employee engagement suffer poorer performance and less growth.

●       It Comes Down to Leadership: When leaders like you put more emphasis on helping their employees discover and lean into their Blue Flames, not only can it help mitigate the substantial cost of disengagement and workplace stress, but it can help create the rare but powerful “triple win”—employees win, teams win, and the company wins.