The Turning Point | #003 | 4 min read

We STILL underestimate the value of meaningful work.

by Justin Baker

American’s #1 ranked success attribute: “doing work that has a positive impact on other people.”

Leaders: take notice. 

Your people care much more about meaningful work than you may realize.   

Despite our (slowly) dawning societal recognition that humans measure success by more than their bank statements, a recent study by the nonpartisan think tank Populace demonstrates the extent to which we still live under a collective illusion.  

According to the study: 

“The strictly economic conception of the [American] Dream has so fully permeated the public narrative that 63% of American adults incorrectly believe most other people define it as “the ability to achieve financial prosperity through hard work.”

Source: Populace, 2019, “Success Index: Misunderstanding the American Dream,” Public report. https://populace.org/research

And such a large disparity between how people feel and how they perceive others to feel has major consequences. 

Much of how we have designed our economy and our places of work is around the idea that people primarily view their time and labor as a commodity they exchange for money. Then they use that money to pay for their non-working lives, where their locus of meaning and purpose is actually located. 

Many high profile researchers, including Jonathan Haidt, Scott-Barry Kaufman, and Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi have found repeatedly, this simply isn’t true.

So, if it’s not all about hard work and financial prosperity, what do people primarily value?  

Populace reveals:

“Success is about a meaningful life, not getting rich. Half of Americans’ top-ten priorities for success are about a meaningful life, including being able to do work that has a positive impact on other people, enjoying their work, being enjoyable to be around, having a purpose in life, and being actively involved in their community. In contrast, being rich is ranked in the bottom third of all priorities (45 of 61). However, Americans believe that most other people would rank being rich as the single most important priority of all.” 

The collective illusion rears its head again. Americans believe their peers would rank being rich as the most important success metric. 

Meanwhile, the #1 ranked success attribute, regardless of age, gender, political affiliation or income was “doing work that has a positive impact on other people.”  

Still, as a population, we severely underestimate how much we agree with each other on this important topic. While the causes of this collective illusion are many, and difficult to pinpoint, the implications are quite clear. 

A vast majority of us want work that is aligned with a positive impact for our fellow human beings, but because we think we’re in the minority, we likely don’t talk about it. This contributes to the collective illusion of our finance-dominated work culture and mindsets.

Culture cannot change until we connect with one another on this value. So what can we do about it? 

  1. Take time to reflect on how you define success.

  2. Dare to open up and connect with others about your values.  

  3. If you are a manager or leader of any sort you can, and should, ASSUME that a majority of your team is motivated by positive impact. As studies like this continue to find, this value is consistent across creeds and categories. 

American workers have spoken. We’re here to serve our fellow humans. 

And if a worthwhile mission is not provided for us, we’ll find our own.  

When you are ready, there are 3 ways we can help you create meaning in your workplace:

  1. Subscribe to our newsletter to get more actionable content like this.

  2. Book a complimentary advising session and experience how we work, no strings attached. 

  3. Bring us in for a free 60 minute seminar to teach your team the essential elements of workplace wellbeing and effectiveness.