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For researcher, professor and author Zach Mercurio, “mattering” is not a new buzz word: it’s a primal human survival instinct embedded in our brains from 6 million years of programming, and something businesses need to take very seriously. Zach is an expert in what makes work meaningful, and to him, the facts are clear: Meaningfulness is not developed through a program or initiative — it’s developed and maintained through human interactions. He and Maril discuss why it’s so important for people to know that they’re significant to others; why often, we blame humans for problems that are actually the fault of bad processes and systems; why your organizational purpose needs to be rooted in truth; why so much of Zach’s work involves taking the intuitive, common-sense ideas of natural leaders and trying to make them common practice.

Learn about:

6:39 Why people problems are often system problems

9:26 Creating environments where people matter

15:16 The difference between having purpose and being purposeful

25:07 How to create a meaningful purpose

28:06 Why mattering is as important as belonging

35:40 How leaders impact employee mattering

41:10 How invisible leaders transform organizations

45:20 Becoming a better leader by changing how you see people

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Zach Mercurio, Ph.D. works with individuals and organizations around the world to forge purposeful leaders who cultivate more meaning, motivation, well-being, and performance. He is a positive leadership and organizations researcher and Honorary Fellow of Psychology in the Center for Meaning and Purpose at Colorado State University. He is also the author of “The Invisible Leader: Transform Your Life, Work, and Organization with the Power of Authentic Purpose.” His research has been awarded by the Association for Talent Development and The Academy of Management and he contributes regularly to international media outlets.

ABOUT LET GO & LEAD

Let Go & Lead is a leadership community created by Maril MacDonald, founder and CEO of Gagen MacDonald. Maril brings together provocateurs, pioneers, thought leaders and those leading the conversation around culture, transformation and change. 

Over the course of the past 12 years, Let Go & Lead has existed in many forms, from video interviews to resource guides to its current iteration as a podcast. At its core, it remains a place where people can access a diversity of perspectives on interdisciplinary approaches to leadership. Maril is also working on a book incorporating these insights gathered over the past several years from global leaders and change makers.  

Maril has interviewed over 120 leaders — from business to academia and nonprofits to the arts — through the years. In each conversation, from personal anecdotes to ground-breaking scientific analysis, she has probed the lessons learned in leadership. From these conversations, the Let Go & Lead framework has emerged. It is both a personal and organizational resource that aims to serve the individual leader or leadership at scale. 

ABOUT GAGEN MACDONALD

At Gagen MacDonald, we are dedicated to helping organizations navigate the human struggle of change. We are a people-focused consulting firm and our passion is improving the employee experience — for everyone. For almost 25 years, we have been working with companies to create clarity from chaos by uniting employees across all levels around a single vision so they can achieve results and realize their future.

We have been a pioneer in bringing humanity to strategy execution, leading in areas such as organizational communication, culture, leadership, and employee engagement. Our Vision is to lift all humanity by transforming the companies that transform the world.

Full episodes also available on:  

Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/let-go-lead-with-maril-macdonald/id1454869525  

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5Gaf7JXOckZMtkpsMtnjAj?si=WZjZkvfLTX2T4eaeB1PO2A  

Google Podcasts: https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9sZXRnb2xlYWQubGlic3luLmNvbS9yc3M  

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Gagen MacDonald is a strategy execution consulting firm that specializes in employee engagement, culture change and leadership development. Learn more at  http://www.gagenmacdonald.com.