The Why of Work

Creating our personal meaning at work

by Wendy Ulrich, Ph.D., M.B.A.

Got meaning? Part 5 – Workplace Bungee Jumping

You couldn't pay me enough money to get me to jump off a bridge tethered to a bungee cord. But I've done a lot of bungee jumping at work - jumping into the unknown to solve a new problem, take on an unfamiliar role, or try out a barely learned skill. Sometimes it feels like I'm about to hit bottom, but fortunately I usually bounce back. Read More

Got meaning? Part 4 – Get connected

When times are tough, what keeps people going? Whether we are talking about laborers starving in a concentration camp or CEO's facing a hostile takeover, people are more likely to keep showing up for work and find work satisfying when they care about the people they work with and have at least one meaningful friendship among their co-workers. Read More

Got Meaning? – Part 3: Direction and Motivation

Where ya' headed? Easy to answer as long as the destination could be located by a GPS system. A little harder when we are talking about finding meaning in work and in life. Read More

Got Meaning? Part 2 – Building a Strengths-Based Identity

“Build on your strengths” is all the rage in business and psychology these days. But if you want to find meaning at work and in life you need to do more than strut your strengths and expect others to applaud. You need to build on strengths that energize you and strengthen others. Read More

Got meaning? Creating a Why to Work

Since most of us spend more time at work than in any other setting, if we don’t find meaning in our work, chances are we will feel the pinch. When we don’t find meaning at work, our employers will feel the pinch as well. Work that makes sense, it turns out, also makes cents, for both employers and employees. Read More

Wendy Ulrich is a practicing psychologist and co-author with Dave Ulrich of The Why of Work: How Great Leaders Build Abundant Organizations that Win (2010, McGraw Hill).

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