Becoming a Yiayia: On My Mind

Welcome to my?newsletter, where you'll find inspiration and actionable advice on how to build resilience and connections in our unprecedented times.?

Today's read is ~3 minutes.

Talking Sleep With Savannah

It was great to be on the kickoff of the TODAY Show’s new “Secrets of Sleep” series last week. I shared with Savannah Guthrie my bumpy road to becoming a sleep evangelist, and why sleep is foundational to both our immunity and our mental health — not to mention our ability to find joy in our lives. Then I tucked Savannah in for a quick power nap in Thrive’s nap room. Looking forward to seeing more of the series. You can watch the first installment?here.?

Thriving Onboarding: Setting the Stage for Success on?Day One…?and Beyond

Onboarding has never been more important, or more challenging, than it is now in our new hybrid world of work. That’s why we created Thriving Onboarding in partnership with Bank of America. It’s about creating a culture of well-being, resilience, connection and sustainable success starting on day one. Through experiences like the?Entry Interview, the program then supports new hires and managers at key stages of the onboarding experience.?You can watch a preview of the course and get tips on setting boundaries at a new job?here.??

Podcast of the Month

I’ve loved Van Jones’ work for years. He’s relentlessly dedicated to uniting people to find solutions to our biggest challenges. That’s the mission of his podcast “Uncommon Ground,” which I was excited to be on recently. One of the things I most appreciate about Van is his openness about the personal toll that working for social justice can take, and the need for those pushing for change to take care of themselves. As Van said, with so many urgent issues in the world, “you almost feel like you don’t have the permission, or the right even, to take care of yourself.” But, of course, we’re more effective at everything when we do. We also talked about inner growth, staying true to ourselves, the importance of spirituality, the state of politics and what we can learn from Tom Brady. You can listen?here, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Productivity Surveillance Isn’t a Solution — It’s a Symptom

In a fascinating?interview?on Bloomberg, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella discussed the growing use of workplace surveillance as a way of countering “productivity paranoia”: “Leaders think their employees are not productive, whereas employees think they are being productive and in many cases even feel burnt out. One of the most important things for us in this new world of work and hybrid work is to bridge this paradox.”

The problem with workplace productivity surveillance is that it’s based on an implicit assumption of bad faith — that it’s the extrinsic motivator of surveillance that drives employee productivity. And it neglects the intrinsic factors that motivate us: being engaged by our work and feeling a sense of accomplishment in completing it. When people aren’t feeling intrinsically motivated and engaged, the reason, as Nadella says, is often because they’re burned out. When employee well-being is added to our definition of productivity, and embedded into the workflow itself, productivity — along with other business metrics — rises. This is, predictably, not the case when workers feel they are being constantly monitored.?In fact, a 2021?study?by the European Union found that productivity surveillance leads to “increased resistance, decreased job satisfaction, increased stress, decreased organizational commitment and increased turnover.”

What the pandemic has given us is a chance to redefine not just productivity, but work itself. The fundamental relationship between employees and employers is being rewritten. Instead of being spied on, employees need to be invited to the table, as part of an exchange that values their labor, their time, their commitment?and?their well-being.

Productivity surveillance isn’t a solution to the problems we’re facing in the hybrid work world — it’s a symptom. The real solution is to address the core issue of burnout. And we can do that by creating a whole-human culture of employee well-being, powered not by fear-based external forces, but by the intrinsic factors that truly motivate us.

Before You Go

Word of the Month

In September, Merriam-Webster added?370 brand new words?to their dictionary. In addition to zeitgeisty newcomers like “dumbphone,” “side hustle,” “metaverse” and “subvariant,” there’s my favorite, “adorkable: socially awkward or quirky in a way that is endearing.” But wait, isn’t there already a word for that — “adolescence”?

Becoming a Yiayia

Last Sunday was National Daughters Day. Though, as the mother of two daughters, pretty much every day is. But I’m really burying the lead here, because this year’s daughter-centric celebration?was extra special. My first treasure Christina has given me the biggest treasure I could imagine: making me a grandma, or as we say in Greece, a yiayia! Here I am?with Alexander on his first day in the world. Thank you Christina and Paul! There’s nothing better than holding this piece of heaven in my arms!?

Best,

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