A Message from Our CEO – January 2023

Dear Friends,

The holidays were a blur. I lose track of the days between Christmas and New Year’s when the sun is low and sparing with its light. But by MLK, we snap back into the groove. Back to work. Work: We hate it, and we love it. It confounds us, and it defines us. We spend more time working during the day than anything else. And now we are learning that the function of work is not just to make money, but to connect us in social interaction. America’s addiction to social media and Netflix leaves less time socializing with friends and neighbors.  Civic attachment has evaporated, and we attend church less often. “Work” has become our proxy social anchor point.

The workplace is an important generator of social capital and has spillover effects for personal, family, and community life, according to the American Perspective Survey. This is our first feature article in the NewsWire. Gallup introduced the controversial notion that people are more engaged at work when they have a best friend at work. We are social creatures. We were born to connect.

Yet too few companies create a psychologically safe culture that encourages deeper social interaction. There are exceptions. This month we launch a new program with the Fairfax County Health Department around building social capital to promote employee resilience and wellbeing. If organizations on the front lines of a global health crisis can do it, so can you. The key is to be intentional about improving your social capital by strengthening intrapersonal relationships. I like to call it, “going deep, fast”.

Go deep or go home.

Get. To. Work.

Warren