Member Reviews

As someone who is stepping into a new leader role at their job, this book was able to give me ideas on how to keep a better work environment with my team while also reflecting on myself. This book not only gives you information about each topic, but also practical ideas on how to make a better work environment for all employees. I would recommend this book to everyone.

Thank you to Harvard Business Review press and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

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This was the first "businessy" book that I've read and I found it extremely helpful as both a manager and an employee.

I would recommend this to just about anyone in the corporate, office world. Jennifer Moss mixes the perfect balance of statistics, case studies, and stories to make Why Are We Here? relevant to all readers.

Some of my key takeaways from this book were about "Purpose", "Freedom", and "Openness". She has lots of insight on these topics and more, like breaking down the generations, their stereotypes, and how to work with them. I will definitely be implementing her practical advice in my own role and I'll be advocating to my organization's leadership to embrace some of her recommended practices.

Check out Why are We Here if you want to learn more about feeling motivated and motivating others in the corporate workplace!

Thank you to NetGalley and Harvard Business Review Press for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

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Have you ever found yourself in a bit of a slump?

That's kinda sorta been where I've been at as of late. After an extended battle with cancer that was diagnosed not long after a promotion, I found myself struggling with my post-pandemic now I've got cancer work life.

Truthfully, cancer was just the latest trauma in what has been an intense five-year period marked by multiple health issues, multiple losses, and trying to adjust to an entirely different area of work.

Now then, Jennifer Moss's "Why Are We Here?: Creating a Work Culture Everyone Wants" isn't wrapped around the specific kinds of issues that I've been working through, however, this incredibly engaging and informative book does add rich humanity to a deep dive discussion on how our relationship with work has changed and how those of us who are leaders, myself included, can work toward making things right.

An awful lot of us have struggled in a post-pandemic, remote work, return to work, hybrid world that is both painfully obvious yet difficult to express. For some, the changes have resulted in high motivation and performance. For others, a lingering malaise dominates and impacts.

I know very few people who haven't asked the question "Why am I here?"

The best employees feel differently about work these days. Leaders and manages are left to decipher codes, adjust to practical realities, and shift spontaneously. Things in the workforce have changed and we're really only beginning to recognize it all.

Now, we have to figure out how to do something about it.

Moss is the author of "The Burnout Epidemic" and is known as a workplace expert. With "Why Are We Here?," Moss journeys with us into the frontlines of this historic shift. This is a book filled with interviews, research, and case studies exploring what's happened, what can be done about it, and who's doing it right.

While filled with research, "Why Are We Here?" is surprisingly emotionally resonant and personal. In some ways, it's a get back to basics book in which much of what I read both felt familiar yet exhilarating. Indeed, Moss paints us toward a work culture that I certainly want and I can't help but think it's going to resonate with an awful lot of folks.

A Harvard Business Review Press title, "Why Are We Here?" is informative, compelling, insightful, and immensely relatable. Moss immerses us in this new work world and offers us a road map toward getting where we want to go as employees, managers, leaders, and organizations. As I was reading, I was envisioning implementation of several guides offered in "Why Are We Here?" and, perhaps even more importantly, I was becoming more confident that I could successfully travel this road and make some changes to create a work culture I want, my employees want, and one that will benefit my organization.

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