Page 36 - How Great Leaders Build Abundant Organizations That Win

THE CASE FOR MEANING

he really loved. He saw himself resembling the Dickens
character Scrooge more with each passing day.

Most of us as leaders have been or have had such employees
in our organizations. Many of us have personally experienced
both economic malaise and the pitfalls of success, either first-
hand or among our families and friends. Unfortunately, these
cases are not isolated; they represent developing patterns in
today’s world. Without overfocusing on depressing realities,
leaders will recognize something of the depth and breadth of
this malaise. Skim the following for a quick overview of some
of these trends.

1. Declining mental health and happiness. Building
on the work initiated in Bhutan, the New Economics
Foundation, which has calculated happiness scores for
178 countries, concludes that most countries of the world
face a crisis of unhappiness. More specifically, statistics
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on personal well-being indicate increases in clinical
depression, anxiety, and addiction. Eight to 10 percent
of Americans over age 18 suffer from some depressive
disorder, while in developing countries depression affects
15 percent of the population with 80 percent of those
afflicted untreated. Anxiety disorders (including panic
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disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, posttraumatic
stress disorder, and social phobia) covary with depres-
sion, and about 18 percent of U.S. citizens face one of
these anxiety challenges in a given year. Addiction disor-
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ders (including eating disorders and substance abuse) are
also on the rise. Mental health disorders are the leading
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cause of disability in the United States for people aged

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