Page 40 - How Great Leaders Build Abundant Organizations That Win

THE CASE FOR MEANING

and $370 billion. In the United Kingdom, research
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from YouGov on more than 40,000 employees reports
that only half (51 percent) of employees feel fully
engaged by their company. Disengaged employees are
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less likely to meet corporate goals or to stay with the
firm. When only fear of unemployment keeps employ-
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ees on the job, they are probably not giving their best.
6. Growing disposability and change. We live in a world
of increasingly disposable products—from diapers to
pens to shoes to electronic devices. Instead of repairing
and reusing, we discard and replace. While dispos-
ability makes some things easier, it also carries a hefty
environmental price tag. The disposability trend carries
over into relationships, as speed dating, casual “com-
mitments,” and high divorce rates can land children
and partners on the disposability heap. In the United
States, about 45 percent of first marriages and over 60
percent of second marriages end in divorce. In Canada
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and parts of Europe the rates are even higher. The
disposability of families has severe consequences for
the financial stability, personal health, and emotional
well-being of partners, children, and society as a whole.
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In recent years, the self-help movement, which often
suggests these difficult problems have quick fixes, has
burgeoned to become a $9 billion business. Many of
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these self-help books, tapes, or workshops offer false
hope with few sustained successes. When desperate
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people seek easy solutions without doing the hard work
of fundamental learning and change, resilience is under-
mined and real growth and learning fade.
7. Greater hostility and enmity. Road rage is up as people
race to complete their journey ahead of others. Reality

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