Weekends are time when things slow down a little. Your weekend shouldn’t be two more regular workdays. That’s a sure road to burnout. Take time to refresh yourself. Take time for something different. Take time for some of that reading you can’t find time for during the week.

Here are choice articles on hot leadership topics culled from the business schools, the business press and major consulting firms. This week there are articles about work, workism, and craft.

From Josh Levs: Work is something you achieve, not somewhere you go

“Working with businesses on issues involving gender equality, flexibility, work–life balance or integration, and other best practices, I often find that many managers, sometimes subconsciously, still think of work as a place someone goes to. They’re aware it’s possible to get work tasks done remotely. But many are distrustful of telework. They believe they can only be sure their team members are working when they’re in the office. Both halves of this assumption are wrong.”

From Jared Lindzon: How work became the millennial religion of choice

“More young people are defining themselves by what they do–and who they work for.”

From Derek Thompson: Workism Is Making Americans Miserable

“These post-work predictions weren’t entirely wrong. By some counts, Americans work much less than they used to. The average work year has shrunk by more than 200 hours. But those figures don’t tell the whole story. Rich, college-educated people—especially men—work more than they did many decades ago. They are reared from their teenage years to make their passion their career and, if they don’t have a calling, told not to yield until they find one.”

Thanks to Smartbrief on Leadership for pointing me to this story

From McKinsey & Company: Happiness and work: An interview with Lord Richard Layard

“The preeminent happiness researcher shares some surprising results on connecting well-being, mental health, and how employers can play a role in improving our lives at work.”

From Shawn Achor, Andrew Reece, Gabriella Rosen Kellerman, and Alexi Robichaux: 9 Out of 10 People Are Willing to Earn Less Money to Do More-Meaningful Work

“In his introduction to Working, the landmark 1974 oral history of work, Studs Terkel positioned meaning as an equal counterpart to financial compensation in motivating the American worker. ‘[Work] is about a search…for daily meaning as well as daily bread, for recognition as well as cash, for astonishment rather than torpor,’ he wrote. Among those ‘happy few’ he met who truly enjoyed their labors, Terkel noted a common attribute: They had ‘a meaning to their work over and beyond the reward of the paycheck.’”

From Theodore Kinni: Restoring craft to work

“The innate desire to do a job well has greater motivational force than any corporate purpose.”

Book Suggestions

The Happiness Advantage: How a Positive Brain Fuels Success in Work and Life by Shawn Achor

Why We Work by Barry Schwartz

Every Monday, I do a blog post about business reading and business books. Follow this link to my review of Brave New Work.

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