Episode #67: Jennifer Moss on Burnout and How Discomfort Is Essential to Resilience

The Discomfort Practice

In this episode of The Discomfort Practice, I speak to Jennifer Moss, a journalist, author, speaker, and strategist driving the conversation towards healthier workplace cultures. She's the award-winning author of Unlocking Happiness At Work and a frequent writer for Harvard Business Review and SHRM. She's also a member of the United Nations Global Happiness Council and contributes to the annual Global Happiness Policy Report.

Jennifer recently published a new book, The Burnout Epidemic: The Rise Of Chronic Stress, And How We Can Fix It, which has been described as 'an important and timely book.' (But that goes without saying.) It helps leaders and individuals prevent burnout and create healthier, happier, and more productive workplaces.

Jennifer and I talk about how working cultures and institutions contribute to burnout and what strategies can help prevent it. If the Covid19 pandemic has shown us anything, it's that self-care is important. In Season 3 of The Discomfort Practice, I'm focusing particularly on the discomfort of change and rediscovering or creating new ways of being in this world and shaping society. So this conversation with Jennifer is important, interesting and, hopefully, exciting. Join us as we get insightful on how employees and leaders can transform cultures and workplaces into places where people can actually be truly human, where they can flourish, and where they don't end up burned-out.

Key Points Discussed:

• When Jennifer’s husband was paralyzed and how this circumstance has led them to actually start the career of identifying how psychological fitness, emotional, intelligent well-being plays a role in life satisfaction, and also satisfaction at work. (05:23)
• What is toxic positivity (09:00)
• What causes burnout and what people can do to prevent and address it (11:38)
• How working cultures and institutions have contributed to the burnout and how they can do better (14:19)
• How the pandemic ramped up burnout (22:02)
• Our way out from this burnout - A burnout prevention strategy (25:33)
• Having cautious optimism in facing these changes and discomforts (30:47)
• Some elements in the future world of work and what it is going to look like (35:41)
• Measuring the ROI in preventing burnout in the workplace (41:07)
• The role of leadership in enforcing being human at work (46:06)
• The United Nations Global Happiness Council and what they do (51:15)
• What’s next for Jennifer Moss - Looking into the human experience of work post-pandemic (57:13)
• “Burnout is not your fault.” (59:20)

Resources Mentioned:

• The Burnout Epidemic: The Rise Of Chronic Stress, And How We Can Fix It by Jennifer Moss
• The United Nations Global Happiness Council

Connect with Jennifer Moss:

• Jennifer’s Website
• Jennifer on LinkedIn
• Jennifer on Twitter
• Jennifer on Facebook
• Jennifer on Instagram

Connect with Betsy:

• Betsy on Instagram
• Betsy on Twitter
• Betsy on Linkedin

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