Meaningful Workplaces: Reframing How and Where We Work

Meaningful Learning

The human function that is most critical to reaching your purpose and potential is learning. As you will see in the next chapter, it is also vital to achieving a sense of personal mastery. In fact, it is probably the most critical aspect of achieving truly meaningful work. But there are at least two forces that seem to block people from learning and growing.

Peter Vaill, a professor of management at Antioch University, coined the term continuous white water as a metaphor for change. As a participant in one of Vaill’s workshops put it, “You never get out of the rapids! No sooner do you begin to digest one change than another one comes along to keep things unstuck.... The feeling is one of continuous upset and chaos” (Vaill, ...