The Healthy Workplace Nudge

Chapter 8The Mystery of Hospitality: Experiencing the Human Touch

When the idea of this book first appeared in 2015, I assumed I was sufficiently knowledgeable about the concept of wellness. After all, I've worked across a wide landscape of American business and culture for several decades. I don't miss much that bursts forth from that soil. And my work on two earlier books had touched on the topic in some depth.

So, I felt equipped and ready. Surely, researching and writing a book on workplace wellness would be a simple extension of the work we did in Change Your Space, Change Your Culture. We had addressed stress, health risks, and even mentioned the emergence of well buildings. Our mission appeared straightforward: how do we adapt and bring the best of workplace strategy and design into support of workplace wellness?

I knew what to do: assemble the best and brightest from the wellness, architecture, construction, workplace, real estate, health-care, and academic worlds; convene in quarterly summits across the country; research, synthesize, and write. I knew we could move this conversation forward in significant ways. Yes, I got this.

And then it became personal.

Death of a Project; Birth of a Story

In a profound irony, reality struck as I clawed my way to a deadline for a book about health and well-being; three members of my family—my brother, my mother, and my mother-in-law—died. And my 25-year-old daughter was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS).

I had already written ...