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The Power of Mattering
book

The Power of Mattering

by Zach Mercurio
May 2025
Intermediate to advanced
272 pages
6h 11m
English
Harvard Business Review Press
Content preview from The Power of Mattering

6 AFFIRMING: HOW TO SHOW PEOPLE THEY’RE SIGNIFICANT

Gratitude isn’t a denial of the bad; it’s an affirmation of the good.

—ROBERT EMMONS

During a session at a large school, I had the staff and teachers write down the moment when they most felt like they and their work mattered. There were a few hundred people in the auditorium. I noticed a woman named Jeanine sitting in the middle of the auditorium, shaking her head. She looked distressed. I asked her if she’d share what was wrong.

“I can’t think of a moment,” she said.

“How long have you been here?” I asked.

“Fourteen years,” Jeanine replied. “I’m just administrative support; I do the schedules and paperwork processing.” That word, “just,” tucked right before a job title, usually signals ...

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Publisher Resources

ISBN: 9798892790130