Elevating the Human Experience

Wall Street Journal bestseller Have you ever struggled to feel worthy at work? Do you know or lead people who do? When Amelia Dunlop first heard the phrase "elevating the human experience" in a leadership team meeting with her boss, she thought, "He is crazy if he thinks we will ever say those words out loud to each other much less to a potential client." We've been conditioned to separate our personal and professional selves, but work is fundamental to our human experience. Love and worth have a place in work because our humanity and authentic identities make our work better. The acknowledgement of our intrinsic worth as human beings and the nurturing of our own or another's growth through love ultimately contribute to higher performance and organizational growth. Now as the Chief Experience Officer at Deloitte Digital, a leading Experience Consultancy, Amelia Dunlop knows we must embrace elevating the human experience for the advancement and success of ourselves and our organizations. This book integrates the findings of a quantitative study to better understand feelings of love and worth in the workplace and introduces three paths that allow individuals to create the professional experience they desire for themselves, their teams, and their clients. The first path explores the path of the self, an inward path where we learn to love ourselves when we show up for work, and examines the obstacles that hinder us. The second path centers around learning to love and recognize the worth of another in our lives, adding to the worth we feel and providing a source of meaning to our lives. The third path considers the community of work and learning to love and recognize the worth of those we meet every day at work, especially for those who may be systematically marginalized, unseen, or unrepresented. Drawing on her own personal journey to find love and worth at work in her twenty-year career as a management consultant, Amelia also weaves together insights from philosophers, theologians, and sociologists with the stories of people from diverse backgrounds gathered during her research. Elevating the Human Experience: Three Paths to Love and Worth at Work is for anyone who has felt the struggle to feel worthy at work, as well as for those who have no idea what it may feel like to struggle every day just to feel loved and worthy, but love people and lead people who do. It’s a practical approach to elevating the human experience that will lead to important conversations about values and purpose, and ultimately, meaningful change.

Preface xiii Introduction 1 Foundations 17 Chapter 1: Work 19 Chapter 2: Love 31 Chapter 3: Worth 37 Chapter 4: Suffering 53 The First Path: Self 57 Chapter 5: Self- Love and Self- Worth 59 Chapter 6: Cultivating Self- Love and Self- Worth 69 Chapter 7: Obstacles to Self- Love and Self- Worth 81 The Second Path: Another 89 Chapter 8: Love and Worth for Another 91 Chapter 9: Cultivating Love and Worth for Another 105 Chapter 10: Obstacles to Loving Another and Recognizing Their Worth 117 The Third Path: Community of Work 125 Chapter 11: Love and Worth at Work 127 Chapter 12: Cultivating Love and Worth for Others at Work 141 Chapter 13: Obstacles to Loving Others and Recognizing Their Worth at Work 151 Resources 157 Chapter 14: Tools to Elevate the Human Experience: Values, Emotions, and Trust 159 Chapter 15: Capabilities to Elevate the Human Experience: Empathy, Courage, Integrity, and Grace 167 Conclusion 177 Appendix A: Love and Worth Quantitative Research 181 Appendix B: Reading Guide and Reflection Questions 199 Acknowledgments 215 About the Author 217