Today our group tackled the book Born to Flourish in our monthly meeting. The neuroscience and contemplative practices in Born to Flourish—structured around Awareness, Connection, Insight, and Purpose—provide the internal, psychological engine for the 10 Characteristics of Servant Leadership. While servant leadership defines how a leader should behave, Born to Flourish provides the science-backed mental …

Want to learn a bit about one of our regular members of Servant Leadership meetings? Check out this article featuring Hazel Symonette for her amazing years of work at the UW–Madison and an award in her name for others. https://wcer.wisc.edu/2026/09/29/hazel-symonette-international-award/

“If you could instantly rewrite one default narrative your brain runs on when you’re under stress, what would you replace it with?” October’s meeting will focus on this great book by Dr. Richard “Richie” J. Davidson (founder of UW–Madison’s Center for Healthy Minds) and Dr. Cortland Dahl. On October 16, Dave Bray and Rich Gassen …

Jen Marr hosted a podcast today with guest Zach Mercurio, author of the book “The Power of Mattering,” which aligns with our recent CoP topics in this community. “It’s hard for anything to matter to someone who doesn’t feel like they matter.” That one line gets to the core of so much of what we …

Eudaimonia: the joy of excellence, self-actualization, the happiness of doing something you love and excelling at it At this month’s servant leader meeting, we asked our attendees about a word or short phrase that came to mind when they thought of human flourishing. Some familiar words and phrases brought up in August’s meeting around the …

You don’t have to ‘reinvent’ yourself to live happily after 60. There’s a better approach grounded in lifespan psychology This recent article from Psyche talks about your purpose sometimes changing as life changes come along. Retirement can completely derail someone’s sense of purpose because the work environment can be identified as the reason they get …

A short seasonal reflection on the small things that help great cultures thrive From Duane: “As summer is in full swing, I’ve been thinking about how easily we can jump to conclusions when people don’t respond, communicate, or behave the way we expect.  Sometimes the most helpful thing we can do as servant-leaders is slow …

Think of someone you rely on. When was the last time you actually told them? When we asked people to share moments when they most felt that they mattered at work, one of the most common answers was surprisingly simple: Someone showed them how they were uniquely needed. On the other hand, people who tended to …

From our conversations in June’s meeting, we mentioned a mattering assessment from the book Mattering by Jennifer Breheny Wallace. We’re including it below for you to take on your own. https://uwmadison.box.com/s/m3bfxl5zopybchnyspvea8n7isu02q11 Stay tuned for more on this topic in our future conversations!

This past month, our group met on the topic of mattering. See our archive for the readings and discussion questions we explored. Today, we share a post from Stordahl Capital Management on mattering in retirement, adapted from an article by Jennifer Breheny Wallace. https://www.stordahlcap.com/insights/the-retirement-crisis-no-one-warns-you-about-why-mattering-may-matter-most