Wes Adams

“Meaningful Work: How to Ignite Passion and Performance in Every Employee” (2025)

We’re in the middle of the most significant transformation in work in over a century. Whether it’s remote work, the rise of burnout and “quiet quitting,” or the changing values and priorities of employees, leading an organization has never been more complex. But through all this, a single factor remains the core driver of fulfilled, high-performing teams—their belief that their work has meaning. In Meaningful Work, Wes Adams and Tamara Myles, advisers to some of the world’s most successful companies, leverage the science of positive psychology to show leaders why and how to make meaning the cornerstone of leadership practice. It is a practical playbook based on decades of research, including their own groundbreaking multi-year study of meaning at work, and stories from leaders you already admire and others that will surprise and inspire you. The book reveals that high engagement, happiness, productivity, and financial performance from employees are all outcomes of helping them find meaning at work. And that every job can be meaningful when leaders create a workplace culture that focuses on the three Cs: Community, Contribution, and Challenge. Whether you lead a team of call center workers, care professionals, cycling instructors, or corporate executives, this book will show you how to take small actions each day to inspire passion and performance in every employee.