Weekend Reading: October 2017

Weekend Reading: October 2017

Happy Friday! As usual, we’ve compiled our favorite articles and essays from the last month for you to browse and enjoy this weekend.

Harvard Business Review launched a fantastic series at the end of September on the epidemic of loneliness in the workplace. Former United States Surgeon General Vivek H. Murthy writes in the cover story:

“Even working at an office doesn’t guarantee meaningful connections: People sit in an office full of coworkers, even in open-plan workspaces, but everyone is staring at a computer or attending task-oriented meetings where opportunities to connect on a human level are scarce.

Happy hours, coffee breaks, and team-building exercises are designed to build connections between colleagues, but do they really help people develop deep relationships? On average, we spend more waking hours with our coworkers than we do with our families. But do they know what we really care about? Do they understand our values? Do they share in our triumphs and pains?”

Additional pieces in the HBR series address the “social muscle” and why we need to exercise it, the massive benefits of workplace friendships, the relationship between loneliness and technology and more.

Elsewhere on the Internet:

Science Daily writes on new neuroscientific research out of USC that shows how reading narratives makes us more empathetic, regardless of language or culture.

Quartz examines how toxic workplace cultures, disrespect and incivility can derail an organization – and negatively impact the health of its workforce.

Books@Work executive director Ann Kowal Smith appeared alongside facilitator and Oberlin professor Laura Baudot and Nordson Corporation Foundation executive director Cecilia Render on Ideastream’s The Sound of Ideas to discuss the program’s growing impact.

In an interview with The Atlantic, Donna Hicks, a Harvard professor studying conflict resolution, discusses how her work applies to our relationships at home, in the workplace and beyond.

And over at NPR’s Fresh Air, author Daniel Mendelsohn talks about his new memoir on Homer’s Odyssey and how reading and teaching it transformed his relationship with his father.

Image: Edward Hopper, Nighthawks, 1942, Art Institute of Chicago, IL [Fair Use] via WikiArt.org

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Maredith Sheridan

Maredith Sheridan

Maredith Sheridan is a Development Communications Associate at the Cleveland Orchestra and a part-time member of the Books@Work team. She continues to write posts for our blog.