Jason's Blog

My Birthday Wish for 2022

It’s my birthday this weekend. Everyone has a little different relationship with their birthday. Some embrace it and welcome the attention (thanks, Facebook). Others avoid mentioning it because it reminds them of another year gone and opportunities missed. I’ve always...

The Simplest Way to Build Trust

The Simplest Way to Build Trust

Few things have a more powerful effect on employee engagement and performance than trust. Hopefully, I don’t have to convince you of the importance trust at work. We have thirty or forty years' worth of research to demonstrate its importance (examples: here, here, and...

FORECAST 2022: What to expect and what to do about it

FORECAST 2022: What to expect and what to do about it

What’s going to happen this year? That’s the million dollar question.  There is no way to know for certain. The future is yet to be written and when we feel too certain that we know what’s going to happen, the universe has a way of reminding us that we aren’t in...

Same storm, different boats

Same storm, different boats

In March 2020, just as the pandemic was ramping up to wreak havoc on us, writer and broadcaster Damian Barr shared this short reflection on Twitter. We are not all in the same boat. We are all in the same storm. Some are in superyachts. Some have just the one oar. It...

What I Learned at My First In-Person Conference in Two Years

Two weeks ago, the time had finally come for me to speak in-person at a large conference for the first time in a long time—nearly two years, in fact. I’d known for months that this was coming, and I was really curious how it would feel to once again be face to face...

There Is No Finish Line

There Is No Finish Line

Last week, my daughter ran her first cross country race. For those who aren’t familiar with cross country, at her age, it’s a mile and a half run in the “country” (i.e., on grass, through the trees, up and down hills, etc.). She’s new to running and had never run any...

Is a “Thank You” too much to ask?

I’m a fan of the This American Life podcast. I rarely miss an episode. In a recent episode titled “Essential,” they talk to a series of people whose jobs were deemed essential during the pandemic about how their experience working through COVID changed them. As I...

Are we okay?

At least in some places (like where I live in Nebraska), it can be easy to forget that we are still trying to escape a pandemic. We are all anxious and ready to move on and move forward. I know I am. But in our fervor to get back in action, we need to remember that...

How to Quickly Build Connection

In 2012, I published my first book, Social Gravity, with my coauthor and long-time BFF, Joe Gerstandt. We wrote the book to share what we had learned about the importance of networks and relationships to achieve important things in your life. Joe and I met while...

Campfire Conversations on the Future of Work

Things are changing fast at work. Where, when, and how we work is undergoing a transformation that might be leaving you feeling unsettled and unprepared for what lies ahead. With a recent Monster.com study suggesting as many as 95% of people are looking for new jobs,...

Self-Care is a Management Skill

I didn’t get it. When I heard people talking about self-care, it conjured up images of self-indulgent escapism. Self-care was going for a spa day or taking time for a guilty pleasure to forget about the challenges of life. It didn’t feel like something relevant to me....

How Has Employee Experience Changed?

How Has Employee Experience Changed?

I don’t know about you, but I feel like I’ve spent a lot of time trying to make sense of things over the last year.  So many things changed so quickly. It was disorienting.  Very little has felt certain or settled.  And maybe the one thing that has felt the most...

Jason Lauritsen