Removing the routine obligations of social life drains presence, conversational practice, relational effort and friendship from all of us. Exciting new research shows that talking with responsive communication partners softens our viewpoints, reduces our need to be right, and helps us become less self-focused.

Despite a widespread desire to get back to normal, social bandwidth is lower for many than it was pre-pandemic, mental-health professionals say.

A man is trapped in a car, rushing down a hill toward a cliff. The doors are locked. The brakes are out. The steering barely works. Far ahead, he can see other cars hurtling into the abyss. How far they fall, he does not know. What they find at the bottom, he cannot imagine.

We make thousands of decisions daily. Some are trivial, others are massive. When making these choices, it can be easy to get caught up in methodically weighing all your options. While it feels like a sensible process, it can cause you to miss opportunities. Sometimes you just need to make the call.

“I worry that people will give up. My friend Pitt Hyde, in response to all this, told me, ‘We don’t need to give up, we need to double down.’ We need to double down to try and come together and set aside whatever differences we have and say, ‘This is our home.’ ” - Scott Morris

To attract and retain the best people, we must redesign jobs around a simple but powerful concept: love for the content of the work itself.

“These days there seems to be a thousand ways we are torn apart from each other, with few paths that draw us closer together…setting an expectation that attempts to find shared culture and values does make it possible to achieve more…”

Middle age is an opportunity to find transcendence.

In healthy work relationships, everyone benefits, and everyone experiences moments of authentic happiness and enjoy. Businesses thrive under such leadership.