The Power of Mattering: How Leaders Can Create a Culture of  Significance
Zach Mercurio
Harvard Business Review Press (May 2025)

“Always assume that people around you feel unseen, undervalued, and lonely — and act accordingly.”

According to Zach Mercurio, “If our need to matter is satisfied, we flourish…If our need to matter is unsatisfied, on the other hand, we languish — and this is especially evident in the workplace.” That comment reminds me of three others. First, from Theodore Roosevelt: “People won’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.” Next, from Maya Angelou: “I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” And then from T.S. Eliot: “To be of importance to others is to be alive.”

It may also be of value to keep in mind that the results of several major surveys of employees throughout the world reveal that, when asked what is of greatest importance to them, more than half of the respondents ranked feeling appreciated first or second.

We all want to feel that our lives matter, that we matter. Mercutio is among those who believe (as do I) that the power of mattering can be measured by the nature and extent that we make others feel that they matter and that we appreciate them. Many of them will reciprocate. In all organizations, whatever their size and nature may be, humane as well as results-driven leadership is needed at all levels and in all areas of the given enterprise.

How to create a workplace culture within which such leadership is most likely to thrive?

Mercutio wrote The Power of Mattering in response to that question. More specifically, these are among the objectives that his material can help you to achieve. Each is preceded by HOW TO:

o See more and see it much better in your world within and beyond the workplace.
o Really “get” what people are saying to you when interacting with them.
o Reassure people that they are significant.
o Reassure them that they are needed, valuable, and appreciated.

Extensive research indicates that during a face-to-face conversation, at least 80% of impact is determined by body language and tone of voice. Only about 15-20% of the impact is determined by what is said. Hmmm…

These are among Zach Mercurio’s concluding thoughts: “When we make people feel significant, we fulfill a basic survival instinct and a fundamental need. Mattering promotes flourishing for individuals and teams, while not mattering drives languishing and poor organizational outcomes. With people feeling increasingly unseen, unheard, undervalued, or unneeded, creating mattering [within a workplace culture] is a foundational leadership competency for the next generation.”

“Here’s a good rule for every leader: Always assume that people around you feel unseen, undervalued, and lonely — and act accordingly.”

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Here are two suggestions while you are reading The Power of Mattering: First, highlight key passages. Also,  perhaps in a notebook kept near-at-hand (e.g. Apica Premium C.D. Notebook A5), record your comments, questions, and action steps (preferably with deadlines). Pay special attention the “Mattering Self-Assessment for Leaders” (Pages 64-66) and to the set of “Points to Remember” at the conclusion of each of the nine chapters.

These two simple tactics — highlighting and documenting — will expedite frequent reviews of key material later.