1064: Timeless Wisdom for Greater Success and and Meaning in Work–According to the Torah–with Mark Gerson

How to Be Awesome at Your Job

How to be Awesome at Your Job

Success, Career, Self-improvement, Health & Fitness, Sharpening, Business, Education, Selfhelp, Collaboration, Winning, Meaning, Development, Mockaitis, Skills, Training, Mental Health, Speaking, Decisions, Careers, Interview, Fun, Money, Writing, Thinking, Wins

4.6 • 1K Ratings

🗓️ 5 June 2025

⏱️ 49 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Mark Gerson shares timeless, practical insights about work–sourced from the Bible and supported by modern social science.

— YOU’LL LEARN —

1) Why Bible has helpful gems for folks from all religion–or lack thereof

2) The one question that leads to greater meaning

3) The optimal number of hours to work in a week

Subscribe or visit AwesomeAtYourJob.com/ep1064 for clickable versions of the links below.

— ABOUT MARK —

Mark Gerson, a New York–based entrepreneur and philanthropist, is the cofounder of Gerson Lehrman Group, 3I Members, United Hatzalah of Israel, and African Mission Healthcare—where he and his wife, Rabbi Erica Gerson, made the largest gift ever to Christian medical missionaries.

A graduate of Williams College and Yale Law School, Mark is the author of the national bestseller The Telling: How Judaism’s Essential Book Reveals the Meaning of Life. Mark’s articles and essays on subjects ranging from Frank Sinatra to the biblical Jonah to the Torah and science of clothing have been published in The New Republic, USA Today, Commentary, and Christian Broadcast Network. Mark lives with his wife and their four children.

• Book: God Was Right: How Modern Social Science Proves the Torah Is True

• Email: [email protected]

• Website: GodWasRight.com

— RESOURCES MENTIONED IN THE SHOW —

• Study: “Crafting a Job: Revisioning Employees as Active Crafters of Their Work” by Amy Wrzesniewski and Jane E. Dutton

• Study: “Job crafting: A meta-analysis of relationships with individual differences, job characteristics, and work outcomes” by Cort W. Rudolph, Ian M. Katz, Kristi N. Lavigne, and Hannes Zacher

• Study: “The Productivity of Working Hours” by John Pencavel

• Study: “Global, regional, and national burdens of ischemic heart disease and stroke attributable to exposure to long working hours for 194 countries, 2000–2016: A systematic analysis from the WHO/ILO Joint Estimates of the Work-related Burden of Disease and Injury” by Frank Pega et al.

• Study: “Enclothed cognition” by Hajo Adam and Adam D. Galinsky

• Study: “Sartorial Symbols of Social Class Elicit Class-Consistent Behavioral and Physiological Responses: A Dyadic Approach” by Michael W. Kraus and Wendy Berry Mendes

• Study: “That Swimsuit Becomes You: Sex Differences in Self-Objectification, Restrained Eating, and Math Performance” by Barbara L. Fredrickson, Tomi-Ann Roberts, Stephanie M. Noll, Diane M. Quinn, and Jean M. Twenge

• Video: Selective attention test

• Past episode: 001: Communicating with Inspiration and Clarity with Mawi Asgedom

• Past episode: 273: Taking Control of your Career with Korn Ferry’s Gary Burnison

• Past episode: 278: The Critical Factors Separating High and Low Performers with Morten Hansen

• Past episode: 327: Unclog Your Brain through Unfocusing with Dr. Srini Pillay

— THANK YOU SPONSORS! —

• Strawberry.me. Claim your $50 credit and build momentum in your career with Strawberry.me/Awesome

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Those who find meaning in their work, those who can tell themselves a story about how they're an integral part of creating something important, they get promotions and they make more money than those who don't.
0:21.5	That's job crafting.
0:24.7	Social scientific studies of machinists in World War I
0:28.9	and of Twitter employees in 2018
0:31.7	found that the optimal amount of hours to work in a week
0:35.3	is 55, the exact number. From 55 to 60, you have significantly
0:42.3	diminishing margin returns to your work. After 60, the work turns so bad that you start to
0:47.7	compromise what you did in the previous 59. That's exactly what the Bible says. Six days you
0:53.0	shall work, 10 hours for five days, half a day on Friday,
0:57.3	and that's it.
0:58.1	And then you have to rest.
1:09.2	That's Mark Gerson.
1:10.6	He's the co-founder of Gerson Lehman Group, three-eye members, and other
1:14.5	prominent organizations, and also the author of multiple books. Today, he's sharing career
1:19.3	insights applicable to people of all faiths, or lack thereof, from his latest book, God was
1:25.3	right, how modern social science proves that Torah is true.
1:30.5	So you'll learn one, why the Bible has helpful gems for folks of all religions.
1:34.9	Two, the one question that leads to greater meaning.
1:38.1	And three, the optimal number of hours to work in a week.
1:41.6	And if you want a summary write-up of some of these actionable takeaways,
1:44.3	I'd recommend me to sign up for the free Gold Nugget Email newsletter found at
1:47.3	awesome at your job.com.
	...

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