1083: How Tiny Actions Inspire Others through Mattering with Zach Mercurio

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

🗓️ 11 August 2025

⏱️ 50 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Zach Mercurio reveals the hidden epidemic that’s plaguing the workplace—and what we can do about it.

— YOU’LL LEARN —

1) The root of disengagement and quiet quitting

2) How to help others feel valued in just 30 seconds

3) The questions that help people feel seen

Subscribe or visit AwesomeAtYourJob.com/ep1083 for clickable versions of the links below.

— ABOUT GINO —

Zach Mercurio is a researcher, leadership development facilitator, and speaker specializing in purposeful leadership, mattering, and meaningful work. He advises leaders in organizations worldwide on practices for building cultures that promote well-being, motivation, and high performance.

Mercurio holds a PhD in organizational learning, performance, and change and serves as one of Simon Sinek's Optimist Instructors, teaching a top-rated course on creating mattering at work. His previous book is The Invisible Leader.

• Book: The Power of Mattering: How Leaders Can Create a Culture of Significance

• Study: “The Lived Experience of Meaningful Work in a Stigmatized Occupation: A Descriptive Phenomenological Inquiry”

• LinkedIn: Zach Mercurio

• Website: ZachMercurio.com

— RESOURCES MENTIONED IN THE SHOW —

• Study: “Human Workplace Index: The Price of Invisibility” from Workhuman

• Study: “Age, Perceptions of Mattering, and Allostatic Load” by John Taylor, Michael J. McFarland, and Dawn C. Carr

• Study: “Undervaluing Gratitude: Expressers Misunderstand the Consequences of Showing Appreciation” by Amit Kumar and Nicholas Epley

• Study: “It's not all about me: motivating hand hygiene among health care professionals by focusing on patients” by Adam Grant and David A. Hofmann

• Book: Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl

• Past episode: 500: Building Unshakeable Self-Esteem and Confidence with Victor Cheng

• Past episode: 972: Amy Edmondson on How to Fail Well

— THANK YOU SPONSORS! —

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

• Plaud.ai. Use the code AWESOME and get a discount on your order

• LinkedIn Jobs. Post your job for free at linkedin.com/beawesome

• Quince. Get free shipping and 365-day returns on your order with Quince.com/Awesome

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Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	How to Be Awesome at your job is sponsored by LinkedIn Jobs.
0:04.0	When you clock out, LinkedIn clocks in.
0:07.4	Post your job for free at LinkedIn.com slash be awesome.
0:11.5	That's LinkedIn.com slash B-E-A-W-E-S-O-M-E. You can believe that you matter on your own.
0:27.3	You can develop a sense of self-worth on your own,
0:29.1	but others can either strengthen or shatter it through the evidence that they're feeding back to you.
0:33.6	That's the power of mattering.
0:35.7	This is precisely what we find creates mattering in work, motivation in work, and engagement
0:44.0	at work. It's these small moments where someone sees us, they hear us, they remind us of a
0:52.0	gift they had, they remind us of a difference we make.
1:05.9	That's Zach McCurio. He's a researcher, leadership development facilitator and speaker
1:10.4	who specializes in purposeful leadership, mattering, and meaningful work. He's a researcher, leadership development facilitator, and speaker who specializes
1:11.3	in purposeful leadership, mattering and meaningful work. He also serves as one of Simon Sinex
1:15.9	optimist instructors, and today he's sharing wisdom from his latest book, The Power of Mattering,
1:21.3	how leaders can create a culture of significance. So learn, one, the root of disengagement and quiet
1:26.7	quitting. Two, how to help others feel valued in just 30 seconds. And three, the questions that help people feel seen. And if you want a quick summary write-up of these actionable takeaways, I recommend you sign up for the free Gold Nugget email newsletter. You can find that at awesome at your job.com. I'm Pete McItis. This is How to Be Awesome at Your Job.
1:44.5	And now here's Zach.
1:50.4	Zach, welcome.
1:51.7	Thanks, Pete.
1:52.3	It's good to be here.
1:53.3	Well, I'm excited to talk about your work and a very important topic.
1:57.0	And I'll kick it off by just getting some of the goods.
	...

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