An Excerpt from The Power of Mattering
People thrive when they are seen, heard, and valued. Leadership development facilitator Zach Mercurio offers a simple framework for making workplace interactions more meaningful and affirmative.
Everyone wants to feel valued. However, many workplaces fail to offer this sense of importance to their staff. When employees are unable to see how their contributions impact the organization, they may feel overlooked and undervalued. This can lead to disengagement, reduced performance, and higher employee turnover, as individuals look for workplaces where they feel more appreciated.
Leadership development researcher Zach Mercurio argues that the key to a thriving workplace is ensuring that people know their daily efforts matter. To achieve this, leaders must possess the essential tools to make every interaction leave individuals feeling motivated and uplifted. His new book, The Power of Mattering, offers practical advice and helpful exercises to help leaders make their interactions with employees more meaningful and empowering.
In this excerpt, Mercurio uses examples from well-known organizations to illustrate that when individuals understand how their work connects to a larger purpose, it drives their motivation and provides them with a sense of meaning, ultimately enabling them to flourish in the workplace.
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Show People How They’re Indispensable to Something Bigger
In my last book, The Invisible Leader, I told the famous story of a NASA janitor’s reply when President John F. Kennedy asked, “What do you do here?”
“I’m putting a person on the moon,” the janitor said.
As I finished writing that book, researcher Andrew Carton conducted an expansive archival study of how NASA got so many workers to connect to the bigger mission of putting “a person on the moon to advance science.” The management challenge was significant. First, the mission was monumental. No one knew if it was possible. Second, there were three hundred thousand dispersed contract workers, many of whom wouldn’t be employed when (or if) NASA achieved its precarious mission. Third, many tasks were so specialized and detailed that it was hard to see how they fit into a meaningful whole.
Instead of relying on a noble purpose alone to pull the team together, Carton’s analysis revealed, leaders at NASA showed individuals exactly how their contributions were necessary to accomplish the mission. They established a “plausible pathway” to the bigger objective. Employees and leaders used various terms to describe this practice, like building a “road to the moon” or “stepping stones.”
Owen Maynard, then the chief of mission operations, wrote a “ladder to the moon” on blackboards throughout NASA’s Houston headquarters. At the bottom rung was the present task group. The next rung up was the measurable objective the task made possible. The next rung up was the measurable objective the former objective made possible, and so on until it connected to “putting a person on the moon by the end of the decade.” Everyone could see exactly how each step was needed for the next step.
NASA’s managers also facilitated ladders to the moon at the individual level by enabling peers to see and discuss how their work relied on one another. The effect was that everyone knew how they contributed something essential. One NASA employee, Harold Miller, said, “The Apollo missions were like a giant jigsaw puzzle where every piece, no matter how small or large, had its place. My role in the puzzle, although small, was a necessary activity.”
Laddering
Leaders can use these lessons from NASA to show people how they’re needed. Laddering is a skill that links people and their input to a bigger output. A meaningful outcome should be at the top of the ladder— an organization’s purpose, a department’s values, or a team’s vision. At the bottom of the ladder should be the individual’s input—the more specific, the better. Then, work your way up each rung to show how the individual’s input is needed for a real, tangible outcome that connects to the ultimate outcome.
I’ve coached leaders to have their people draw the ladder as they start a new role or learn an assignment. Then, as the leader, you can fill in some of the gaps from your perspective. In either case, people should be able to look at their ladder regularly to reaffirm their indispensability.
If you can’t physically display or create your “ladder to the moon,” consider laddering as a way of thinking and communicating. For any change, action, or outcome you’re looking to motivate, think about it as the top rung. Then, consider the person in front of you, their unique gifts, and the tasks they do, and regularly walk them or your team up the ladder with your words. The goal is always to communicate to people, “Here’s the meaningful place we’re going, and here’s how I need you.”
Tell People How You Rely on Them
One leader I worked with at a large bank told me that on Fridays, she messages a different person who helped her through the week and writes, “If it wasn’t for you, I wouldn’t have made it through the week.” She then describes in detail that team member’s contributions. She ensures she sends that message to every team member throughout the quarter. It’s a practice, she says, that has helped her form some of the closest relationships she’s had in her career.
“If it wasn’t for you” are five of the most transformational words a leader can say. To ensure the people around you feel needed, say them often: “If it wasn’t for you, [achievement or contribution] wouldn’t be possible.” “If it wasn’t for you, we wouldn’t have accomplished [outcome].” “If it wasn’t for you, today wouldn’t have been as good.”
When we say those five words, we show people their essentialness. Think of someone who you rely on but who you’ve never said that to. Write them an “If it wasn’t for you...” note and describe the specifics. Or, tell them in person. When your team enables a bigger organizational outcome, say, “If it wasn’t for you,” and walk them up the ladder to how their work is essential. Say it to the people and other departments that make your work possible, too. When you do, you remind everyone that others depend on them, that they’re indispensable.
There Are No Nonessential People
At the start of the pandemic, I had the chance to have several conversations with Tom Frank, part of the team that created P.F. Chang’s China Bistro. Frank was a “culture guru” in the hospitality industry.
In our conversations, he incessantly told me that the key to culture in a restaurant is to make sure everyone from the front of the house to the back knows how they are needed by each other.
During the Covid-19 pandemic, Frank asked me to help with the I’m Essential project, a movement to help people see their value and prompt organizations to recognize people’s indispensability. As part of the project, he gave service workers a sticker that said “I’m Essential” with a place for them to write their names. He then publicly profiled their life stories and detailed how they and their work were essential to him and society. Those who received the stickers wore them proudly and reported that more people thanked them and called them by their name—including their own managers. The project helped both managers and others see and recognize each other’s essentialness in daily interactions.
Frank’s vision was that everyone should feel essential in every occupation.
He believed it was crucial for organizational success and people’s mental health. Sadly, he unexpectedly passed away shortly after we started working together. In one of our last conversations, he said his one message for organizations wanting to improve their culture was this: “There are no nonessential workers in your company.”
Leaders who create mattering see and treat everyone as essential.
About the Author
Zach Mercurio, Ph.D. is a researcher, leadership development facilitator, and speaker specializing in purposeful leadership, mattering, and meaningful work. He’s the author of The Power of Mattering: How Leaders Can Create a Culture of Significance (Harvard Business Review Press, 2025)
