The Leadership Revolution: Why Leaders Must Start with Meaning
- Michael Amenta
- Nov 24
- 5 min read
Updated: Nov 26
Don Draper may have considered the first levels of Maslow sufficient when he delivered his most memorable clapback.
However, real-world evidence demonstrates that emotional needs can be more primary than base needs, such as income safety.
Provide meaning first
In the timeless book, Man's Search for Meaning, Viktor Frankl asserted that meaning in life is a pre-requisite for survival. During his time in a concentration camp, Frankl witnessed that most people who died of exposure or starvation didn’t have strong reasons to live. Their bodies quickly eroded while individuals who felt meaning were remarkably durable.
Even in the concentration camp, there was “an opportunity and a challenge. One could make a victory of those experiences, turning life into an inner triumph; or one could ignore the challenge and simply vegetate.” He quoted Nietzsche: “If you have your why for life, you can get by with almost any how”.
Lighter examples illustrate this point as well. In the first season of the unfortunately named Naked & Afraid XL series, half of the survivalists who quit did so for emotional reasons. One felt her survival ideas weren’t respected by her team, and responded by repeatedly throwing their tools in the river before "tapping out". While another described being unable to exist in a tribe without being “the Alpha male”. Across seasons, a significant number of voluntary departures occurred for emotional reasons, with world-class survivalists consistently quitting for not finding a sense of belonging, respect, and purpose.
Thriving on meaning
Having meaning at work isn't just necessary to survive; it's critical for individuals to thrive.
That's how the heavily underfunded, hobbyist Wright brothers beat the well-funded and well-connected Samuel Langley to flight, as detailed in one of the most watched TED talks of all time. And how B Corporations—which are “legally required to consider the impact of their decisions on their workers, customers, suppliers, community, and the environment”—have grown to over 10,000 companies and achieve growth rates that are multiples higher than the broader economy.
To foster meaning on your team:
Hire for uniformity of values but diversity of experience. When hiring, ensure there's alignment in objective, vision, and values; then maximize for diversity of experience and backgrounds to get a confluence of ideas that will energize the mission.
Focus on implicit incentives. Explicit incentives work against goals that require creativity (though they do work for optimizing menial output). Instead, build implicit incentives with audacious goals aligned to the mission. Even if goals are removing bugs, tech debt, or customer complaints, frame the goal positively to boost motivation.
Gamify the learning environment. Create environments that make the cycle of learning addictive by encouraging rapid experimentation. Video games have evolved over decades to provide more frequent checkpoints (smaller setbacks for failure) to keep people playing. How do we emulate this? Don't penalize failure from reps; penalize the failure to take chances. Make learning the focus to foster the curiosity required to thrive.
Foster autonomy. Believe that your teammates—if given time to prepare, resources, and a growth mentality—can compete with the best in your field. Most successful people have experienced the profound levels of rejection (see: Abraham Lincoln, among others) before being truly recognized—could it be that your teammates have enormous potential and only need the right environment and opportunity to prosper?
Foster autonomy
Jazz musician and teacher, Wynton Marsalis, further attests that leaders must accept that they are not in full control of their people:
The first thing I have my students do is write a mission statement... And based on that mission statement I teach them. The fundamental thing I want to accomplish is that I want them to rise above the cycle of punishment and reward... You must actualize it. If you want to learn something, I can’t stop you. If you don’t want to learn something, I can’t teach you.
It can be hard to accept but, even in a hierarchical organization, power can be fleeting and illusory. Your employees can quit, check-out emotionally, or undermine you through whisper campaigns. Instead of the direct approach, leaders must align their teammates' personal meaning with that of the organization and then cede some authority to them in the form of autonomy.
To get comfortable granting autonomy, it's important to believe that individual contributors have vast innovation advantages over a manager or executive with second-hand knowledge. As Jane Jacobs echoed in The Life and Death of American Cities: “A fool can put on his own clothes better than a wise man can do it for him”.
Of course, you must calibrate to the individual—push on those who like to be pushed and gently pull on those who thrive with a softer touch. And if your teammate flounders or the issue is urgent, you can always take control. To avoid unnecessary struggle, it's also helpful to accept employees as enough if they settle into imperfections but are otherwise competent and committed to the team.
Otherwise, go Socratic. Listen, then challenge someone's beliefs through clarification questions that leverage metaphors or examples. This will help tease out their logic and allow them to draw conclusions on their own. Then, go further. Give discretion over as many things as possible, including budget, resources, and product roadmap. This will give them the energy and passion to innovate in ways you can’t foresee, as espoused in Humanocracy.
From there, a leader's job is to edit—ensure that decisions are backed by user or market data, industry knowledge, and real-world experience.
Build authenticity and trust
Beyond meaning, employee trust and feelings of psychological safety are critical to employee excellence. To develop this, you must authentically seek the best for your people. As St. Paul said: "we are all members of one another, and when the health of one member suffers, the health of the whole body is lowered."
Even if your teammate’s goal is to change companies, they would be served by producing impressive results to get hired. Help them do just that, realize the benefits, and applaud them when they get their new gig. After a transition, you will have another teammate with new skills and insights; and your departed colleague will be another ally in the world.
You must also gain respect by getting your hands dirty and empathizing with the team. It's dangerous to present yourself as one of your individual contributors, but you can ensure you're viewed as being on the side of the team and not above the work. Chip in when times get tough and empathize with legitimate complaints against the organization to earn trust.
Seize unforeseen potential
To enable your team’s innovation culture, you must foster meaning, grant autonomy over decisions and resources, and earn trust. Recognize that everyone has the ability to compete when their skills and passions are aligned with organizational goals. Provide training, positive reinforcement, support when they stumble, and opportunity to compete in small clusters. And provide direct support when needed and authentic empathy.
Then, let your team figure out the what—with your edits—to foster innovation that you couldn't possibly foresee.