514: How to Fix the Always-On Culture of Business with Malissa Clark

For the second week in a row, I’m delighted to welcome a guest whose book made my list of the 9 books I’m most looking forward to this year.

That guest is the University of Georgia’s Malissa Clark. She’s written a new book, released just last week, called Never Not Working: Why the Always-On Culture is Bad for Business—and How to Fix It.

Malissa says that many workers believe that, in order to compete with other top talent, they must embrace a culture that rewards long hours and a constant connection to work.

In fact, businesses and society endorse busyness, overwork, and extreme commitment as the most valued traits in workers. Sometimes that endorsement is explicit. More often it’s an implicit contract, a buildup of organizational and cultural norms and the adoption of new technologies that make it easy to tether people to work.

Either way, this workaholic behavior is unhealthy and counterproductive for workers and for organizations. And, according to Malissa, it’s time to fight back.

She shows you how to escape the trap of putting work at the center of everything and thus losing your well-being—or your company’s performance—in the process.

Her book is deeply researched and written for everyone from leaders to individual contributors. You might say Never Not Working is the essential guide to identifying workaholism in yourself and others and starting on the road to recovery.

I hope you’ll click the play button below to learn more about Malissa and her work. For a summary, just keep scrolling.

Join in on our chat below

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In today’s episode, I ask Malissa about:

* The telltale signs or characteristics of overworkers

* What science says about why workaholism is so detrimental, especially to people around the workaholic

* The tendencies of a workaholic and how to counteract them

* And lots more!

Order Malissa’s Book

You can order your copy of Never Not Working: Why the Always-On Culture is Bad for Business—and How to Fix It right now!

Consider Ordering My Book Too!

Purchase a copy of my new book (written with Jesse Wisnewski) Read to Lead: The Simple Habit That Expands Your Influence and Boosts Y...