Description:
"Millions feel adrift and purposeless, despite having outwardly successful lives. John R. Miles shows why this happens--but more importantly, how to fix it in your own life. Read The Mattering Effect and take ownership of your life." --Arthur C. Brooks, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Meaning of Your Life
"Read this book if, as Miles writes, you want to 'stop trying to prove you belong and begin receiving the quiet evidence that you already do.'"-Dana Suskind, MD, Professor of Surgery at the University of Chicago, and New York Times bestselling author of Human Raised
"The most important person who needs to know you matter is you." -- Gordon Flett, professor emeritus of psychology at York University
A call to address the urgent crisis of our time--the loss of significance in our lives--by restoring mattering as the missing link between personal well-being and collective repair.
If you've ever wondered, If I stopped performing, producing, fixing, achieving, proving, would I still matter? then this book is for you. As John R. Miles explores The Great Erasure happening in our lives--the sense of loneliness and disengagement despite outward success--he also provides a way for you to remember that you mattered before any professional or personal titles or achievements.
Drawing on research in psychology, neuroscience, social science, and contemplative traditions, as well as deeply personal stories, Miles examines the cultural shift that has replaced human significance with human usefulness, resulting in exhaustion, self-erasure, and quiet despair. Where others have also diagnosed the symptoms, Miles identifies a deeper cause and offers a solution through M.A.T.T.E.R., a research-based framework grounded in six elements―meaning, autonomy, trust, time, energy, and reciprocity―that, when used together, can restore sustainable significance, dignity, and spiritual coherence. Inspired by hundreds of conversations with today's researchers and thought leaders, the framework helps you gain clarity on why success doesn't erase emptiness; offers practical tools to restore significance in your work and relationships, and shows what it takes to build a life of meaning, reciprocity, and genuine mattering.
Brief description:
John R. Miles is an award-winning author, keynote speaker, and thought leader at the intersection of behavioral science and spiritual formation. A U.S. Naval Academy graduate and former Navy officer, he also holds an M.S. and M.B.A. and spent over two decades as a Fortune 50 executive and four-time CEO, leading global transformations in cybersecurity, digital transformation, culture, and strategy. He is the creator and host of the podcast "Passion Struck" and the author of a book by the same name. He lives in Clearwater, Florida.
Review Quotes:
"In The Mattering Effect, John R. Miles explores one of the quietest crises of modern life: the feeling that, despite achievement, productivity, and connection, we are slowly disappearing from our own lives. Blending his personal story, psychology and leadership insights, Miles reveals how people lose their sense of worth when they are valued only for what they produce--and how they can reclaim meaning. This book offers a compassionate, actionable path back to presence, purpose, and genuine significance."
-- "Charles Duhigg, bestselling author of Supercommunicators and The Power of Habit"