Why does beauty matter for work?

Worker stress, burnout, and “quiet quitting” are at all-time highs today, and A.I. is nibbling away on many jobs. In times like these, talking about “beauty” in relation to work may seem irrelevant if not tone-deaf.

We typically don’t think of work as beautiful. But should we pay more attention to beauty at work? How might beauty be relevant beyond conventional realms with which it is associated, such as art or fashion? What bearing might it have on domains such as business, education, politics, and other aspects of life? Could shedding a light on beauty provide new insights into the drivers of meaningful work ? Could beauty at work be a powerful antidote to workplace woes such as burnout and attrition?

To address these questions, we brought together several scholars and practitioners this summer from around the world and from diverse disciplines, who contributed their unique perspectives.

In this 5-minute video, I talk about what motivated this event, and some of our speakers (Massimo Robberto, Pallavi Dean, Peter Kilpatrick, Anjan Chatterjee, Louis Kim, Julio Bermudez, Rob Gilbert, Sheri Parks and Osita Nwanevu) share their insights into why we need to take beauty more seriously:

Let me know if you think we should organize a follow-up event next year, and if you have suggestions for speakers, themes, or sponsors.

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