Third space connection

Brackett reports that when you ask people in public where they are on the mood meter, almost everybody will say they are having positive emotions. When you ask people in confidential surveys where they are, 60 to 70 percent will put themselves on the negative-emotion side of the mood meter. That result is haunting, because it suggests that many of

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Community means a lot of things to a lot of people. Whether it’s your local running group, a book club, your gym squad, family, or membership in an exclusive club, belonging to something is meaningful. Our identities, while obviously unique to us, are so shaped by the influence and power of community that it remains a biologically human need to... See more

We all know that feeling of belonging to something — comfort, happiness, peace. It feels like magic being in your place with your people and being able to play your role in the glue that holds that space together. Many communities capture these ephemeral, magical moments of the human condition and turn them into lasting, life-changing... See more

I want work that is meaningful and rewarding but that also allows me to pick up my kids from school or edit this book from a beach house. I don’t want to be shackled to a desk in some tower from nine to five, Monday to Friday. But I also don’t want a life where I sit at this desk in my house, in the same sweatpants, day in and day out, logging in

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The goal is to make people feel like they’re a part of something — and like you’re part of their identity. And the payoff — if all goes well — is in the form of fierce loyalty, word-of-mouth promotion, organic curiosity and attention, higher lifetime customer value and share of spend, lower acquisition costs, etc.