Many workers are anxious, worn down, and demoralized. Headlines about AI displacing jobs dominate the news while CEOs publicly tout layoffs and cost-cutting. Economic uncertainty from trade wars, tariffs, and inflation only adds to their concerns.

The numbers are stark. Employee engagement at companies around the world has risen overall since 2008, but according to Gallup dated in April, it’s still just a miserable 21%—down from the previous year, with the steepest drops among managers under 35, the group often tasked with bridging C-suite priorities and frontline execution. Even for engaged employees, the presence of so much anxiety can prove paralyzing, preventing them from speaking up, seeking out opportunities, and playing offense. We see this malaise playing out at the collective level, with entire organizations retreating in the face of uncertainty, obsessing over protecting their markets and cutting costs or mimicking competitors’ successful strategies rather than looking for unique growth opportunities. Read this HBR article to find out more https://hbr.org/2025/09/how-to-keep-your-teams-spirits-up-in-anxious-times