The Meaningful Work Matters podcast has reached an important milestone: our 50th episode!
Over the past two years, we have spoken with more than 50 researchers, practitioners, and leaders about what makes work meaningful. But in this special episode, host Andrew Soren flips the script. Instead of interviewing a guest, he shares ideas from a text he’s co-writing with his mentor, Dr. Carol Ryff. Their theme? “Work as Polis”—a vision for workplaces as moral communities devoted not just to profit, but to human flourishing.
The talk unfolds in five acts (plus a conclusion), weaving together Aristotle’s ancient philosophy, modern science, organizational design, and even the arts.
At its heart, the message is clear: if we want more meaningful work, we must think of workplaces as communities where everyone’s flourishing matters.
Act I: Work as a Site of Eudaimonic Possibility
For years, Soren has helped people cultivate well-being at work. Along the way, he became fascinated with Aristotle’s concept of eudaimonia—a Greek term often translated as “human flourishing” or “living in accordance with virtue.”
Unlike hedonia (the pursuit of pleasure and comfort), eudaimonia is about becoming one’s best self through purpose, virtue, and meaningful struggle. Aristotle believed that the purpose of the polis—the city-state—was to enable eudaimonia for its people.
Soren argues that perhaps modern workplaces, with their scale and influence, have the potential to embody the polis. If companies used their power not just to satisfy shareholders but to support the well-being of their stakeholders, they could become engines of human flourishing.
Not every organization will take up this challenge, but research shows that cultural change often starts with a critical minority. That makes the pursuit worthwhile.
Act II: The Communal Soul of Eudaimonia
Etymology offers a clue: eu (good) + daimon (soul).
For Aristotle, eudaimonia meant living in alignment with the soul’s calling to do good. Importantly, this was never just an individual pursuit, but the purpose of the community itself. We flourish together, or not at all.
Yet modern psychology often frames well-being in purely individual terms. Frameworks like PERMA, while useful, reflect Western ideals of autonomy and self-optimization. The booming wellness industry reinforces this, promising that the right habits or productivity hacks will help us live our “best lives.” But rarely do these narratives ask deeper moral questions or confront systemic issues like greed and inequality.
Soren calls this the “missing communal soul” of well-being science. Flourishing includes ethical discernment, shared responsibility, and cultivating conditions where everyone can thrive. Other traditions have long emphasized this relational, collective view of well-being. It’s time Western workplaces caught up.
Act III: Designing the Organizational Polis
If workplaces are to become modern versions of Aristotle’s polis, what should they look like? Soren points to several design principles:
Purpose as telos: Just as the polis existed for the flourishing of its citizens, organizations should aim for the flourishing of their people.
The common good over shareholder value: A true polis prioritizes collective purpose, not just profit.
Voice and choice: Active participation and agency are essential for eudaimonia.
Decency as foundation: The International Labour Organization defines decent work as work that ensures equity, security, freedom, and dignity. Without these, flourishing is impossible.
Moral community: Rituals, leadership, and culture should nurture virtue, justice, and mutual recognition.
Scale matters: Aristotle believed the polis must be small enough for intimacy and accountability. In practice, Soren observes, smaller organizations often do better at cultivating eudaimonic workplaces than sprawling corporations.
Act IV: The Business Case for Eudaimonia
Of course, no organizational change takes root without a business case. Fortunately, the evidence is strong.
Research shows that eudaimonic well-being correlates with:
Better health and longevity (which translates into fewer absences and lower healthcare costs).
Improved performance at both individual and team levels.
Greater engagement, loyalty, and innovation, which help organizations attract and retain top talent.
Financial outcomes, as studies at Oxford reveal - companies high in employee well-being consistently beat market averages.
At the same time, Soren cautions that while eudaimonia may boost performance, framing it only as an economic strategy undermines its moral foundation.
Treating human dignity as a means to higher productivity risks trapping organizations in what philosopher Alasdair MacIntyre called the “morally hollow iron cage” of modern business.
The real case for eudaimonia is ethical: workplaces should foster human flourishing because it is the right thing to do.
Act V: Reclaiming the Soul of Work—AI, the Arts, and Storytelling
Looking to the future, Soren warns that emerging technologies like AI may strip even more meaning from work, creating what anthropologist David Graeber called “bullshit jobs.” Without careful design, AI could deepen inequality and erode the soul of work.
So what can counterbalance this risk? The answer, Soren suggests, lies in the arts and storytelling. Far from being luxuries, they cultivate the reflective, relational, and imaginative capacities we need to flourish:
Sharpening discernment of complexity.
Building emotional sensitivity and care.
Expanding moral imagination to envision alternatives.
Integrating intuition and vision into wise action.
Prompting critical reflection on whether we’re living our values.
The arts and humanities—often underfunded and undervalued—are essential for developing the human capacities most at risk in an AI-driven world. Stories, too, are not just communication tools but moral infrastructures. They shape culture, transmit values, and enable collective healing.
If we want eudaimonic workplaces, Soren argues, we must treat storytelling as a sacred practice. One that reveals shared purpose and binds communities together.
Act VI: Conclusions
As Soren notes, building workplaces as moral communities will not happen all at once. Designing workplaces as moral communities, or modern-day poleis, means:
Moving beyond self-optimization toward collective flourishing.
Treating organizations not as economic machines but as spaces for ethical, aesthetic, and human development.
Recognizing that even small shifts, led by committed communities, can ripple outward into real change.
Across workplaces and communities, leaders and workers are already experimenting with ways to make work more decent, purposeful, and humane.
The challenge is to notice, share, and build on these efforts - together.
