Viktor Frankl, a psychiatrist from Vienna, survived Auschwitz and Dachau and wrote this book within weeks of his liberation. The first part describes life in the camps with remarkable calm. The second introduces logotherapy, the approach he built on one observation: people can endure extraordinary hardship when they know what they are living for.
Frankl finds meaning in three places: the work we do, the people we love, and the attitude we choose toward suffering we cannot change. That last freedom, he argues, stays with us even when everything else is taken.
Talent Takeaway
Meaning is personal, and it moves people more than pressure does. In your next one-on-one, ask what makes the work worthwhile for the other person. Then connect each assignment to someone it helps. When a project gets hard, that answer is what keeps a team going.
Our Take
A short book with a long reach. Read it once for the story and again for the question it leaves with you: what is this for?
Frankl, V. E. (2006). Man's search for meaning. Beacon Press. (Original work published 1946) Find it