In this episode, Andrew Soren is joined by organizational psychologist Ryan Fehr to explore how gratitude and social sustainability shape the quality of our relationships at work, and why those relationships are central to whether work feels meaningful, energizing, and fair.
Ryan is a Professor of Management and Michael G. Foster Endowed Professor at the University of Washington’s Foster School of Business, where his research focuses on building positive relationships, leadership, gratitude, compassion, forgiveness, solitude, and social burnout. In this conversation, he helps clarify what gratitude really is: a feeling of appreciation for benefits that come from outside ourselves. At work, that means recognizing the ways other people contribute to our progress, wellbeing, and sense of belonging.
Andrew and Ryan dig into why gratitude can be so powerful in organizations, and why it can backfire when it feels forced, uneven, or disconnected from fairness and respect. They also discuss Ryan’s work on social sustainability: the ability to build relationships that energize us rather than exhaust us.
This conversation offers a practical look at what it means to feel that we matter at work. And, you’ll learn what leaders, teams, and individuals can do to build relationships that are meaningful enough to sustain us.
Key Takeaways
- Gratitude can strengthen workplace relationships by helping people feel seen, valued, and connected.
- Appreciation has to be authentic and fair. When gratitude is unevenly distributed, it can create resentment instead of belonging.
- Social sustainability is about building relationships that give energy rather than quietly draining it.
- Busy professionals may be less lonely than socially burned out. They are surrounded by interaction, but missing the kinds of connection that actually restore them.
Why This Episode Matters
Meaningful work depends on more than purpose or personal motivation. It is deeply shaped by the relationships around us.
When people feel appreciated, treated fairly, and connected to others, work is more likely to feel energizing and worthwhile. When they feel unseen, overextended, or socially depleted, even meaningful work can become exhausting. Ryan Fehr’s research helps explain why gratitude, fairness, and social sustainability belong at the center of the conversation about meaningful work.
About Our Guest
Ryan Fehr is a Professor of Management and Michael G. Foster Endowed Professor at the University of Washington’s Foster School of Business. His research focuses on building positive relationships in organizations, with particular emphasis on gratitude, forgiveness, compassion, leadership, solitude, and social burnout. He teaches courses in leadership, negotiation, personal change, positive organizational scholarship, and organizational development. Ryan also writes Sustainably Social, a Substack focused on evidence-based lessons for building relationships without burning out, and is the author of the forthcoming book I’d Love to, Just Not Today: Beat Social Burnout and Build Relationships That Don’t Exhaust You.
Mentioned in This Episode
