Tonight, Radius and the Public Service Center host our 1st dinner workshop for MIT students called WORK ON PURPOSE. WORK ON PURPOSE is designed to help students who want to find meaningful work to create careers that are right for them and have positive impact in the world. 

A good friend, Reed, recently sent me an article from Fast Company magazine, a publication that covers technology, business and design.  The article was entitled, "Why Finding Meaning at Work is More Important Than Feeling Happy".  Reed sent it to me because we had had a spirited conversation last June about "happiness".  Everywhere we turned, magazines, books and newspaper articles urged us to "Be happy!".  We both asked, "Why are we being pressured to be happy all the time?" "What happened to meaning?" 

Reed didn't know that we were launching our WORK ON PURPOSE dinners tonight so his email had great timing.  The article explains that meaning and happiness are correlated but not always paired. It states, "Recent research suggests that happiness--as the be-all and end-all--isn't the only ingredient to a life well-lived. As a result, some researchers are cautioning against the pursuit of mere happiness and advocating for the pursuit of its closet cousin: meaning."

Tonight, along with good food, meaning and purpose is on the menu! If you haven't signed up for tonight's dinner, please email weinmann@mit.edu to reserve a spot for Monday, October 27 and/or Monday, November 3.