What do you need to unlearn at work?
We don’t often talk about love at work, but we should. I do not mean romantic love. A mentor of mine, Dr. Ken Ginsburg, a pediatrician and one of the nation’s leading experts on positive youth development, describes this kind of love as loving kindness—human respect for each other and the desire to lift each other up. If we could practice this with each other at work, the world would be a different place. Loving someone means seeing who they truly are and celebrating who they are. And the only way we can do this effectively is if we love ourselves first. It’s a cliche to say you can’t truly love others until you love yourself, and it’s still true. But many super successful people I’ve worked with are actually their own worst enemies; even worse, they think that being an enemy is motivating and helps them succeed! It may do that for a while, but eventually it stops working. You can’t understand or care for others in a sustainable way if you are your own worst enemy. And you can’t love yourself until you understand yourself. Self-understanding encompasses your wiring, your personality, your temperament, your formative experiences, the relationships that shaped you, and the patterns you’ve inherited and the ones you’ve built. {"blockType":"mv-promo-block","data":{"imageDesktopUrl":"https:\/\/images.fastcompany.com\/image\/upload\/f_webp,q_auto,c_fit\/wp-cms-2\/2026\/05\/Morra-Logo-1280x720-white-bg.png","imageMobileUrl":"https:\/\/images.fastcompany.com\/image\/upload\/f_webp,q_auto,c_fit\/wp-cms-2\/2026\/05\/Morra-Logo-mobile.png","eyebrow":"","headline":"Want more Mentally Healthy Leadership?","dek":"Subscribe to Morra’s Substack. Find exercises, expert interviews, mini courses and case studies. To sign up, visit \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/morraam.substack.com\/\u0022\u003Emorraam.substack.com\u003C\/a\u003E.","subhed":"","description":"","ctaText":"SIGN UP","ctaUrl":"http:\/\/morraam.substack.com","theme":{"bg":"#f5f5f5","text":"#000000","eyebrow":"#9aa2aa","subhe