My work explores how our preoccupation with self-worth can keep us from the relationships, purpose, and contribution we most deeply value.

For more than four decades, my research has explored the costs of that preoccupation—and how changing what motivates us can deepen our relationships, enhance our well-being, and help us create the lives we truly want.

Today I bring together research and lived experience to explore what the science tells us—and what it takes to make that shift in our own lives.