Available January 22, 2026
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What if we could unlock the secret to a life of deep connection and purpose? That’s the premise of Jennifer Wallace’s new book, Mattering. In this special live edition of New View EDU, recorded on January 15, 2026, Jennifer shares what she has learned about the importance of mattering with NAIS President Debra P. Wilson.
Building on the work of her first book, Never Enough, Jennifer says she wrote Mattering almost simultaneously as she uncovered the link between combating achievement culture and building a sense of mattering. She defines mattering as a fundamental human need to feel valued and to have an opportunity to add value to the world. Her research, she says, demonstrates that mattering is a drive that shapes human behavior at a fundamental level—second only to the needs for food and shelter. Yet despite its vital importance to human flourishing, it’s often misunderstood or overlooked entirely.
Paradoxically, for educators in particular, mattering can become “too much.” While we all have the intrinsic need to feel that we’re important and that our work adds worth, for those in helping professions, it’s possible to end up paying what Jennifer calls a “passion tax.” Educators often feel that they matter so much to everyone at work that their own needs don’t matter—the self almost disappears. Jennifer and Debra discuss mattering as a spectrum, where disengagement is a key symptom of both mattering too much and mattering too little. When people feel they don’t matter at all, Jennifer says, they tend to disengage to numb themselves from the emotional pain of insignificance. Conversely, when they feel they matter so much to others that they can’t attend to their own wants and needs, they disengage due to burnout to get a little distance from the constant onslaught of responsibilities.
Jennifer recommends setting strong personal policies to help combat the sense of mattering too much. She recommends strategies like a daily self check-in to identify a need that can be prioritized even in the midst of a hectic day; committing to showing up for friends to engage in the give and take of mattering that comes from strong social relationships; setting boundaries around work hours and tech use to be able to shift gears from professional life to personal life; and “closing the loop” in communications to let others know that their help, advice, or work has been valuable. She points out that we are so used to being individualistic and isolating from others, feeling that we should be able to handle everything on our own, that we not only deny ourselves help but deny others the opportunity to become helpers and to recognize the value they offer. Mattering is, at its core, a social give and take, and we have to engage in order to reap the benefits.
Understanding the necessity of building a mattering culture is crucial for leaders. Jennifer offers examples of workplaces where the leadership dedicated time and energy to ensuring staff felt a sense of mattering, like a social work office where the executive director encouraged everyone to leave notes for back-office staff to help illuminate the impact their often-unnoticed efforts had on the organization’s mission. She explains the concept of mattering maps, which paint a picture of the personal strengths and gifts individual staff members contribute to the community. And she points out that the fastest way for anyone to feel like they matter is to find a way to remind others of their value. When we look outside ourselves and focus on the contributions of the people around us, we can create a culture that lifts everyone.
Jennifer describes building a culture of mattering in the workplace as the most important thing we can do to not only improve adult mental health but to address the youth mental health crisis and help fix the toxic political polarization that has taken over society. If she’s correct, then 2026 should become the year of mattering for school leaders everywhere.
Key Questions
Some of the key questions Debra and Jennifer explore in this episode include:
- You spent years investigating the impact of achievement pressure on adolescents in your bestselling book Never Enough, which hit home for so many educators and parents. And, you have said you wish you’d written your new book, Mattering, first. Why is that?
- Can you define “mattering”? How does it show up in everyday life?
- Talk to us about the paradox of educators “mattering too much”—how giving endlessly without balance can actually erode our sense of mattering.
- What are a few low-lift practices school leaders can adopt to ensure teachers regularly receive signals that they are valued?
Episode Highlights
- “Researchers who study it say that after the drive for food and shelter, it is the drive, the motivation to matter that shapes human behavior for better or for worse. So when we feel like we matter, we show up fully, we engage, we connect, we contribute. When we are made to feel like we don't matter, we can either turn against ourselves, become anxious, depressed, turn to substances to try to alleviate the pain, or lash out in anger, right? Road rage, online attacks, political extremes, these are desperate attempts to say, ‘Oh, I don't matter? I'll show you I matter.’”
- “Something like 70% of the workforce, employees are reporting feeling disengaged. The way I view disengagement through the lens of mattering is that when we feel, as individual workers, like we don't matter, for whatever reason that is, it's a painful feeling. It releases these painful neurochemicals in our brains, and to stop that, if we don't feel like we have a voice or agency, to stop it, is to disengage. That's the coping strategy that we employ.”
- “So many of us in this hyper-individualistic culture that we live in today are reluctant to ask for help. I certainly used to be one of these people. I didn't want to burden my friends. I could do this on my own. I didn't want to… everybody's exhausted dealing with their own. But here is what I found, is that when I don't ask for help, not only do I deny myself the help that I need, I also deny my friend the chance of being a helper, of letting them know how much they matter to me.”
- “And so what I argue in the book to leaders, again, not just school leaders, to anybody, is that mattering at work is critical. If we want to support, if we know that children's resilience rests on the resilience of the adults in their lives, and we know that adults spend the majority of their waking hours in the workplace, if we can go and make adults feel like they matter at work, that is how we can bring caregivers and parents home to their kids as their best selves, sturdy adults, so that they could act as the first responders to those kids' struggles. You cannot do it if you are constantly beaten down at your job. You cannot show up as your best self.”
Resource List
- Pre-order Jennifer’s new book, Mattering. (Through January 27, 2026, get a special promotional package of free resources with your pre-order of a copy of Mattering.)
- Get a copy of her first book, Never Enough.
- Stay up to date on the Mattering Movement.
- Read Jennifer’s Wall Street Journal article on mattering at work.
- Check out Jennifer’s Washington Post article on the importance of positive stress.
- Watch Jennifer’s TED Talk on the importance of mattering.
Related Episodes
- Episode 79: The Disengaged Teen
- Episode 78: The Power of Transcendent Thinking
- Episode 77: Dignity-Affirming Leadership in Schools
- Episode 72: Thriving Through Happiness
- Episode 60: Student Voices on Learning Self-Reliance
- Episode 54: Creating Climates of Care
- Episode 51: What Schools Can Do About Achievement Culture
About Our Guest
Jennifer Breheny Wallace is an award-winning journalist and bestselling author who explores the power of mattering in everyday life. Through research and storytelling, Wallace examines the hidden forces shaping modern life, from the crisis of meaning in achievement culture to the essential role of mattering in personal, workplace, and societal health.
Her first book, Never Enough: When Achievement Culture Becomes Toxic—And What We Can Do About It, was a New York Times best-seller, an Amazon Best Book of the Year, and a Next Big Idea selection. Her forthcoming book, Mattering: The Secret to a Life of Deep Connection and Purpose, will be published in 2026.
Wallace is the founder of The Mattering Institute, whose mission is to create cultures of mattering in workplaces and communities, and co-founder of The Mattering Movement, a nonprofit organization dedicated to creating cultures of mattering in schools. Jennifer is a special advisor to University Health & Counseling (UHC) at the University of Michigan and a member of their Well-Being Collective Advisory Council. She is also on the advisory board for Making Caring Common, a project of the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Wallace is a journalism fellow at The Center for Parent and Teen Communication at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. She also has served as a guest lecturer for NYU’s course Education, Mattering, and the American Dream: Understanding Achievement Culture.
Wallace is a maternal mental health advocate at Calm, the mental health app, a consultant at Netflix, and a BCG BrightHouse Luminary. She also partnered with The LEGO Group on its global "Play Unstoppable" campaign, aimed at addressing perfectionism and fostering confidence through play.
Wallace started her journalism career at CBS's 60 Minutes and was part of the team that won the Robert F. Kennedy Awards for Excellence in Journalism. She is a contributor to The Wall Street Journal and The Washington Post and frequently appears on national television programs.
Wallace serves on the board of the Coalition for the Homeless in New York City, where she lives.