What Juices You with Zach Mercurio | Why ‘Mattering’ is a Leading Indicator of Results
Mon Feb 02 2026
Performance is a lagging indicator of how a person feels. In this episode of the What Juices You Podcast, Brady Wilson talks with Zach Mercurio, PhD, about why mattering is a measurable mechanism for results.
Zach makes the link clear: the degree to which people add value is correlatational to the degree to which they feel valued. When leaders help people feel seen, heard, and essential, they unlock the energy and ownership that performance-driven cultures are built on. Brady and Zach explore how Zach’s research gives leaders “permission” to focus on the human work—because it is the fastest path to better outcomes.
In this episode, you’ll discover:
The Primal Need: Why mattering is a survival instinct and how "anti-mattering" creates defensive, low-performance environments.The Skill of Significance: Using the world’s oldest technology—conversation—to rebuild the social repetitions required for trust.The Tanya Effect: A powerful story of a leader who treats relationships as the primary job, and quality as the natural byproduct.Leading vs. Lagging Indicators: Why mattering is the performance lever leaders miss—and how it drives commitment over compliance.Scaling Significance: Practical habits and incentive structures that make mattering a consistent organizational practice, not just an intuition.--------
Transforming Workplace Engagement For Over 20 Years
Whether you’re looking to grow leadership capabilities, build high-performance teams or fuel everyday innovation, Juice’s proven content and customized learning solutions will deliver lasting impact and help you transform your workplace. For 20 years, we’ve partnered with companies around the world to transform employee engagement. Every day, we work with leaders like you to unlock the energy needed to fuel performance.
Leadership Training Programs Learning Experiences Leadership Resources Webinars & Workshops About Juice
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Performance is a lagging indicator of how a person feels. In this episode of the What Juices You Podcast, Brady Wilson talks with Zach Mercurio, PhD, about why mattering is a measurable mechanism for results. Zach makes the link clear: the degree to which people add value is correlatational to the degree to which they feel valued. When leaders help people feel seen, heard, and essential, they unlock the energy and ownership that performance-driven cultures are built on. Brady and Zach explore how Zach’s research gives leaders “permission” to focus on the human work—because it is the fastest path to better outcomes. In this episode, you’ll discover: The Primal Need: Why mattering is a survival instinct and how "anti-mattering" creates defensive, low-performance environments.The Skill of Significance: Using the world’s oldest technology—conversation—to rebuild the social repetitions required for trust.The Tanya Effect: A powerful story of a leader who treats relationships as the primary job, and quality as the natural byproduct.Leading vs. Lagging Indicators: Why mattering is the performance lever leaders miss—and how it drives commitment over compliance.Scaling Significance: Practical habits and incentive structures that make mattering a consistent organizational practice, not just an intuition.-------- Transforming Workplace Engagement For Over 20 Years Whether you’re looking to grow leadership capabilities, build high-performance teams or fuel everyday innovation, Juice’s proven content and customized learning solutions will deliver lasting impact and help you transform your workplace. For 20 years, we’ve partnered with companies around the world to transform employee engagement. Every day, we work with leaders like you to unlock the energy needed to fuel performance. Leadership Training Programs Learning Experiences Leadership Resources Webinars & Workshops About Juice