Podcast explores the interplay between work and service in a coherent life

BAHÁ’Í WORLD CENTRE — What are those essential principles that, when applied to the world of work and our interactions with it, ensure individual and collective flourishing?

This was among the questions explored by Nava Ashraf, Professor of Economics at the London School of Economics and Founding Director of the Altruistic Capital Lab, in the latest episode of “Insights from the Field.”

“There is an extraordinary crisis happening in the world of work today,” said Professor Ashraf. Automation has reshaped entire industries, she explained, widening inequality and leaving many communities with “a deepening sense of loss of purpose.” In recent years, that sense of alienation has spread across every kind of work, as people have paused to ask whether the lives they have been building are truly bringing them joy.

The usual response—retraining people for new jobs—leaves a deeper question unanswered. “We don’t know what the jobs of the future will be,” she said. “But then the question becomes... what does it mean to contribute to society through our work beyond the material compensation it gives us?”

Much of the fatigue felt around work, she shared, can be traced back to “crises of purpose and meaning” where people experience cycles in which each new gain is briefly satisfying before the search for the next one resumes.

“That is when we need to look to spiritual solutions,” Professor Ashraf continued. She sees the present moment of uncertainty as a window of opportunity to reconnect with “what is truly, deeply human in us”—a longing for the transcendent that most people keep separate from their working lives.

She described the twofold moral purpose, a concept that ties an individual’s progress to that of the collective: viewing the development of spiritual qualities in oneself and working for the betterment of humanity as one inseparable process.

She pointed out that these spiritual qualities—generosity, hope, and love—are equally valuable in the workplace. They translate, Professor Ashraf explained, into skills like patience, cooperation, and the ability to connect and communicate with others. Taking steps to better one’s community, she described, combines inner qualities with “an orientation towards learning truth and reading reality”—understanding the true needs of oneʼs community to see where a contribution can be made.

In Baháʼí community-building efforts she has witnessed around the world, children and youth are given opportunities to experience the joy of service from a young age. As a result, she observed that “they’re clearer in themselves about what brings them joy, what brings them true happiness,” and they can begin shaping their careers around it.

Professor Ashraf noted that “all work can be considered service.” To reimagine work along these lines, she said, is to “imagine a world where we all want to go to work because we see it as the way in which we can contribute.”

The podcast episode is part of the “Insights from the Field” series.