When it comes time to plot a career, many people aim to work in a field they view as their "calling." Those who hit the mark can often feel extra doses of fulfillment when they perform their duties. However, this article explores what can happen when someone misses the mark and suggests ways to redefine the role a job can or should play in a person's overall happiness.

Leaders who cannot recognize or relinquish their rigid ideas or who refuse to openly communicate with colleagues or staff and seek to cultivate a "cult of personality" could end up like the children's story of the emperor with no clothes where everyone sees they are unfit for the job, writes Michael Nathanson, the CEO of The Colony Group. "Distributing leadership among several individuals and ensuring everyone understands that the organization transcends any one person is the best way to ensure that a leader's clothes are real and not imaginary," Nathanson writes.

Most workplaces are fairly evenly split between disengaged employees and those who are either reliable and committed or are "thriving stars," according to McKinsey data, and researchers recommend leaders focus on the latter two categories to boost both engagement and satisfaction. These staffers will need engaging work, flexibility and a focus on maintaining their mental health, says researchers.

Nineteen states have created auto-IRA programs that they run with payroll withholdings facilitated by employers and management by state-chosen investment firms. Business expert Carolyn Young outlines the basics of programs in more than a dozen states, from California to Oregon, New York and Maine.

Hospitals in the US appear to be moving away from the high levels of contract labor seen during the pandemic and returning to a more normal level of labor costs, a Fitch Ratings report shows. For hospitals, year-over-year hourly earnings growth declined from a pandemic-era peak of 8.4% to 3.75% in July, compared with a 2.3% average over the past 10 years. Health care job openings and quit rates also have seen recent declines.

"Smart corporate leaders leave the drama to television" and start planning years in advance for CEO succession -- but 49% of executives in a Russell Reynolds Associates survey said they didn't even take a full year to plan, CEO Constantine Alexandraxis writes. Alexandraxis outlines three steps to a successful succession plan, which should start right after a new CEO is in place and go far beyond "a selection and appointment checklist."

People whose fundamental psychological needs of autonomy, competence and relatedness are the most highly satisfied are the least likely to have a negative perception of artificial intelligence, according to an article in Telematics and Informatics. The findings suggest that organizations adopting AI should take steps to build employees' confidence and create networks among AI users.

Moments before an earthquake struck Morocco and claimed more than 2,900 lives, numerous videos captured bright lights flashing in the sky. While there are loads of stories out there hyping the lights as "mysterious" or "unexplained," that isn't quite the case. Similar "earthquake lights" have been observed ahead of other earthquakes dating back to the 1960s. While the exact cause of the lights is debated, one theory is that the stress caused by the movement of tectonic plates generates an electric charge that moves through the Earth's crust and then ionizes the air when it reaches the surface, creating a lightning-like phenomenon.