By Danny Gavin, AEM Communications Coordinator --
In environments that reward independence, productivity, and self-reliance, success is often framed as an individual achievement.
Keynote speaker and entrepreneur Liz Bohannon rejects this mindset, explaining that isolation, especially among leaders, weakens performance and overall organizational health.
“Connection is not a ‘soft’ priority,” said Bohannon. “It is a structural driver of engagement, resilience, and long-term performance.”
Bohannon spoke at the 2025 AEM Annual Conference this past November, where she underscored the importance of human connection in life and leadership.
Join AEM member company executives and the next generation of industry leaders at the 2026 AEM Annual Conference, set for Nov. 10-12, 2026, at the JW Marriott Tucson Starr Pass Resort & Spa in Tucson, Arizona. To learn more, visit aem.org/annual.
The Organizational Cost of Loneliness
The belief that challenges must be managed alone transforms pressure into long-term stress and burnout. This mindset is all too common among leaders of people, who may feel they must appear confident and self-sufficient to their teams even if they’re struggling.
Data consistently disproves this attitude, but leadership development and well-being strategies rarely focus on relationship building as a tool. Bohannon dove into the resources available to corporate leaders, and she found that many of the results didn’t mention interpersonal support as an option.
“When I looked into how leaders can take care of and invest in themselves online, there was not one mention of investing in relationships or peer support,” said Bohannon. “Cold plunging was mentioned significantly more!”
This is despite extensive research that identifies the quality of personal and professional relationships as one of the strongest predictors of longevity, happiness, and health.
“While 65% of Americans say they feel consistently lonely and isolated, those numbers are actually a lot higher for people in positions of leadership,” said Bohannon. “In fact, around 80% of leaders say they don’t have the societal support that they need.”
“Connection is not a ‘soft’ priority. It is a structural driver of engagement, resilience, and long-term performance.” -- Liz Bohannon
Lessons in Resilience From Around the World
Bohannon traveled across the globe early on in her career, and she noticed a pattern across all of the communities she visited – from Africa and Asia to Europe and Australia.
“I came to the realization that although I was going to places in the world where difficult things are happening, these communities have a sense of mental and emotional resiliency that I didn't experience in the U.S.,” said Bohannon. “There was this sense that they could weather any storm if they were in it together.”
This observation is proven true in organizational research too – sharing life experiences with others can significantly impact how individuals think and feel. For example, employees who have even one trusted relationship at work demonstrate significantly higher engagement, productivity, and retention. But when operating in a highly individualistic society, how can organizations encourage well-being through personal connection?
Translating Cultural Experience to Organizational Recommendations
Using her observations abroad, Bohannon identified four key concepts that support connection and resilience, and that can easily be translated to organizations:
Initiative: Community does not materialize on its own, and leaders must take initiative in their own lives when it comes to social and relational health.
“By nature, community and connection are not something that we can consume,” says Bohannon. “No one else can do it for you.”
Rhythm: Trust and belonging grow through consistency. Regular, recurring rhythms of connection create the reliability required for meaningful relationships to develop.
Communication: Many leaders try to avoid conflict to maintain relationships. But healthy relationships are like muscles – they strengthen through controlled tension and repair. Organizations benefit most when leaders are equipped with the skills to navigate difficult conversations rather than avoiding them.
Interdependence: Highly individualistic cultures often equate asking for help with weakness. But in reality, relying on others builds trust, enhances problem solving, and creates a sense of shared ownership.
“We have to understand that in the economy of relationships, contributing to our relationships does make us stronger, but allowing others to help us and being on the receiving end of that support creates a lot of strength, too,” said Bohannon.
Leaders were not designed to carry pressure or responsibility alone. Sustainable performance depends on shared strength, not individual endurance.
Organizations that recognize connection as a strategic resource can position themselves to lead with greater resilience, performance, and effectiveness over the long term.
“You are not meant to share the burdens of being a leader and being a human alone,” said Bohannon. “It takes a lot of courage in an individualistic culture like ours to change the rules and invest in relationships – but I believe it is one of the single best investments that anyone can make.”
