Self2025
46%of working adults say work gives their life meaning or purpose, near the bottom of the list.
Source: APA, Stress in America 2025The Evidence
The conviction crisis.
Independent research keeps describing the same wound under different names: dignity debt, the trust gap, engagement collapse, the readiness gap. Each is a symptom of one cause. A fixed identity, held past its usefulness, in a place that rewards holding it.
9
findings shown
5
rings of a life
2023 to 2026
research span
Oct 2026
last updated
Watch first
The conviction crisis, in a few minutes.
What the research keeps describing under different names, and why it is one wound.
It starts with the self. Then it spreads.
One number for each ring. Select a ring to see all of its evidence.Latest from the research
New findings from our daily review of independent research, added as they are verified.
Organization
53%, down from 68%
Employee trust in senior leadership fell 15 points in two years
Korn Ferry finds employee trust and confidence in senior leaders slid from 68% in 2024 to 53% in 2026. Low confidence is the hidden brake on AI driven change, and high confidence tracks with adaptability.
Korn Ferry Institute, The Confidence Gap Undermining AI Transformation (Global Workforce Survey)
See the sourceOrganization
9 in 10 employees
A CEO's track record now shapes whether employees join, stay, or leave
PwC finds trust in CEOs is conditional, tested on performance and AI decisions. Leadership credibility, not title or tenure, is now the pivot of whether people commit at work.
PwC 2026 US Trust in Leadership Study: What employees expect
See the sourceOrganization
29% engaged (Q3 2026)
US employee engagement falls below 30% for the first time in 15 years
Gallup's deepest U.S. engagement reading since 2011. Fewer than half of workers now strongly agree they know what is expected of them, so conviction has little to act on.
Gallup, U.S. Employee Engagement Below 30% for First Time in 15 Years
See the sourceHome2024
1 in 3workers say they lack the flexibility to keep work life and personal life in balance.
Source: APA, Work in America 2024Organization2026
20%of U.S. employees strongly trust their organization’s leadership.
Source: Gallup, 2026Organization2026
49%of U.S. workers are now struggling, outnumbering the thriving for the first time on record.
Source: Gallup, Worker Thriving Declines as Job Market Pessimism Grows, 2026Organization2026
$10Tlost to disengagement in 2024, about 9% of global GDP.
Source: Gallup, State of the Global Workplace, 2026Community2023
~1 in 2adults report loneliness, a mortality risk likened to smoking 15 cigarettes a day.
Source: U.S. Surgeon General, 2023Community2026
27%average confidence across 14 major U.S. institutions, below 30% for the fifth straight year.
Source: Gallup, Confidence in U.S. Institutions, 2026Generation2026
21%of Americans believe the next generation will be better off, down nine points in a year.
Source: Edelman Trust Barometer 2026Generation2025
87%of Gen Z workers say they feel unprepared to succeed.
Source: Instructure and The Harris Poll, 2025The Reversal
Five rings, one cure. Ease the center and every ring eases.
The frameworks that solve for the individual and the environment at once, each documented in a published book.
OpportunityEarning Serendipity · The Innovation Mentality
IndividualityLeadership in the Age of Personalization · Unleashing Individuality
ReinventionMake Reinvention Your Superpower
The throughline · The foundation beneath all threeEarning Conviction
Opportunity, individuality and reinvention each rest on it. Conviction is what holds when the outcome is still uncertain.
Every claim is independently sourced and links to its original research. This evidence base is maintained by Glenn Llopis Group and refreshed as new research is published.
Conviction Chronicles
Reading the research
What the latest studies say, and what they miss.
