By Charlene Thomas, Executive Vice President and Chief Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Officer, UPS.

Joy. It's as specific as a fingerprint, as common as a garden rose. At times, for some, it's as elusive as a four‐leaf clover.

But we keep reaching toward joy. It's the pinnacle. The manifestation of happiness. The reward at the end of the rainbow.

And joy at work? To me, joy at work should be an everyday lived experience. Something we sow throughout our careers, not a reward that is delivered through paychecks, promotions, or the final reward of retirement.

For leaders at every level, the defining question each day should be: How do we create the conditions for joy to exist, for ourselves and those around us?

Let's back up for a minute. I'm Charlene Thomas. I'm a leader, a Peloton superfan, a scuba diver, a mother, a college football enthusiast (Roll Tide!), and a 33‐year (and counting) employee of UPS. My tenure at UPS has taken me around the United States, from a part‐time job in college to driving a UPS truck outside Philadelphia to leading operations and package delivery teams in Maryland, Alabama, Arizona, and California. Now I'm a corporate leader at our headquarters in Atlanta, focused on diversity and inclusion for our 500,000‐plus employees worldwide.

I have moved around a lot, and done a lot of different jobs, but most of my career experiences have followed a fairly standard formula:

• Connect with your new team immediately. Meet them in their environment. Get to know the people—their strengths, weaknesses, and relationships with each other. Get to know something about them personally as well as professionally.
• Listen for understanding. Separate the noise from true substance.
• Empower the team to solve the problems they have the resources to handle.
• Remove the barriers.
• Define success, celebrate wins often, and include learnings from previous losses.

I have repeated that equation over and over with teams of all sizes. My experiences have taught me about people, about motivation, and about management. But above all, I have learned about joy.

Here's what I have learned:

• Achieving joy is not about you. It's not about individual success. It's about a shared outcome. On a team, everyone's contribution is necessary, and it's always a team effort. Winning is achieving the outcome for everyone equally.
• Joy never requires someone else to lose. We don't all win unless everyone wins. If there are losers, you aren't winning. Joy requires collective equity. Your joy won't be fully realized if it requires someone else to sacrifice or compromise. We can't rely on subjugating or compromising someone else in order to make it out on top.
• Joy requires intention. Joy at work doesn't just happen spontaneously. It requires nurturing, engagement, and intention. At any given moment, if people don't understand what their purpose is, their work won't bring them joy. But when we're intentional about communicating the purpose and create a path for everyone to achieve their aspiration equitably, we can find true joy.
• Joy and fun go hand in hand. We can't forget to have fun! In corporate cultures, we can get very serious and focused on tasks. But joy is about celebrating achievements, amplifying small moments, and leaning into euphoria. Never miss an opportunity to celebrate and amplify a positive outcome.

Joy is the fuel that keeps us going. That's why I'm thrilled that Alex Liu is addressing this topic in this book. I'm proud to be a part of the movement for more collective joy at work.

When the world feels scary and the challenges ahead are hard, we have to choose joy. Intentional, collective joy is the answer. Joy is our path forward. When we choose joy, we make progress together.