Social Capital at Work

Unlock your leadership potential and transform your team’s productivity and creativity by harnessing the power of workplace relationships and genuine connection.

Work has never been more connected—or more lonely. Endless pings and virtual meetings create the illusion of collaboration, but these exchanges are fast, incessant, and hollow. With only shallow interaction among colleagues, today’s teams are less engaged, less aligned, and less able to deliver their best.

What we’re missing is social capital: the deep bonds that make it easier to work together, share information, and turn ideas into action.

In Social Capital at Work, organizational social scientists John Burrows and Seth Rachlin explore how top companies set themselves apart by investing in this overlooked asset. When leaders intentionally build social capital, trust grows and results improve; when they don’t, silos harden, progress stalls, and even the strongest strategies fall apart.

Drawing on decades of research and real-world experience, Burrows and Rachlin offer a practical playbook to help you develop the workplace infrastructure that boosts social capital. They explain how to strengthen the networks that drive results, prioritize depth over volume, communicate with purpose, design environments that spark interaction, foster belonging, bridge divides, measure impact, and stay human in an AI-powered world.

Filled with field-tested strategies based on scientific research, Social Capital at Work reveals that relationships are the foundation everything else rests on—and why deliberately cultivating them is the most important thing a leader can do.