Can You Really Be Anything You Want To Be?

As an avid reader, I recently came across some very eye opening statistics, that I want to share with you. They are:

1. Only 13% of workers studied find their work truly meaningful.
2. Only 20% of 350,000 employees in 7,000 corporations who were studied over a 16 year period were in jobs that made use of their talents.
3. Fully 50% of the managers hired in a preceding 3-year period "had not worked out", according to a survey of 55 companies.
4. Only 1 out of 3 managers is well-suited to his (or her) position.
5. Conflict in the workplace costs US businesses over $350 billion annually.

This reminds me of the statement made by Aurthur Miller in his book Why You Can't be Anything You Want to Be. It goes as follows:

"As a society we are slowly learning how to use the earth, it's soil-water-flora-fauna, and the atmosphere that surrounds it, without destroying them. When will we get around to using our human resources in a way that doesn't damage them?"

I personally can't help but wonder about the human toll and the adverse impact this must be having on our businesses and the economy.