Something to readWorking with others
Together
A book on loneliness as a public health problem, and the human connection that eases it
Why it’s worth your time
Vivek Murthy, who served twice as US Surgeon General, wrote Together to make the case that loneliness is a public health problem, one that also shapes how people show up at work. He builds it from research and from stories of people and communities finding their way back to each other. If you've ever been surrounded by colleagues and still not felt known by them, the book offers a way to think about why.
Feeling less alone at work
The book · About 7 hours of reading · Buy or borrow
How to get it
We don’t earn anything from these links.
- Read the book in short stretches.
It moves between the science of why people need each other and stories of individuals and communities, so it suits a chapter at lunch or before bed. For a taste first, Murthy talked about the book in a 2020 interview on The Tim Ferriss Show, including what he tried in his own office.
- Ask a colleague for a hand with one small thing.
Pick something genuinely small you could use help or advice on this week, such as a draft, a tool or a tricky email, and ask someone you don't usually lean on. When they help, tell them what it changed.
You“Could I borrow ten minutes of your brain on something? I'd value your advice.”
Good moments for this: when work starts to feel lonelyafter a move or a reorgwhen your team only ever talks about tasks
Keep going with Truest
Small actions add up. Truest helps you find the next thing worth doing, make the space to do it, and keep a record of your progress. It’s a private place to work on your career, and it’s yours, not your employer’s.
- It actually happensWe’ll put it on your calendar and remind you before it starts.
- Part of the check-inThe end-of-day text asks for two scores and a line; this fits in it.
- It’s yours to keepEach thing you do is saved to your private record, there when your next review or job search comes around.
Anything else we can help you with this week?
Making it work for you
Every workplace is different. Here’s what to think about before you start, and what might get in the way.
Things to think about
At work that shame can run deeper, since it can feel like admitting you don't fit. A small ask for help needs no confession, which can make it a gentler place to start.
What might make this harder
Ask about something you genuinely know less about, such as a tool or a part of the business you don't own. Asking a junior colleague for their take on what they know best tends to read as respect.
Questions people ask
What is Together by Vivek Murthy about?
It's Murthy's 2020 book arguing that loneliness is a public health concern that contributes to problems from addiction to depression and also affects schools and workplaces. He looks at the forces that pull people apart, such as technology, frequent moves and shame about feeling lonely, and at stories of people and communities building connection.
Does loneliness affect performance at work?
Murthy argues it does: in his account, loneliness affects how people perform at work. In a 2020 interview he pointed to its effects on productivity, retention and job satisfaction, and cited research by Sigal Barsade at Wharton suggesting loneliness is about as common at work as anywhere else, affecting perhaps a fifth to a quarter of people.
What did the Surgeon General say about loneliness in 2023?
Back in the role, Murthy issued an official advisory in 2023 calling loneliness and isolation a public health epidemic and comparing its risks to smoking, with recommendations for workplaces, schools and communities. It carries the book's argument into an official public health statement.
What it says, and how it holds up
Murthy frames loneliness as a public health problem that follows people into the office, not just a private mood. He describes forces that tend to pull people apart, from technology that connects and isolates at once, to moving away from where we grew up, to putting individual goals ahead of relationships, and he gives a lot of the book to people and communities finding ways back.
If the distance you feel at work comes from being shut out, a team that excludes or belittles you, more effort to connect isn't the fix. That's a matter for someone with the authority to change how the team behaves, whether a manager above it or HR, and it helps to bring dates and examples.
The book grew from an article on loneliness at work that Murthy wrote for Harvard Business Review in 2017, and the workplace thread runs through how he talks about it. In his interview with Tim Ferriss he pointed to Wayne Baker's research at the University of Michigan on relational energy, which suggests that both giving help and receiving it can lift people's energy at work. His one-line credo for the book was put people first.
The health research Murthy draws on is substantial, and much of it shows association rather than cause; the often-quoted comparison to smoking fifteen cigarettes a day is usually traced to a 2010 review of studies on social relationships and mortality by Julianne Holt-Lunstad, Timothy Smith and Bradley Layton, whose chart set the effect of social ties beside that of smoking fewer than 15 cigarettes a day. It's a translation of a statistical effect, not a measured equivalence. The word epidemic is doing a lot of work, since whether loneliness is actually rising, or just being noticed more, is still argued over. The sociologist Eric Klinenberg put that question in a 2018 New York Times essay. That debate may matter less for your own week, since the practical case for connection at work doesn't depend on whether loneliness is rising.
More in Working with others
See allRead this alongside your role page
Tell Truest what you’re dealing with
We read every one, and we write guides for the things that come up most. Leave your email if you’d like to hear when we do.
Picked by Truest and described in our own words. The original belongs to its creator. Last updated October 9, 2026. We sell a career membership; where that’s relevant above, we say so.