According to findings in Gallup’s 2026 State of the Global Workplace report, daily loneliness remains above pre-pandemic levels with 19% of the workforce reporting feeling lonely at work. Additionally, those lonely workers report lower engagement and higher burnout.
Dr. Rick L. Mask, a leadership strategy consultant and associate professor of project and operations management at UMass Global, notes the paradox here: We've never been more connected through technology, yet many people have never felt more isolated. Technology has dramatically increased our available options to communicate, but it hasn't necessarily improved our ability to connect. And many organizations have optimized for efficiency while unintentionally reducing opportunities for authentic human interaction.
We talked with Dr. Mask about this paradox, his work and research, what teams can do to strength their dynamics, and his new book, “Social Capital 2.0.”
What drew you to studying social capital and connection-centered leadership, and what inspired you to write your new book?
Dr. Mask: I've always been fascinated by what makes some teams, organizations, and communities thrive while others struggle, even when they have equally talented people. Throughout my career in banking, higher education, and consulting I kept seeing the same pattern. Success wasn't driven solely by strategy, intelligence, or resources. It was driven by relationships. The organizations that built trust, created meaningful connections, and fostered collaboration consistently outperformed those that didn't.
That realization led me to study social capital more deeply. My new book, “Social Capital 2.0,” was born from the belief that leaders need a practical framework for rebuilding meaningful human connection in a digitally connected world.
How do you define "social capital" for someone hearing the term for the first time, and why should leaders treat it as a strategic asset rather than a soft skill?
In “Social Capital 2.0,” I define social capital as the value created through human relationships.
It's the trust, reciprocity, shared purpose, and intrinsic value within networks that allow individuals and organizations to accomplish more together than they could alone. Every relationship either adds to or subtracts from your social capital.
Leaders often think of financial capital or human capital as strategic assets. I would argue social capital is just as important because it's the mechanism that allows every other organizational asset to reach its full potential.
Why do you think workplace loneliness has become such a pressing issue now, especially in digital and hybrid environments?
Hybrid and remote work certainly provide flexibility, but they also require leaders to become much more intentional about creating connection. Relationships don't develop automatically through Zoom meetings or email threads. If leaders don't intentionally build trust, belonging, and meaningful interactions, loneliness fills that space and eventually it affects engagement, innovation, retention, and overall organizational performance.
Can you tell us about an organization you've worked with whose team dynamics changed once they intentionally applied social capital principles? What challenge were they facing, and what made the shift memorable?
One example that stands out involves a retail leadership team that was struggling with constant escalation. Every issue found its way to senior leadership because trust and decision-making hadn't been developed at the frontline. The organization believed it had a process problem, but, in reality, it had a relationship problem.
Once we shifted the conversation toward building trust, clarifying expectations, improving communication, and strengthening relationships between leaders and their teams, something remarkable happened. Decisions began occurring closer to where the work was actually happening. People became more engaged because they felt trusted rather than managed. The organization became more responsive, and executives were finally able to focus on strategy instead of constantly putting out fires.
What did you do that made the biggest difference in helping them build stronger relationships, and what was the outcome?
The biggest shift wasn't introducing another leadership model; it was helping people intentionally invest in relationships before they needed them.
We focused on creating environments where people felt heard, understood, and trusted. That meant improving communication, increasing transparency, encouraging vulnerability from leaders, and creating opportunities for authentic conversations that weren't centered solely around tasks. Although I don’t proport the “your workplace is your family” mentality, I do focus on the importance of what a colleague is and attempt to demonstrate that this too can be a meaningful, mutually beneficial relationship.
When leaders begin viewing relationships as organizational infrastructure rather than interpersonal niceties, everything changes. Trust increases, collaboration improves, conflict becomes healthier, and performance follows.
What's one practical strategy that a manager could start using with their team tomorrow to build trust and psychological safety?
Ask fewer status questions and more curiosity questions.
Instead of beginning meetings with, "What's the update?" start with, "What's one challenge you're facing that the team can help you solve?" or "What's something people may not know about your work right now?"
Those simple questions communicate trust, invite vulnerability, and create opportunities for collaboration. Small relational moments, repeated consistently, become the foundation of psychological safety.
Why are trust and belonging critical to organizational performance and student success — not just "nice to have" soft skills — and what would you tell a leader who assumes team performance is only about strategy and metrics?
Strategy is essential, but strategy doesn't execute itself. People do.
When people trust one another, they're more willing to collaborate, innovate, share ideas, and take responsible risks. When they feel like they belong, they're more engaged, more resilient, and more committed to shared goals.
If I were speaking with a leader who believed performance was only about metrics, I'd remind them that every metric is ultimately produced by people. And people perform at their best when they feel connected, valued, and trusted.
How has researching and teaching this topic influenced how you design your own courses or advise students at UMass Global?
It's changed almost everything about how I teach.
I still care deeply about academic rigor, but I now spend just as much time thinking about how students connect with each other, with faculty, and with the learning itself. I intentionally design opportunities for collaboration, reflection, and meaningful discussion because learning doesn't happen in isolation. In some courses I’ve even integrated a social capital analysis as a component of the formative and summative assessments.
My goal is for students to leave not only with knowledge, but with stronger professional relationships and the confidence to build trust wherever they lead.
If an aspiring student or working professional read this article, what do you hope they'd understand about the value of studying leadership at UMass Global?
I hope they understand that leadership today is no longer just about managing people or executing strategy. It's about creating environments where people can thrive together.
At UMass Global, we emphasize leadership that is practical, ethical, and immediately applicable. Our students don't simply study leadership, they practice it by solving real organizational challenges while developing the relational skills that today's employers increasingly value.
If you're interested in learning how social capital can strengthen leadership, organizational performance, and personal influence, join Dr. Mask for his webinar, The Connection Advantage: Building Social Capital for Stronger Teams, on October 21, 2026, at 11:00 a.m. PDT.
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