About the Guest:

Alex Pattakos, Ph.D., is co-founder of the Global Meaning Institute and coauthor with Elaine Dundon of the international best-selling book, Prisoners of Our Thoughts: Viktor Frankl’s Principles for Discovering Meaning in Life and Work, available in over 20 languages and now in a 3rd, revised and expanded, edition. Prisoners of Our Thoughts is based on the wisdom of the world-renowned psychiatrist, Viktor E. Frankl, M.D., Ph.D., who personally urged Dr. Pattakos to write it. Pattakos and Dundon are also the coauthors of the award-winning, Greek-inspired book on the human quest for meaning, The OPA! Way: Finding Joy & Meaning in Everyday Life & Work, as well as are the co-creators of MEANINGology®—the “study and practice of Meaning in life, work, and society.” Dr. Pattakos is writing a new book, Public Administration and the Search for Meaning: Rediscovering the Soul of Government, that will be published by Routledge, an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group and the global leader in academic book publishing in the Humanities and Social Sciences.

A U.S. Army veteran with expertise in political science, psychology, and existential philosophy, Alex has been privileged to have worked internationally with all levels of government, including service to the White House under three presidents in the United States. He has also been an adviser to the commissioner of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, as well as was one of the initial faculty evaluators for the Innovations in American Government Awards Program at the John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University. He is a former elected member of the National Council of the American Society for Public Administration (ASPA), the largest and most prominent professional association dedicated to advancing the art, science, teaching, and practice of public and nonprofit administration. He is also a columnist (“Meaning in Government”) for ASPA’s flagship magazine, PA TIMES.

His unique background includes being a former therapist and mental health administrator, as well as a full-time professor of public and business administration, including graduate program head. He is recognized as the world’s leading authority on applying Viktor Frankl’s System of Logotherapy and Existential Analysis to work, the workplace, and organizations in business and government. In this connection, he was awarded the title of Honorary Professor by the Moscow Institute of Psychoanalysis, Moscow, Russia. Now as cofounder of the Global Meaning Institute, Dr. Pattakos is helping to lead the Meaning Movement through his advising, speaking, teaching, and writing about MEANINGology® on how to bring meaning to life, work, and society.  

About the Host:

Matthew Cox spent his elementary and middle school years thinking there was something wrong with his brain. For him, schoolwork was a daunting, frustrating, and often embarrassing challenge. He was the kid who never seemed to catch up with his classmates,