There has been much discussion around happiness and the opening of our hearts to truly experience passion and energies which have a profound effect over our ability to elevate our emotions and increase productivity, relationships and success in life.
I have written extensively on the subject of happiness with articles such as “What is Happiness?”, “The pursuit of Happiness…”, “Is rhythm the human connection of happiness!”, “What is happiness? (cont.)” and “Happiness explained……” – plus many more subjects around love and relationships in today’s world.
Recently, one of my associates, Camil Khoury, discussed ‘Happiness Leadership’ – he went on to say: “Are you happy?” The pattern I’ve observed — especially among those who are objectively successful — is striking. The most common answer is: “Happy? Maybe not. But I’m comfortable.”
Happiness. We talk about it a lot. But how do we actually create it? Not just for ourselves, but for those we lead? As leaders, our influence shapes the well-being of our teams. A happy leader inspires and motivates. So how do we build happiness in a leadership role?
Happiness is what fuels success, not the other way around. When we are positive, our brains become more engaged, creative, motivated, energetic, resilient, and productive.
Creating and being in a “psychologically safe environment” can provide for an incredibly positive experience for everyone. Being open and vulnerable can help leaders and their teams remove their masks and reveal their true selves. It also encourages everyone to become more self-aware of their strengths and areas they could adjust, which in turn can lay the groundwork for new learnings by setting goals—but not just any goals.
A good leader sets ambitious, challenging goals for themselves, then thinks through how they can inspire others to do the same by example, leaders harnessing these and related methods for improving their team’s confidence, vulnerability, self-awareness, and goal setting can achieve something that many workplaces still struggle with: happiness.
It seems that everywhere you look there is a new book of Happiness Experts, recently I read about positive psychology which is a branch of psychology, that focuses not on fixing what’s wrong but on enhancing what’s right. Martin Seligman, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania, is considered the father of positive psychology. His key insight was that instead of solely diagnosing problems, we should also focus on what makes life fulfilling.
Rather than concentrating on diagnosing and treating mental illnesses, positive psychology aims to cultivate well-being by emphasizing what makes life meaningful and joyful. This approach shifted the field from merely alleviating suffering to fostering positive emotions, accomplishments, and a sense of purpose. It’s about understanding the building blocks that lead to flourishing lives.
This perspective gave birth to the PERMA model — a simple, practical framework that outlines the five pillars of happiness and well-being: Positive Emotion, Engagement, Relationships, Meaning, and Achievement. As leaders, we can use them not only to foster happiness in ourselves, but especially to create happier, more engaged teams.
Let’s break down each component and talk about how to bring it into the workplace.
I watched a film recently, “Hector and the search for happiness”
This endearing movie is about Hector, a successful young psychiatrist, who wants to know what happiness really means. He has this innate ability in being good in talking to people until he realized that he’s not becoming much of a help to his patients. He begins doubting himself which eventually resulted in him questioning his own happiness then he started to become depressed.
Taking the advise from one of his patients, he set off and took a holiday. He decided to take this opportunity to refresh himself and also look for what’s really the meaning of happiness that he can eventually use to treat his patients. No country was mentioned as to the countries that Hector visited but based on the descriptions, the first one is probably in Asia, then a country in Africa and some place in the Americas.
His first stop is somewhere in China where he plans to consult an old monk about his search. In there he meets an old school friend who is very successful in his field , a beautiful Chinese young girl who works as a prostitute that became both the cause of his happiness and sadness.
Then he found himself somewhere in Africa where he was introduced to the lives of the poor, he meets a drug carted boss, gets kidnapped by local criminals and meet a young and beautiful woman whom he shared a night with.
His next stop is somewhere in the Americas where he meets a renowned Professor of Happiness to show him his list that he has written during his travels. There Hector learned that happiness can be measured through methods employing calculations. Then lastly, he found himself back in the first country that he visited where he tied-up loose ends and fulfilled a promise.
As he travelled to different places and talked to locals, his observations became his guide in making his list for what makes people happy. The film offers a lot of insights about happiness. Like for instance, the reason why some people seems more happy and positive than others is because some people have more gifts for happiness. In his journey, Hector came up with a total of twenty-three lessons on happiness. The lessons are weaved well into the story. It includes being with people that you love, your attitude and outlook in life, material wealth, having a job you love and appreciating the place where you’re at among others.
A great book that I read in 2005 is “Happiness: Lessons from a new science”, by Richard Layard.
In a nutshell, ‘Happiness’ is a summary of the scientific study of happiness. It is possible to measure it, argues Layard, and we can work out what causes more of it and less of it. Thus equipped, we should structure our society around those things that make us happy. “Here we are as a society,” writes Layard, “no happier than fifty years ago. Yet every group in society is richer, and most are healthier. In this new land of opportunity, what are we not doing that we could?”
There is some brilliant cultural analysis here, as Layard picks apart what drives our culture. Individualism, status, competition, all things proven to make us unhappy, but pursued nonetheless, written into policy in the form of performance related pay or schools rankings. For this, Layard blames the unholy synergy between Adam Smith and Charles Darwin: “From Darwin’s theory of evolution many people now conclude that to survive you have to be selfish and to look after No. 1: if you don’t, you get taken for a ride. From Adam Smith they also learn, conveniently, that even if everyone is completely selfish, things will actually turn out for the best: free contracts between independent agents will produce the greatest possible happiness.”
Under the guidance of this free market philosophy, our current society revolves around the idea of growth, of having more. As Layard points out, we are no happier now than we were fifty years ago, even though our incomes have doubled. Although being poor can be miserable, and an increase in income can lead to an increase in happiness, that ceases to be true once our basic needs are met. In the developed world, our needs were some time ago. Our continued pursuit of economic growth may now be working against our dreams of happiness.
Instead, we should unite around a new vision of the common good, using Jeremy Bentham’s principle of the greatest happiness for the greatest number of people. So, we should monitor happiness as well as, or instead of, GDP. We should ease inequality, and help the poor. Since mental illness is one of the leading causes of unhappiness, we should do everything we can to prevent it. Family and relationships are the most important factor in happiness, so flexible working, shorter working hours, and better child care are important. Community should be encouraged, so anything that brings people together should be supported or even subsidised. Advertising to children should be banned. On a personal level, avoid comparing yourself with others. Appreciate what you have. Seek to ‘do good’, rather than ‘do well’.
You could break happiness down into three key points:
1. Happiness and strong relationships are vital for mental and physical health and key to wellbeing.
2. Types of happiness include momentary joy, which contrasts with deeper purpose.
3. Happiness varies with culture, values, and life stages.
What is happiness
Studies are very consistent about the things that lead to a truly happy life, and the things that don’t. People on their death beds consistently say similar things about the things they wish they had done more or less of during their lives.
Certainly, life won’t always be happy. But the research shows that many people aren’t leveraging the choices they do have control over—that would drastically improve their happiness. Furthermore, research shows that happiness or joy can be found during periods of suffering or setbacks.
Therefore, having authentic happiness also doesn’t mean the absence of anything bad happening. It is how we move through and respond to grief and tragedy that has a greater impact.
Finally, what is happiness? It’s a big question that has engrossed philosophers and, more recently psychologists, for hundreds of years.
It’s important to understand the question and know that the answers matter, because happiness impacts individual and group wellbeing, life satisfaction, and economic and policy-making decisions
Although happiness can be tricky to define, most would agree that it can be found in the present and over time by promoting a combination of positive feelings, satisfaction, joy, purpose, and meaningful relationships.
Interestingly enough, much of the happiness research confirms the importance of forming deep connections to our short- and long-term subjective wellbeing. The relationships we prioritize protect us from life’s challenges while allowing us to share positive emotions, such as gratitude, joy, and love.
At the end of the day, happiness in leadership isn’t just about feeling good—it’s a strategic advantage. Joyful leaders create workplaces where people want to stay, innovate, and do their best work. Companies like Zappos have built their success on this principle, proving that a culture of happiness translates into better business results.
Robert Young once said:
“See and feel who you are. Love like you have never loved before. The practical point is to live and enjoy from where you are. You can feel every movement because you are not here. The logic is only important to the body-mind.”
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