Follow the Leader: Tal Ben-Shahar

Posted By: Joseph Daniel McCool
Filed Under: world business forum, leadership, joseph daniel mccool, employee engagement, tal ben-shahar

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Author and Harvard lecturer, Tal Ben-Shahar defines happiness as the convergence of meaning and pleasure, and it's a destination business executives and the organizations can reach if they're willing to consider what makes their existence unhappy.

Success in business, for example, Ben-Shahar suggests, may lead to a temporary feeling of elation, but research shows that happiness leads to more success. Teamwork, productivity and business performance are all shaped by human emotions and how those feelings move individuals to behave a certain way.

In other words, he asserts, "Happiness pays."

In today's global economy, businesses are only as successful as the knowledge they hold and the human capital in which institutional knowledge resides. If you employ a happy workforce, you will likely get more from it.

In this interview with ExecuNet Ben-Shahar argues that business leaders must be far more attentive to their own emotions because of how those influence the morale and feelings of the people they serve.

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Joseph Daniel McCool's avatar Joseph Daniel McCool
Joseph Daniel McCool is senior contributing editor with ExecuNet and principal of management recruiting/succession advisory firm The McCool Group. He is also the author of Deciding Who Leads: How Executive Recruiters Drive, Direct & Disrupt the Global Search for Leadership Talent, recognized widely as "one of the best business books of 2008," and its Brazilian Portuguese translation, Escolhendo Líderes, published in June 2010.

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Posted by David S. Batchelder
03/21 @ 11:40 AM

Selling happiness, great if the check clears. That to me does not work in the real world. I do not trust the Harvard. The world markets, just comes down to people. If people have hope, they can be or obtain a spark of happiness. But is the window is clossing or rules are un certain. You can not be hopeful, thus you can not obtain happiness. No matter what you tell yourself in the mirror. This is not think and grow rich. That is mass think. Look around, I am a general contractor, give me a boat load of money and I will build you the best sub division you can picture. But when you can't move the product, all the smiles are not going to make you happy. Pill for that matter.
So stay in the real world, the world is looking to replace us with some one cheaper. That is the happiness of truth.

Send me back your reply. I would love to hear it.

Posted by Zane Chambers
02/24 @ 01:10 PM

Very well stated! I like the last line with the focus on how we impact others. You selected the verb "serve." My entire life has been a learning experience around that concept. Leaders need to understand first that they are serving the people below them in the hierarchy of the organization. But when leaders meet the needs, desires, and expectations of subordinates, this frees up those people to become their best in the work environment. They no longer hold back with the fear that the organization doesn't value them and will not protect and reward them. Once you get past that simple human fear or need, this frees up everyone in the organization to focus all their energy on the mission instead of having their energy sapped away with the death of a thousand cuts that leads to misery in a job. Leaders can cause such a tremendous difference in an organization when they know who they are themselves and they make a serious effort to care for their people. The results can be absolutely astounding. The workplace becomes more like family and becomes a desirable and safe place for them to soar.