Synopses & Reviews
Shawn Achor is the winner of over a dozen distinguished teaching awards at Harvard University, where he delivered lectures on positive psychology in the most popular class at Harvard. Shawn has become one of the world's leading expert on the connection between happiness and success. His research on happiness made the cover of Harvard Business Review, his TED talk is one of the most popular all time with over 4 million views, and his lecture airing on PBS has been seen by millions. Shawn teaches for the Advanced Management Program at Wharton Business School, and collaborates on research with Yale and Columbia University.
In 2007, Shawn founded Good Think to share his research with the world. Subsequently, Shawn has lectured or researched in 51 countries, speaking to CEOs in China, school children in South Africa, doctors in Dubai, and farmers in Zimbabwe. He has spoken to the Royal Family in Abu Dhabi, doctors at St. Jude Children's Hospital, and worked with the U.S. Department of Health to promote happiness. In 2012, Shawn helped lead the Everyday Matters campaign with the National MS Society and Genzyme to show how happiness remains a choice for those struggling with a chronic illness.
Shawn graduated magna cum laude from Harvard and earned a Masters degree from Harvard Divinity School in Christian and Buddhist ethics. For seven years, Shawn also served as an Officer of Harvard, living in Harvard Yard and counseling students through the stresses of their first year. Though he now travels extensively for his work, Shawn continues to conduct original psychology research on happiness and organizational achievement in collaboration with Yale University and the Institute for Applied Positive Research.
Synopsis
INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER - The happy secret to greater success and fulfillment in work and life--a must-read for everyone trying to flourish in a world of increasing stress and negativity "Thoughtfully lays out the steps to increasing workplace positivity."--Forbes In the book that inspired one of the most popular TED Talks of all time,
New York Times bestselling author Shawn Achor reveals how rewiring our brain for happiness helps us achieve more in our careers and our relationships and as students, leaders, and parents.
Conventional wisdom holds that once we succeed, we'll be happy; that once we get that great job, win that next promotion, lose those five pounds, happiness will follow. But the science reveals this formula to be backward: Happiness fuels success, not the other way around.
Research shows that happy employees are more productive, more creative, and better problem solvers than their unhappy peers. And positive people are significantly healthier and less stressed and enjoy deeper social interaction than the less positive people around them.
Drawing on his original research--including one of the largest studies of happiness ever conducted--and work in boardrooms and classrooms across forty-two countries, Achor shows us how to rewire our brains for positivity and optimism to reap the happiness advantage in our lives, our careers, and even our health. His strategies include:
- The Tetris Effect: how to retrain our brains to spot patterns of possibility so we can see and seize opportunities all around us
- Social Investment: how to earn the dividends of a strong social support network
- The Ripple Effect: how to spread positive change within our teams, companies, and families
By turns fascinating, hopeful, and timely, The Happiness Advantage reveals how small shifts in our mind-set and habits can produce big gains at work, at home, and elsewhere.
Synopsis
INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER -
An engaging, deeply researched guide to flourishing in a world of increasing stress and negativity--the inspiration for one of the most popular TED Talks of all time "Powerful and] charming . . . A book for just about anyone . . . The philosophies in this book are easily the best wire frames to build a happy and successful life."--Medium Happiness is not the belief that we don't need to change; it is the realization that we can. Our most commonly held formula for success is broken. Conventional wisdom holds that once we succeed, we'll be happy; that once we get that great job, win that next promotion, lose those five pounds, happiness will follow. But the science reveals this formula to be backward: Happiness fuels success, not the other way around.
Research shows that happy employees are more productive, more creative, and better problem solvers than their unhappy peers. And positive people are significantly healthier and less stressed and enjoy deeper social interaction than the less positive people around them.
Drawing on original research--including one of the largest studies of happiness ever conducted--and work in boardrooms and classrooms across forty-two countries, Shawn Achor shows us how to rewire our brains for positivity and optimism to reap the happiness advantage in our lives, our careers, and even our health. His strategies include:
- The Tetris Effect: how to retrain our brains to spot patterns of possibility so we can see and seize opportunities all around us
- Social Investment: how to earn the dividends of a strong social support network
- The Ripple Effect: how to spread positive change within our teams, companies, and families
By turns fascinating, hopeful, and timely, The Happiness Advantage reveals how small shifts in our mind-set and habits can produce big gains at work, at home, and elsewhere.
Synopsis
Recent discoveries in the field of positive psychology have shown that happiness fuels success, not the other way around. Achor isolates seven practical, actionable principles that show how to capitalize on the Happiness Advantage to improve performance and maximize potential.
Synopsis
When Shola Richards’s soul-sucking job left him feeling numb and suicidal, he switched focus and devoted himself to transforming the workplace into a space of relentless respect, courtesy, and endless energy. Meant to motivate current and future leaders, The Positivity Solution aims to start a movement that will banish on-the-job bullying, put meaning back into work, and enhance coworkers’ happiness and engagement.
Synopsis
“My mission was clear: I needed to fix the problems facing the workplace. As quickly as I came up with my new mission, I came up with the solution:
We need to treat each other better. Period.”
Shola Richards had reached the end of the road: after nearly two years at a soul-sucking job, he felt numb and suicidal. So he quit and devoted himself to nothing less than transforming the workplace, turning it into a space of respect, courtesy, and endless energy. The Positivity Solution focuses on inspiring current and future leaders to start a movement that will banish on-the-job bullying, put meaning back into work, and enhance coworkers’ happiness and engagement. Richards, whose popular blog has a worldwide following, explains why inaction is insane, why we must move forward with positivity, and why the “abc” employees (asshats, bullies, and complainers) are so destructive. This motivational guide will stay in readers’ hearts and minds long after they finish reading it.
About the Author
Shola Richards is a dynamic public speaker, a certified Emotional Intelligence practitioner, an in-demand leadership trainer/consultant, and an award-winning Director of Training at a world-renowned US hospital. He created his blog, The Positivity Solution (thepositivitysolution.com), in May 2013, and has a worldwide following: his articles have been read by readers in over 160 countries. Richards has made multiple appearances on Huffington Post Live as an expert on workplace happiness and engagement, and his thoughts on how to create a more positive workplace have been published in the Chicago Tribune, Black Enterprise, The Good Men Project site, and Business Insider Australia. Richards has hosted his own television show for the CBS affiliate in New York, and proudly notes that the late literary icon Chinua Achebe was his godfather.