The Philosophy Of Happiness

In a series of interactions with People Matters during TechHR 2017, Tal Ben Shahar, serial entrepreneur, co-founder of Potentialife, and author in the areas of positive psychology and leadership, shared his insights on using positive psychology and the science of happiness in the workplace, ingredients of happiness, and connecting employees with a purpose.

Tal Ben-Shahar is an author, lecturer, a serial entrepreneur, and is the co-founder and the Chief Learning Officer of The Wholebeing Institute, Potential life, Maytiv, and Happier.TV. He obtained his PhD in Organizational Behavior and BA in Philosophy and Psychology from Harvard and has taught two of the largest classes in Harvard University’s history, Positive Psychology and The Psychology of Leadership. Today, Tal consults and lectures around the world to executives in multi-national corporations, the general public, and at-risk populations on topics of leadership, happiness, education, innovation, ethics, self-esteem, resilience, goal setting, and mindfulness.

Tal’s focus is on enhancing wellbeing, his approach is interdisciplinary and draws on psychology, organizational behavior, education, and philosophy. In this exclusive conversation with People Matters, Tal shares his perspectives on the imperative for organizations to use psychology or interdisciplinary approaches to create workplace solutions.

How would using positive psychology and the science of happiness in the workplace help HR improve employee engagement scores and productivity?

Most people believe that success will lead to wellbeing. Their mental model is:

Success (cause)   Happiness (effect)

But most people have it wrong. We know from a great deal of research that success, at best, leads to a spike in one's happiness levels, but the spike is temporary, short-lived. But while success does not lead to wellbeing, the opposite is the case:

Success (effect)    Happiness (cause)