Shawn Achor

Why organisations work with Shawn Achor

• The Happiness Advantage is one of the most-read popular books on the science of positive psychology, a New York Times bestseller that gives audiences a shared reference before the session begins.
• His TED talk “The Happy Secret to Better Work”, with over 16 million views, is one of the most-watched of all time and is routinely used by HR and communications leaders to introduce his work internally.
• His Happiness Advantage training has been delivered across approximately a third of the Fortune 100, which means his intervention design is already calibrated for large, complex organisations rather than small-group coaching settings.
• A Harvard teaching record that includes more than a dozen distinguished teaching awards and one of the university’s most popular classes means his delivery has been pressure-tested in front of demanding, non-paying audiences.
• The research base is continuous: Institute for Applied Positive Research, collaboration with Yale and Columbia, HBR cover feature and a PBS special, all keeping the material updated rather than frozen at the 2010 book.

Biography highlights

• CEO of Good Think, Inc.; founder of the Institute for Applied Positive Research
• BA from Harvard University; MA in Christian and Buddhist Ethics from Harvard Divinity School; twelve years at Harvard
• Author of New York Times bestsellers The Happiness Advantage and Before Happiness
• TED talk “The Happy Secret to Better Work” viewed over 16 million times
• Research featured on the cover of Harvard Business Review; subject of a PBS special
• Happiness Advantage training deployed across approximately one third of the Fortune 100

Biography

The success formula most organisations run on, work harder, deliver results, then be happy, runs against what positive psychology research has produced for the last two decades. Shawn Achor has built his career on inverting it, and The Happiness Advantage, his New York Times bestselling book, is the most accessible expression of the argument: positive mindset precedes performance, and the data now exist to prove it at corporate scale.

His credentials are anchored at Harvard. A BA from the university, a Master of Arts from Harvard Divinity School in Christian and Buddhist Ethics, twelve years on faculty with seven of those as an Officer of Harvard living in Harvard Yard, and more than a dozen teaching awards across that period. He taught what became one of the most popular classes in Harvard’s history on positive psychology. He now teaches in Wharton’s Advanced Management Program and continues research collaborations with Yale and Columbia through the Institute for Applied Positive Research.

The public profile extends the research into the mainstream. His TED talk has been viewed more than 16 million times, one of the most-watched of all time. His work has been the cover of Harvard Business Review and the subject of a PBS special. He has lectured in more than 50 countries, a roster that includes CEOs in China, senior leaders at the Pentagon and the White House, and farmers in Zimbabwe.

The commercial footprint is the point for corporate buyers. Achor’s Happiness Advantage training has been delivered across roughly a third of the Fortune 100 companies, which makes his positive-psychology material one of the most extensively deployed in enterprise use. For CHROs, chief wellbeing officers and executive teams trying to connect wellbeing investment to performance outcomes, he is one of the few researchers who has both the Harvard credentials and the deployment experience to hold both ends of the conversation.

Key speaking topics

• The science of happiness and performance
• Positive psychology at organisational scale
• Mindset, optimism and resilience in high-pressure environments
• Leadership behaviours that generate positive contagion
• Stress, energy and sustainable performance
• Applying positive psychology to education and social systems

Ideal for

• CEOs and executive teams connecting wellbeing and engagement to measurable performance outcomes
• CHROs, chief wellbeing officers and HR leadership teams designing enterprise-wide positive psychology programmes
• All-hands, sales kick-offs and leadership conferences requiring a main-stage, globally recognised speaker
• Schools, universities and education leadership teams applying positive education principles

Audience outcomes

• The seven principles of positive psychology from The Happiness Advantage translated into workplace practice
• A research-grade view of the link between optimism, social support and job performance
• Specific behavioural interventions that are deployable without structural change
• Reference points from Harvard teaching, Fortune 100 corporate engagements and the Institute for Applied Positive Research