Lately, I’ve been hearing a lot about the importance of happiness. As a growth catalyst, it seems to be too touchy-feely to be of much interest. Yet, it is such a popular topic, and in all the business media, and impossible to avoid. Recognizing that “where there is smoke, there could be fire” I decided to learn more.
Happiness as it turns out is a new tactic for enhanced business success. Tony Heisch, CEO of Zappos, has built a company around the culture. Deepak Chopra, M.D., chairman of Chopra Center for Wellbeing, is a student of the science of happiness, studying Martin Seligman’s (a psychologist and founder of Positive Psychology), conclusions on what causes it. Success magazine devoted their June issue to it. They even scored Overland Park, KS as one of the 10 most blissful cities based on their scoring criteria linked to factors associated with happiness.
It’s not hard to accept there that there is a link between happiness, good health and longer life. But how does it tie to business growth?
Daniel Kahneman, PhD, Nobel Prize winner for economics, noticed that emotional well being is connected to economic well being. It is a chain reaction. Happy people are more positive, and positive people are more productive, and productive people contribute beyond a defined scope and have a greater impact on a larger scale. In the era of intellectual capital, people productivity (quality and quantity of output) is often the key determinants of success. Ergo, hire happy people and build on their happiness with positive work environments and see compounded performance benefits! Let’s get growing!