This session argues that happiness is the ultimate goal towards which we all aspire, even if the means to achieving it be different. With that goal in mind, how can we measure happiness – at the individual, corporate, and national levels? Further, what measures can individuals, corporations and governments take to enhance the happiness factor?

1. The Quest for Happiness
ESMT Annual Forum 2014
Corporation 2050
Shirish Pandit
Berlin, July 03, 2014

2. #esmt2050
Acknowledgements
• Swami Paramahansa Yogananda
• Swami Chinmayananda
• Shubhraji
• …and Google Images
July 03, 2014 ESMT ANNUAL FORUM 2014: CORPORATION 2050, Session “The Quest for Happiness” (@shirish_pandit) 1
• Jonathan Haidt: The Happiness Hypothesis
• Sonja Lyubomirsky: The How of Happiness
• Nic Marks: The Happy Planet Index

3. #esmt2050
Happiness is hard to put into words. Yet it is the feeling that we all aspire to experience.
This aspiration pushes us on to a quest of happiness … and poses a series of questions
• Happiness:
− is a state of feeling joy, exhilaration, etc.
− results from attaining/possessing something
− varies from contentedness to bliss
July 03, 2014 ESMT ANNUAL FORUM 2014: CORPORATION 2050, Session “The Quest for Happiness” (@shirish_pandit) 2
• Some first thoughts:
− Why conditional upon externalities?
− Possible to drive it fully intrinsically?
− Why not long-lasting feeling?
− Can happiness become monotonous?
− If we crave for the happy feeling – yet, once we have it, it starts diminishing in value – what exactly are we after?
Happiness: concept and relevance

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The ultimate destination of this quest is the state of “bliss”. Experiences of happiness are
key milestones on this journey
• Bliss (Ānanda)
− a state of serenity that is beyond the perceptions of
duality (Body, Mind, Intellect)
− the source of peace, wisdom, courage and faith in spite
of the ever-changing experiences of joy / sorrow
− experiencing bliss is among the key objectives of
spirituality / meditation / Yoga
July 03, 2014 ESMT ANNUAL FORUM 2014: CORPORATION 2050, Session “The Quest for Happiness” (@shirish_pandit) 3
• Mastering the art of
being happy under all circumstances
is an important step in attaining bliss
Happiness: concept and relevance

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Happiness has a range of benefits. Individuals, corporations and states – all can benefit
from, and contribute towards generating, a happier society
• Tangible benefits:
− Better physical & mental health, greater longevity, lower propensity towards drugs / depression, etc.
− Stronger relationships with family, friends and at the workplace
− Direct, positive correlation with income
• More profound benefits:
− Closely linked with finding and fulfilling the “purpose of our lives”, helps to overcome fear of meaninglessness of life
− Feeling is contagious and creates positive spiral (e.g. a country moving on in the World Cup vs. a war-torn region)
− Better thoughts, emotions, attitudes => more fruitful actions
• Drivers of happiness can wilfully be controlled / influenced, at:
− Individual level
− Corporate level
− National level
July 03, 2014 ESMT ANNUAL FORUM 2014: CORPORATION 2050, Session “The Quest for Happiness” (@shirish_pandit) 4
Happiness: concept and relevance

6. #esmt2050
The progress principle and adaptation principle help explain why individual happiness, even
upon attaining long sought goals, is transient
July 03, 2014 ESMT ANNUAL FORUM 2014: CORPORATION 2050, Session “The Quest for Happiness” (@shirish_pandit) 5
Progress Principle
• Pleasure comes from making progress towards goals
than from achieving them (this is not football )
• What we feel along the journey is happiness, what we
feel at the destination is more of relief
• It’s the journey that counts, not (just) the destination
− Journey: pre-goal attainment positive affect
− Destination: post-goal attainment positive affect
Adaptation Principle
• Happiness is felt, if the current situation is perceived to
be better than the one that we have adapted to
• We are highly sensitive to changes in conditions, not to
absolute levels
• We adapt to the new conditions over time:
− Lottery winners: upfront joy, diminishes over time
− Paraplegics: upfront loss, normalizes over time
Individual level happiness

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The “happiness formula” developed by Lyubomirsky, Sheldon, Schkade, and Seligman
gives us helpful insights into the drivers of happiness
July 03, 2014 ESMT ANNUAL FORUM 2014: CORPORATION 2050, Session “The Quest for Happiness” (@shirish_pandit) 6
H = S + C + V
“Conditions” or circumstances in life. E.g. health, wealth, beauty,
marital status, geographic location, etc.C
V “Voluntary Activities”: These are the ‘happiness strategies’ that we
have the choice of pursuing
“Set Point”: Baseline level of happiness that we are born with. Those
with lower S will have to work harder to achieve/maintain happinessS
External
factors
Happiness does depend upon external, controllable factors!
Individual level happiness

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Among the external factors affecting happiness, the activities we voluntarily choose to
indulge in, play a decisive role
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Source: Sonja Lyubomirsky, “The How of Happiness – A Scientific Approach to Getting the Life You Want."
Individual level happiness

9. #esmt2050
CONDITIONS have a lower impact on our happiness, because we adapt to them over time
July 03, 2014 ESMT ANNUAL FORUM 2014: CORPORATION 2050, Session “The Quest for Happiness” (@shirish_pandit) 8
CONDITIONS that we adapt easily to
• Amount of wealth (lottery winners)
• State of health (paraplegics)
• Level of beauty
• Marital status
• Job promotions / career status
• City / region / country of residence
Source: Sonja Lyubomirsky, “The How of Happiness"
CONDITIONS that are hard to adapt to
• Level of noise
• Amount of commuting
• Degree of (lack of) control
• Level of shame / (lack of) self-esteem
• Inter-personal conflict
Source: Jonathan Haidt, “The Happiness Hypothesis"
Individual level happiness

10. #esmt2050
Voluntary activities can provide longer lasting happiness, if they allow us to experience
“flow” and give us gratification
July 03, 2014 ESMT ANNUAL FORUM 2014: CORPORATION 2050, Session “The Quest for Happiness” (@shirish_pandit) 9
• Express gratitude
• Cultivate optimism
• Avoid overthinking and social comparison
• Practise acts of kindness
• Nurture social relationships
• Develop strategies for coping
• Learn to forgive
• Increase flow experiences
• Savor life's joys
• Commit to your goals
• Practise religion and spirituality
• Take care of your body
Examples and tips…
Source: Sonja Lyubomirsky, “The How of Happiness"
Which type of activities to undertake?
• Those that allow you to “be in the zone”, “in flow”
− Challenging, yet closely matched to one’s abilities
− Clear challenge as a task, own skills, quick feedback
• Those that give gratification, as they are
− engaging, draw on strengths, allow us to lose self-
consciousness, extend ourselves
− not pleasure-focused (fade quickly, urge for more)
• Those that introduce variety and spice
− Variety is the natural enemy of adaptation
• Know your own strengths (online tests available)
Source: Jonathan Haidt, “The Happiness Hypothesis"
Individual level happiness

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Reflection exercise: What concrete steps would you undertake to increase happiness at the
(a) personal, and (b) company/department level, if you are in a position to do so?
• …
• …
• …
• …
• …
• …
July 03, 2014 ESMT ANNUAL FORUM 2014: CORPORATION 2050, Session “The Quest for Happiness” (@shirish_pandit) 10
Activities at
PERSONAL level
Activities at
COMPANY level
• …
• …
• …
• …
• …
• …
Company level happiness

12. #esmt2050
The “wealth” of countries is often measured in terms of their Gross National Product – a
metric that fails to capture the numerous, softer aspects of life
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Source: JFK Library; Transcript of Robert F. Kennedy’s remarks at the University of Kansas, March 18, 1968; own emphasis added
“[…] Yet the gross national product does not allow for the health of our children, the quality
of their education or the joy of their play.
It does not include the beauty of our poetry or the strength of our marriages, the
intelligence of our public debate or the integrity of our public officials.
It measures neither our wit nor our courage, neither our wisdom nor our learning, neither
our compassion nor our devotion to our country.
It measures everything in short, except that which makes
life worthwhile.
And it can tell us everything about America except why we
are proud that we are Americans.”
National level happiness

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Countries like Bhutan assess performance on 33 indicators across 9 domains to come up
with a Gross National Happiness (GNH) Index
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Source: GNH Survey Findings 2010, The Centre for Bhutan Studies
Domain (with number of indicators surveyed)
Psychological wellbeing (4)
Health (4)
Time use (2)
Education (4)
Cultural diversity and resilience (4)
Good Governance (4)
Community vitality (4)
Ecological diversity and resilience (4)
Living standards (3)
Total indicators across 9 domains 33
National level happiness

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The team at SecondMuse, a strategy and innovation firm in Berlin, has adapted the Bhutan
GNH Index model to create a Gross Corporate Happiness (GCH) index
July 03, 2014 ESMT ANNUAL FORUM 2014: CORPORATION 2050, Session “The Quest for Happiness” (@shirish_pandit) 13
Source: www.secondmuse.com/gch/index.html
National level happiness

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The New Economics Foundation (NEF) has developed the Happy Planet Index (HPI), and
applied similar principles to the Well-being at Work Survey
July 03, 2014 ESMT ANNUAL FORUM 2014: CORPORATION 2050, Session “The Quest for Happiness” (@shirish_pandit) 14
• The HPI is essentially a measure of efficiency, comparing on a country basis the output in terms of “Happy Life Years” to
the input in terms of amount of resources consumed
• It does not yet address other fundamental issues like poor infrastructure, human rights abuses, etc., but the composition
of the index is evolving with time
Source: http://www.neweconomics.org/
National level happiness

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Summary
July 03, 2014 ESMT ANNUAL FORUM 2014: CORPORATION 2050, Session “The Quest for Happiness” (@shirish_pandit) 15
• By understanding the drivers of happiness at the individual level, companies can promote and environment and support
initiatives that enhance the happiness of their workforce
− Doing so will result in higher productivity, creativity, innovation, and better health of the workforce
Take responsibility, become happier, and make the world a happier place ! ! !
• Happiness – whether short-lived or sustained, is a feeling all humans aspire to experience. Ancient wisdom can be, and
is being, combined with modern research to crack the secrets to happiness
• The components and their weightings in the Happiness Formula H = S + C + V give important guidelines for us to take
responsibility for influencing our level of Happiness
− Among these, the choice of voluntary activities that provide a gratifying, “flow” experience, is crucial
• Measures like GNP, which focus only on the economic output of nations, are being challenged by those like the Gross
National Happiness (GNH) Index, the Happy Planet Index (HPI), etc.
− Such approaches are being applied in corporate settings for evaluating the Gross Corporate Happiness (GCH) Index

17. #esmt2050
Links and further references
• http://www.happinesshypothesis.com/ … Jonathan Haidt’s book
• http://www.neweconomics.org/ … Nic Marks’ initiative on the Happy Planet Index
• https://www.happinessatworksurvey.com/
• http://happiness-survey.com/survey/ … Oxford Happiness Survey
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