The CEO’s Insights: Happiness

The CEO’s Insights: Happiness

You are likely speed reading this blog on your desktop, iPad, or mobile phone. That means you are very likely to be secure on Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs: you know where you’ll sleep tonight, you know you’ll have food to eat and clean water to drink, you feel secure in your personal and professional life, and you have a network of friends and family who love and support you.

However – it’s reasonable to think that while your basic needs are being met, you may also be struggling with happiness these days. There’s more dark noise than any other time in my life, and now more than ever, it’s constantly streaming on the phones in our pockets.

Never more important than now

Today, the global noise is like an ear worm. Kidnappings. Epstein. Lies. And a government-sponsored occupation of my hometown…how is anyone supposed to find happiness amid it all?

You have often heard me say: Realism over positivity. And I still believe that is true. Yes, we need to be vulnerable, sincere, and transparent – and allow the space for others to feel that way, too.

However, as leaders, followers and colleagues need to know we are still fueled by happiness. If you are dedicated to building something special, developing people and teams, and pushing back on the noise… it doesn’t do anyone any good if you’re showing up in a cloud of darkness. If you are someone who has a place to sleep, money for your next meal, friends who can console you, I encourage you to find and choose to lead with happiness.

Happiness Quarterly

A friend and professional colleague, Marc Miller, started a movement to talk with young people about the importance of happiness for a good life. He started a non-profit called The Gunnar Project, named after his teenage son who died tragically in an accident. The first issue of the new online magazine: The Happiness Quarterly, launched earlier this year. I wrote about my own struggle with happiness in that publication. My short story involved my troubling relationship with my bipolar father and the pivotal moment in my life when my own executive coach invited me into a new mindset when she asked me: Can you choose happiness?

Turns out that I could – and I did – choose happiness daily. And I’m finding it to be very helpful now in dark times like this. It’s not an ignorant bliss, but a conscious decision to show up for those that depend on me with happiness.

In my experience working with more than 100 CEOs, deep happiness comes from many different sources. But the most enduring source of happiness is the faith and belief in people. Individuals and the collective humanity. When you share your belief in the people and teams who run your organization, you are showing them you are fueled by happiness.

Please share with me, where does your happiness come from today?