Findings from the World Happiness Summit, 2023
Last weekend I had the privilege of attending WOHASU - World Happiness Summit. Each year experts, including neuroscientists, positive psychologists, coaches, psychiatrists and leading authors get together to talk about all things happiness and wellbeing, discuss the cutting edge research from the previous year as well as how to apply this to our workplaces. This was especially exciting for me - to say I geek out over this topic would be an understatement.
The word “happiness” makes us think of the classic hedonic happiness - laughter, play, fun etc. Note that when we talk about happiness in a psychological sense, we refer to the kind of happiness that sustains longer than in the moment, i.e. overall happiness, wellbeing, fulfilment and thriving. Martin Seligman’s more comprehensive and widely validated (2011) model of happiness, PERMA, demonstrates the need for more than just positive emotions (hedonic happiness) for overall wellbeing. PERMA comprises positive emotion, engagement, relationships, meaning and accomplishment - which together are scientifically proven to equate to human flourishing.
This year the conference took place in the stunning Lake Como, Italy. Sadly due to other commitments I couldn’t go there in person, so instead tuned in from the comfort of my own living room. I may not have clocked up my steps from Friday-Monday, but my neurons sure did get a workout. Each year there is a theme for the conference; this time the theme was connection. Very fitting in a post covid-world where we’re trying to foster the level of in person connection we had pre-Covid whilst awkwardly deciding between a hug and a handshake (aka the “shug”) when we greet people.
I have to say I did miss the connection part of the conference dialling remotely, as well as the energy (group flow) I experience from so many people being in the same space for the same reason. But I could write a book on the amount of “aha” moments I had. Alas I will summarise my personal “aha’s” in an attempt to inspire you to dig deeper into those concepts that resonate with you the most.
Ritualise your life
Dr Cassie Holmes opened with an amazing speech about how to use your time better and introduced the notion of “ritualising your life”. If your 5 year ago self was to see your life now, how excited would you be? Unfortunately, overtime we become desensitised to our achievements, gains and pleasures; so what would have been impressive back then, no longer gives us the same buzz. This is known as hedonic adaptation.
Holmes researched the idea of creating rituals around those things you love to do the most, as a way to savour and appreciate them more. She also suggests a quick calculation about the number of times you’ll potentially have the opportunity to carry out that action again, in order to create perspective & encourage us to be more grateful and present to the things we once loved the most.
We are currently facing a stress pandemic
This message came through stronger than ever this year and really hit home for a lot of people. Mo Gawdat (author & former CCO at Google) did a powerful talk demonstrating that stress has doubled in the world from its lowest point to its current level. We are also facing unprecedented rates of burnout.
He demonstrated a simple of equation for burnout:
Number of stresses X intensity of stress X frequency of stress X length of time of applying the stressor
Here you can quite easily see why work breaks so many people. We need to view performance as an endurance sport, not as a peak to climb - as the term “peak performance” suggests. Rather we should focus on training employees to endure the demands of work over time. I will talk more about how to create a wellbeing strategy that actually works, shortly.
Self-care is also an important part of the equation. Gawdat talked about the distinction between self-care & self-love. Self-care is those little acts of kindness you do for yourself, for example how we treat our bodies, our discipline when it comes to rest, taking much needed alone time when we need it and detaching from technology at night.
Self-care is turning that self-compassion into action and is vital if we’re going to combat the burnout epidemic. Jen Fisher, Chief Wellbeing Officer at Deloitte, coined “the Jen-exit” to describe her exiting any social occasion as soon as she is tired, mostly without goodbyes, saying that she has learned how to put her health first after being 7-years cancer free.
Wellbeing is our work, not in addition to our work
Fisher delivered a powerful talk about the importance of making wellbeing at work a priority. The crucial distinction she made was between it being an entity of its own, and actually being part of the overall business strategy i.e. having a seat at the table alongside marketing, technology, sales & other key business functions:
“Leaders who don’t just focus on the bottom line, know that without great people there is no bottom line.”
Fisher also referenced research showing that the relationship we have with our boss, has the single biggest impact on our wellbeing. How can leaders take responsibility for that?
Well, they can’t take full responsibility (self-care & personal boundaries are also important), but they can put wellbeing at the forefront of every decision they make. Leaders must understand that every employee has different needs and a certain level of autonomy needs to be given to the employee regarding where, when and how they do their job - so long as they are achieving their objectives.
They must measure well-being and not only seek to understand what employees are feeling, but why they are feeling that way. To measure wellbeing adequately we must consider job satisfaction, happiness, level of stress & sense of purpose. Sarah Cunningham (MD of the Oxford University World Wellbeing Movement) spoke of the “workplace wellbeing paradox” - the fact that the more senior we get, the more freedom & money we have to look after our health & wellbeing, and it’s those at the bottom of the proverbial ladder who not only have less access to wellbeing, but we’re also less empathetic to their needs since they aren’t in positions of authority.
Conscious Capitalism
A standout talk of the summit for me came from Raj Sisodia, on Conscious Capitalism (his book has the same title). Sisodia spoke of how we can heal the world through business. He wasn’t talking about massage therapists & yoga instructors, but through any kind of business if we approach it from a position of caring:
“It’s not about healing businesses, about business as a healing act.”
He believes we can both heal & spread happiness through business and we need this more than ever in order to repair the damage we have already done.
Sisodia pointed out the downfall of the human experience is our relentless need for growth - growth for profit, growth to feed the ego, growth at the expense of wellbeing, growth because we are greedy. We are plagued by this constant need for growth. Sisodia shared the astounding fact that 600,000 people die in China each year from overwork (China Youth Daily).
“Our prime purpose is to help others and if we can’t help them at least don’t hurt them”. Dalai Lama
On the more positive side, there is an awakening of the human experience and a growing movement of people waking up to the idea of conscious capitalism, promotion of healthy growth (not for growth's sake) and the resonance that the purpose of business is to help people and to make lives easier, not to destroy them. The more we care for the people the more the business will thrive, but we do it because we care - first & foremost. There are positive business consequences, yes, but that’s not why we do it:
“We don’t hire people to make great brownies. We make great brownies to hire people” (Greyston Bakery).
With that, I thank you for reading my summary of the World Happiness Summit 2023. If you enjoyed reading this, feel free to share it with a friend or a colleague you think will enjoy it too or sign up to my newsletter via the homepage.
I am curious, how does your company handle wellbeing at work? What part can you play in creating a better work-life for all?
If you are interested to find out how I can help with your teams wellbeing strategy, you can send an enquiry via the contact page or read more here.
