Shawn Achor is the NYTimes bestselling author of The Happiness Advantage and Big Potential. Shawn graduated magna cum laude from Harvard and earned a Masters from Harvard Divinity School in Christian and Buddhist ethics.
After spending 12 years at Harvard, Shawn traveled to 50 countries studying how to create an interconnected approach to potential and happiness. He has now worked with over a third of the Fortune 100 companies, and at places like NASA, the NFL, and the Pentagon. Shawn has battle-tested his research in high challenge environments from working with all the public schools in Flint Michigan, to six battalions of Marines at Camp Pendleton, to government leaders at Camp David, to students in a shantytown in Soweto South Africa, to hospitals in the wake of a mass shooting in Orlando and the Boston bombing.
In every place Shawn has found the optimism can be increased through mindset and behavioral change, and that by creating an interconnected approach to happiness and success, we shine brighter together. Shawn’s research made the cover of Harvard Business Review, his TED talk is one of the most popular of all time with over 20 million views, and his lecture airing on PBS has been seen by millions
Most companies and schools follow this formula: if you work harder, you will be more successful, and then you will be happy. This formula is scientifically backward. A decade of research shows that training your brain to be positive at work first actually fuels greater success second. In fact, 75% of our job success is predicted not by intelligence, but by your optimism, social support network and the ability to manage energy and stress in a positive way. By researching top performers at Harvard, the world’s largest banks, and Fortune 500 companies, Shawn discovered patterns, which create a happiness advantage for positive outliers—the highest performers at the company.
“Shawn’s message was great. Many people commented that they would have liked to have seen a couple of power point slides to help follow some of the detailed stats he shared. We also would have preferred if he had stayed for a few minutes after to answer some questions the audience had as they were leaving the room.”
“We have used Shawn globally to deliver workshops for our Managing Director and Executive Director audiences (both individuals and intact teams); as an estimate he has presented to close to 1000 people at this level at UBS. We are pretty selective about who we would put in front of this level of audience but Shawn never disappoints. The feedback from the seminars he has run for us is amongst the best across any of the training courses we deliver (from memory over 95 per cent of this audience would recommend the training to peers). Shawn has partnered exceptionally well with UBS to tailor his materials and research to our needs. He is always open to feedback and ideas.”
“Shawn brings energy and actionable ideas to countless research studies with flawless delivery!”
“A short note of appreciation for the outstanding, insightful and inspirational presentation at our Senior Leadership meeting. You have an uncanny ability to modify the content to the audience, and the result is impactful.”
“I wanted to let you know what a huge hit Shawn was at our recent Conference. Everyone absolutely loved his talk! Having read his book prior to Conference, it was both a great reminder of some of what I’d read, but also a glimpse into how much more is possible. I heard very favorable and positive comments, with so many people saying that Shawn was the best speaker we’ve ever had, and as you well know, Jo, we’ve had a lot of great speakers. So many people, from our intended audience, to our orchestra, and much of the crew, everyone was already putting his ideas and suggestions into practice.”
“Shawn was the highlight of our entire event! Absolutely the best presenter we’ve ever seen at any conference, anywhere. He is a top-tier presenter, has undeniable content backed with data, relates to everyone on a personal level, and motivates and inspires everyone to improve themselves both at home and professionally.”
