A review of The Happiness Advantage by Shawn Achor

One of the great things about being unemployed is catching up on all the books that I’ve been meaning to read. This week I was able to finish reading The Happiness Advantage by Shawn Achor. This book focuses on “the seven principles that fuel success and performance at work”, that quote is from the cover and nicely sums it up (as a cover quote should).

Amongst the seven principles is one called ‘falling upwards’ which particularly resonated with me while I was sitting on the couch, looking at the dreary weather outside and feeling at a complete loss as to what to do with myself. Being unemployed after a few years of very intense activity is a bit of a shock. It’s easy to feel helpless and directionless and I’ve certainly experienced a bit of that this week. But I refuse to wallow for long and it was an opportune time to be reading this book.  The principle of ‘falling upwards’ talks about seeing moments where everything seems to be falling apart (or down) as opportunities for change and re-invigoration. It’s about shifting your language and your attitude to focus on the positive.

The book is based around the idea that success does not necessarily lead to happiness but that happiness does lead to success. I remember getting that vibe from reading The Secret some time ago, but then I did leave The Secret sitting on my bedside table for about 2 years only half read. The Secret has now been moved to my bookshelf but I still have not finished it, I think because it was a bit airy-fairy for me. One of the things that I enjoyed about The Happiness Advantage was that much of what Achor talks about is referenced to scientific studies rather than just anecdotal stories. I think this gives much more credence to a book that could easily fall into the self-help category. Instead this book is a helpful tool for development.

It reminds me of another book that I use quite often for leadership development called True North by Bill George (I may have mentioned it before). I think that The Happiness Advantage has useful applications for leadership development as well. Particularly towards the end of the book the role of leaders in creating a positive and high performing atmosphere is discussed, also the role of social support networks in individual performance, something Bill George examines too.

The idea of applying a happy mindset to your life and work and reaping positive results seems like a common sense approach, but as Achor himself argues, common sense is not commonly applied. The Happiness Advantage offers practical tips for making your life and the lives of those around you happier. Increased performance should come about as part of this happiness. It’s not just warm and fluffy for the sake of it; there are obvious practical implications. I, for one, read this book and marked a number of pages where Achor talked about activities used to raise self-awareness around attitudes at work. I mean to integrate these at some point (hopefully soon) in leadership development design and apply a few of them myself.