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If You Want Success, Pursue Happiness

by Arthur C. Brooks

My name is Arthur Brooks. I am a professor at the Harvard Business School, where I research, write, speak, and teach about the science of happiness. That might strike you as odd for a business school professor; you might think I would teach economics, marketing, or supply-chain management. But in my nearly three decades as an academic—including a decade as a chief executive myself—I have recognized a strange paradox: Even though leaders reap the rewards of the world, they are frequently unhappy. What’s up with that?

In this six-week newsletter, I will be unveiling portions of my new book, The Happiness Files: Insights on Work and Life, which is a curation of essays from my weekly “How to Build a Life” column in The Atlantic. Each week, you will receive practical social science relating to challenges leaders face every day. But this isn’t just “gee-whiz” information—you will also receive my advice, based on my research and experience, about how to put this science into practice. It’s my hope that this newsletter will be the catalyst for a well-being reset, professionally and personally.

Each newsletter will conclude with concise, practical “Happiness Exercises” you can start and complete in a week. By the end of our six weeks together, you will have a roadmap for improving your work life—and for helping your team feel happier and be more successful at work.

So, let’s begin.

Without going too far out on a limb, I believe almost everyone would like two things from their jobs and careers: success and happiness. They want to do well financially, receive recognition for their accomplishments, enjoy their work as much as one can, and become happier as a person as a result. These are reasonable goals, but they can be a lot to ask—so many people, especially ambitious, hard-working leaders, simplify them in a logical way: They first seek success and then assume that success will lead to happiness.

But this reasoning is flawed. Chasing success has costs that can end up lowering happiness, as many a desiccated, lonely workaholic can tell you.

This is not to say that you have to choose between success and happiness. You can obtain both. But you have to reverse the order of operations: Instead of trying first to get success and hoping it leads to happiness, start by working on your happiness, which will enhance your success.

Success and happiness are generally positively correlated, as many workforce studies have shown. From this correlation, many assume causation—from success to happiness. During my years as an executive, I found that people strongly believe that pay increases—especially big ones—will have a large and long-lasting effect on their job satisfaction. The data tells us a different story, however: Large wage increases have only a small and transitory effect on well-being. One study, for example, showed that if your job satisfaction is a 6 out of 10—not bad—then even if your boss doubles your pay, it will get you to about 6.5, and then it will fall back to about 6.2. Maybe getting a raise isn’t the best strategy to help you love your job.

Much stronger and more positive results emerge, however, when researchers reverse the order, looking not at success’s effects on happiness, but happiness’s effects on success. Scholars in 2005 surveyed hundreds of studies—including experiments to establish causality—and concluded that happiness leads to success in many realms of life, including marriage, friendship, health, income, and work performance.

Whether you are an employee or employer, it is a better investment to increase happiness at work and in life, rather than simply trying to increase measures of success. Let’s get started with your first two Happiness Exercises.

Happiness Exercise for You

Consider how your job serves others.

One way to disentangle the success-then-happiness fallacy is to focus less on the visible “success metrics” of your work: your salary, your benefits package, your stock options, and the like. Instead, start focusing on the less visible “happiness metrics” of your work.

In my own research, I have found that the most meaningful jobs—which bring the most happiness—tend to be those that are service-oriented. Don’t make the mistake of thinking that “service-orientation” is reserved for charitable organizations. It’s harder to find the link to service in some professions than others, but it can usually be done. Years ago, I was working with a team of academic researchers creating bank regulation policies. One scholar who was particularly passionate about the project told me he always remembered that his work mattered because poor people need access to reasonably priced credit, and that requires less bureaucratic red tape.

This week, contemplate seriously how your job serves others. Often, the least glamorous tasks are service-oriented at their core. Consider those tasks as such.

Do you quietly take on tasks that prevent others’ stress? If you catch errors before they become fire drills, handle tedious compliance paperwork so nobody gets fined, or track down missing information, you are serving others.
Do you make complexity feel simple for your colleagues? When you disentangle data and present findings in a clear report, you provide a huge act of service for others who depend on that data for success.
Does your company make a product that improves lives? This doesn’t have to be something life-saving by any means, just something that makes a bit of a difference in someone’s day.
Even more simply, as a leader, do you provide well-paid jobs for your employees, so that they can raise their families comfortably?

To make this tangible, I recommend writing your reflections down. Keep that note in the inside drawer of your desk or in a different spot where you’ll see it every day.

Happiness Exercise for Your Team

Show your employees how their work serves others.

Understanding how your job serves others isn’t easy for everyone. In the for-profit world, up to 77 percent of corporate employees feel as though they are a cog in a machine. It is your responsibility as a leader to show employees how their jobs serve others.

I have seen this done in ingenious ways. A few years back, I met an Amazon warehouse manager who was keen to show his packagers how their job touched the lives of customers. One day, the manager brought in a group of highly satisfied Amazon customers, who gave their glowing testimonials to the packagers. I’m told that this did wonders for the warehouse’s morale, because the packagers—who were a step away from seeing how their work served others—finally saw the fruits of their labor.

This week, identify one employee, pull them aside, and explain to them—very tangibly—how their work serves others. And thank them for it!

Scaling this company-wide will take time and effort, but in the next seven days, you can undoubtedly make one employee see how they make a real difference. This will help them see the happiness benefits of the job, which will in turn improve their engagement and effort with the work itself.

In the end, happiness leads to success—not the other way around. I’ll see you next week for the second installment of “The Leader’s Happiness Reset.”

Book cover for The Happiness Files: Insights on Work and Life by Arthur C. Brooks .

This newsletter is adapted from The Happiness Files: Insights on Work and Life.

Arthur tackles more questions of meaning and happiness at The Atlantic. Sign up to receive his “How to Build a Life” column every week.

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