BY
EGON DE BRUIN
A hopeful and interesting trend I just read in an interview with Liesbeth Dillen, mentor and coach of future leaders of companies such as Volvo and Coca Cola. Dillen herself was destined to become CEO of IKEA Netherlands, but has chosen to support others in being resilient and happy. She spots that meaning and purpose now is the main driver for future leaders: ‘Happy is the new rich’. What drives them is ‘return on society’, a model she has experienced herself to be successful at IKEA.
This perfectly fits the findings of positive psychology’s pioneer Martin Seligman. He states that happiness has three dimensions that can be cultivated: the Pleasant Life, the Good Life, and the Meaningful Life. The last one is a life in which we find a deep sense of fulfilment by employing our unique strengths for a purpose greater than ourselves. Seligman’s research showed that pursuing this was the strongest contributor to life satisfaction. Meaning makes you happy.
It makes mé happy to see meaning and purpose becoming a compass for both individuals and organizations to flourish.
Here’s the full interview (in Dutch).
Other sources:
- Photo: Wosoc.com.au
- Martin Seligman’s TED talk ‘The new era of positive psychology’
- Pursuit-of-happiness.org
Want latest insights directly in your inbox?
Subscribe to our newsletter.
How your brain makes you do bad things after doing good
Praising yourself for ‘good’ behaviour makes it more likely you will do something ‘bad’ afterwards.” Then what should you do?
What can teenagers teach leaders about learning and change?
Employees are in an identity crisis, asked to be different and behave in new ways. Like teenagers. What can these transformation experts teach leaders?
OK, your people are moving. But are they dancing?
Organizations want to be responsive to their customers’ movements, to ‘swing’, but mostly they’re simply doing the stasis shuffle – dancing on the spot.