Shawn Achor

Positive Psychology Expert

Shawn Achor is an expert in positive psychology and the CEO of Aspirant, a Cambridge-based consulting firm which researches positive outliers—people who are well above average—to understand where human potential, success, and happiness intersect. Achor is also the winner of over a dozen distinguished teaching awards at Harvard University, where he delivered lectures in Dr. Tal Ben-Shahar's class "Positive Psychology," the most popular class at Harvard. Now he travels around the United States and Europe giving talks on positive psychology to Fortune 500 corporations, schools, and non-profit organizations. His research and lectures on happiness and human potential have received attention in The New York Times, Boston Globe, The Wall Street Journal, as well as on NPR and CNN Radio. He graduated magna cum laude from Harvard with a BA in English and Religion and earned a Masters degree from Harvard Divinity School in Christian and Buddhist ethics.

Professor Achor is a Big Think Delphi Fellow.

You Need to Train Your Brain to Be Happy

Happiness is the joy that we feel striving after our potential.

Happiness Is A Work Ethic

We often think that if people get happy, they’ll stop working hard or that happy people are unintelligent. And what we’re finding is just the opposite.

Surprising Science

How to Leverage the Happiness Advantage (Trim)

Research has shown that a happy workplace is a more productive workplace. Shawn Achor details how this discovery should impact the way we think about leadership and management.

All Videos

Happiness Is Not a Passive Phenomenon

“Happiness is not something that happens to you; happiness is a work ethic,” says Achor. “It’s something that requires our brains to train just like an athlete has to train.”

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Shawn Achor