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On the WorkWell Podcast, Jen Fisher — Human Sustainability Leader at Deloitte and Editor-at-Large, Human Sustainability at Thrive Global — sits down with inspiring individuals for wide-ranging conversations about how we can develop a way of living and working built on human sustainability, starting with ourselves.
Jen Fisher: We all want to be happy, but what if everything we've been told about happiness is wrong? And what if that misinformation is driving us all to be, well, very unhappy? How can we change the way we think about happiness to make it more accessible and achievable for all?
This is the Work Well podcast series by Deloitte. Hi, I'm Jen Fisher, and I'm so pleased to be here with you today to talk about all things purpose, wellbeing, and human sustainability. I'm here with Stephanie Harrison. She's a leading voice in the [00:01:00] science of happiness and the creator of the new happy philosophy, a bold new approach to happiness based on the latest research.
Her company, the new happy has revolutionized the way people understand and pursue happiness. And her first book titled new happy getting happiness right in a world that's got it wrong is available now
Stephanie Harrison: welcome to the show. I'm so happy to be here with you today It's such an honor being with one of my heroes to get to talk to you.
Jen Fisher: Oh my god, you're amazing Well, I am equally as excited to introduce you to our listeners. If they don't already know who you are, they are going to leave this podcast with a big smile on their face.
So Stephanie, tell us who you are, tell us your story, and then tell us how you became passionate about the science of happiness and how that translates into the work that [00:02:00] you do.
Stephanie Harrison: For many people, I think my story of becoming passionate about happiness really started with unhappiness, and with ill being and that desire to want to seek out greater sources of well being or for me specifically, I really wanted to understand what I was doing wrong because it became pretty clear that I wasn't happy despite doing all of the things that I thought I should be doing and achieving the goals that I thought would make me feel fulfilled in a meaningful way.
And that experience really was what propelled me to want to understand it. It was a very kind of personal motivation at the time, but as I started researching more about happiness, I realized that there was so much more, So much that could help other people. There was all of this amazing work being done in academic institutions, but very little of it was reaching public consciousness.
And so that's what really inspired me to want to devote myself to this as a career, because I think I have a very [00:03:00] weird job. Like it's very hard to describe in many ways, but I, if I had to describe it, it's very strange, isn't it? Um, but I, I sort of think that. It comes down to almost being a translator of research, a translator of the science and being someone who helps communicate these ideas.
Jen Fisher: And you do it really well. And you do it through amazing graphics and simple language and terminology that speaks to those of us that maybe aren't as smart enough to understand some of the science and research. So thank you for that. But I want to reflect on something that you said, because I think that this is such a unfortunate, common experience that we think we're doing all of the things that we are told to do or believe we should be doing in order to Quote unquote, be happy or feel successful.
And then we're not, and then [00:04:00] it kind of feels like, well, what am I doing wrong? Or this is some sort of personal failure. And when we know that it's not right. And so can you talk a little bit more about like, what were those things that you were doing or thought you should be doing to be happy?
And then what did you later learn about that and why it wasn't working.
Stephanie Harrison: It's so interesting, isn't it? Like I came to believe through the course of my research and then that reflected on my own personal experiences that there are sort of three core lies that are making us really unhappy, not only as individuals, but more broadly as a collective.
And those three lies really affected me. And so I feel a deep sense of intimate familiarity with them and you know, an understanding of how they can affect us. And then pairing that with my read through hundreds of studies about it, I was able to sort of form this picture of these core beliefs that are leading us astray.
And I usually describe them as the first one is that you're [00:05:00] not good enough as you are, you know, there's something wrong with you. You're lacking something, just in general your very self is broken or flawed and bad deep down. That belief really drives a a lot of things for me, it manifested as an intense desire to be perfect and a profound sense of internal pressure that I needed to do that.
That's the first one. The second is that you have to achieve. You always have to do more and more. You have to be productive all the time. You have to do certain things that are laid out by our society and hit these milestones, and then you will be happy. So for me, in my case, that was, Oh, if I get this job that I've always dreamed about getting, then I'll be happy.
And then if I get promoted in this job, then I'll be happy. And then on and on.
Jen Fisher: Then when you get those things, you're still not happy.
Stephanie Harrison: Exactly. And you're looking around going, uh, what? This isn't what I expected and also part of the problem is that We're willing to sacrifice a lot for things that we think will make us [00:06:00] happy in the future.
And so we end up, you know, hurting ourselves along the way, which is a whole other problem. And then the third belief is that you have to do everything by yourself. So you are, you know, Not allowed to rely upon other people. You have to be this stoic individual who never shows that they're struggling, never needs anything from anybody else, never feels difficult emotions or has a difficult experience or struggles or suffers.
And a lot of that is about projecting that image to the world. And so these three lies, I've, I've come to call them old, happy, because I believe that they're the source of our misery. And in order for us to be happy, we actually have to start with unwinding these beliefs so that we can move forward in a better way.
Jen Fisher: All of them resonate with me but the last one, and I, I know you saw this yesterday that I posted on social about checking in with your strong friends. I loved it. It's funny though, cause at first I struggled with, well, shouldn't we be checking in with everybody? Not just our [00:07:00] strong friends. But for so many people, the way we show up on social is that we're strong and that we have it all together and that life is perfect and you don't really ever know what's going on with anyone behind the social curtain, if you will. So just reminder that. Even if somebody is not reaching out and asking for help, maybe you should reach in and ask them if they need help or just let them know that you're there for them.
So thank you for that. If that's old happy, what's new happy and how do you define it?
Stephanie Harrison: So I define new happy as being yourself and giving of yourself to help other people. So there's these two components of authenticity and service and winding them together is the greatest path towards happiness and well being.
So not only do you get to discover all of the things that bring you joy and that light you up and that you are uniquely positioned to do, but then You have to offer those outward in some way to benefit others and to, [00:08:00] you know, positively affect your corner of the world. And my what I've discovered from the research is that not only does this of course help you to be happy, but it also helps other people to be happy.
And so it's in my mind, the greatest win win that has ever existed in the world. You know, we can, we can make ourselves happy and make other people happy at the same time. And doing that is a way that we can start to address some of the biggest problems that we're facing as a society too.
Jen Fisher: Wouldn't that be amazing? So how do we do that? Because what I'm hearing is that it's, is it a skill set? It's certainly something that can be learned or is it innate in us or, and we've just lost our ability to do it, or maybe it's a bit of both. Talk me through that.
Stephanie Harrison: Like, that's a really good question because old happy culture is everywhere, right? So it affects all of us. You know, we're all affected by these forces that tell us what we need to do [00:09:00] and what we need to be and all of that long list of stuff that we have to achieve. So I would imagine that in a society that is free of those influences, it would be something very natural and thinking about, you know, research done in anthropology and in other societies around the world, it does seem like there is this inclination and this natural drive towards You know, towards offering your gifts up to help other people. And it's really the foundation in many ways of our society today, even despite those influences, right? Like people are always already doing this, but we need to help more people do it. And we need to help people do the right things. Not walk down paths that might not be actually the right fit for them because they feel a certain pressure to do something in a certain way. So to me, I think that this is something that has to be learned for those of us who've been enmeshed in, you know, like our individualistic culture and have to shift the way that we're thinking about things. And so the first step is really, I think about [00:10:00] after you've unwound some of these old happy beliefs and start to see them for what they are, then it's about discovering who you really are deep down, right? Like who are you and what are the unique things that you love to do that you want to share? And I call these your gifts, um, but you could use talent or strength or any other word to describe any of the capabilities that a human being has. Once you start to discover those, then the best way to take advantage of them is to start sharing them right away with other people. And I think like there's a very big school of thought that says, Hey, go out there and be successful and make a lot of money or, you know, achieve the things that you want to do. And then you can go help people, you know, in like the second half of your life, once you've done that. And I think that we should reject that and we should instead, be focused on what can we do to help people today, and that's what we need for our own happiness and well being.
Jen Fisher: [00:11:00] I love that, and not just the language, but the unfortunate outcomes of this individualistic society that many of us are living in. I wonder, in your research there are still societies in the world that aren't so individualistic. And so, I assume we're kind of seeing much more happiness and we can think about the recently released world happiness report, like we're seeing much more happiness in those societies and cultures that aren't so individualistic. And then I kind of Pair that with the subtitle of your book about like, how does the world get happiness wrong, right? But there are bright spots. It's true. So like did you learn anything from those bright spots and like how do we shift from where we are to where we want to be I guess is the overarching question.
Stephanie Harrison: Yeah, you know, it's so funny, right? Thinking about what you said about the world happiness report, like consistently, we know that, for [00:12:00] example, many Scandinavian countries are always at the top of the list, right? And what is it specifically about what they do differently from a cultural or societal or political level? They provide support to their citizens. They don't expect their people to go it alone. And there's this fascinating paradox of the heart of America, which is that it desperately tells you that you need to be happy and encourages you to do it and even writes it into the constitution. But then it denies you many of the societal institutions and support that actually support wellbeing. So it becomes very much the bootstraps culture of you need to show how successful you are in order to earn your happiness and you need to do it all by yourself and you can never rely upon anybody else. And if you can do that, then you will earn your happiness. Whereas many of these other countries offer the support that makes it much easier to be able to experience happiness. You don't have to prove that you're good enough to do it. You simply can exist [00:13:00] and live in the ways that are right for you. And unfortunately, that's just not something that's available in this country.
Jen Fisher: Yeah, I've been thinking and saying for a while that, there's a lot of great work being done in organizations, across the U. S. and across the world. You and I and others are both seeing, even in other countries you know, the need for policy around this and the need for accountability and, things like that, because unfortunately I think we're past the point where it is just going to happen because it's the right thing to do.
Stephanie Harrison: If we have to make the economic case, so be it, right. But, I grew up in Canada and so moving to the States. was very interesting in many ways. One, because, you know, there are so many ways in which our cultures don't seem that different from the outside. And there are these very important differences in terms of that [00:14:00] level of support that I'm talking about and the, the sense of, you know, the sense of safety that that can provide of, Oh, if I was to take a risk and pursue something that really matters to me. It won't destroy my life if I get sick at the same time, right? And I know this is something you care about a lot, obviously, like, how do we provide the resources and support to people that need it so that they can share all of their gifts and their best selves, because ultimately that's what we need, like, that's what's going to benefit our society and any, anything that we can provide that allows people to receive help when they need it is only going to allow them to continue to offer more and more help in other unique ways that can't be done, for example, by governing bodies or by policies. And that is what will help us to solve the problems that we're facing, like climate crisis and everything else that we're facing. We don't need to get into right now, but that we all know exists.
Jen Fisher: Let's go there a little bit because you said climate crisis and one of the other things, [00:15:00] and I don't mean to keep hearkening back on the world happiness report, but there was so much in it this year that unfortunately I think was more alarming than in prior years. And one of those that was more alarming and some of it was covered for the first time to was youth and kids. Going off the beaten path a little bit here. Like, what are you seeing? What's in your research? Like, what are your kind of concerns for our youth, especially in the U.S. Cause that's one of the kind of the stark realities that was in the world happiness report is how unhappy the American youth are, and I think 62 in the world, I think we have a lot to learn from other countries.
Stephanie Harrison: I was just doing some, some digging into this actually, and reading about how Recent poll found that a lot of a large portion of [00:16:00] Gen Z feels a sense of hopelessness about the world and lacks a sense of purpose. And that, to me, is reflective of what we're what we're seeing and in the report.
And I think we have to do two things at once to help our young people. And the first is we have to acknowledge that they have An incredible set of problems that they're facing. and that will affect them in the future. So not only were they affected deeply by the pandemic and by the broader instability in the country and all of the stuff that's happened over the last few years but they're also staring down the climate crisis and many other challenges that our world will face. And they also grew up, I should mention, navigating profound stressors in their school environments and everything like that as well. I would never and I would never dismiss any of those. I think [00:17:00] that the issue lies with the fact that in many ways they are they're feeling betrayed by us as adults. We should be fixing these problems for them, and we haven't, and they have every right to be furious with us and to be devastated by the lack of shepherding that we have done for their futures, you know, that feeling is very valid. I think it's a very real thing. And so, you know, We have a responsibility as adults and as people who are in positions of leadership in the world to change our behavior. And so I know that like we can get into the social media stuff. We don't have to, no, no, we can, we talked, I know we talked to messaged about that last week too. I think it's easy to blame social media and I don't think that's the full story. I think that we have these broader issues in our society that have been amplified in some ways by social media, but the root cause is certainly not the phones and the connections, because there are many people who are able to experience wonderful and important contributors to their well being. Thanks to social media in their lives. The symptoms, social media is a symptom, like the root cause is the fact that we have been Telling people that they are flawed and broken and that there's something wrong with them. And then we gave them a tool that could allow them to prove that to themselves and their minds by showing them all the people who they see as better than them. But that's the result of the culture that we have, which grounds self esteem in comparison to other people. And so as long as Young people are believing that their value is predicated on how they compare to another person, then social media will be a tool [00:19:00] that is used to help amplify that belief. But the core problem is the belief.
Jen Fisher: Yeah, that is so powerful. And by the way, I think pertains to certainly Children and teens, but also a lot of us as adults, too, because we carry those same stories and beliefs in our heads.
Stephanie Harrison: It's so true, right? Like, I mean, yeah, like, we're focusing on young people, but show me an adult who isn't struggling with that themselves right now, right? Like, it's not, it's not actually a limited niche problem here. And yes, teens, are in a developmental position that makes them especially vulnerable to some of this stuff, but they're also in a position where they've been betrayed by the adults and the leaders in their lives and in their communities. So, what's our job here? I guess to me, like some of the conversation around social media is missing the mark in the fact that we, it's easier for us to point the finger. These [00:20:00] platforms rather than look directly at ourselves and think, what am I doing? Or what are we doing to also charge of the platforms?
Jen Fisher: It's not the kids. It's the adult.
Stephanie Harrison: Like, what are we doing to safeguard these kids and give them give them the support that they need? And, coming back to your broader question about this, I think that You know, this again, this is more of a broad problem than just a Gen Z problem. But we have this belief that if you don't feel hopeful about something, if you don't feel a sense of hope for your future, then that's it. Like, hope is something that happens to you. And what we know from the research is that's not true. Hope is something that you do. And it's a specific cognitive skill that can be taught. And I think that We all need to learn that skill of hope desperately, because it's going to be so essential for us to navigate the challenges that we face in the future.
Jen Fisher: You are [00:21:00] speaking my language, I believe, and I've written, and I wear a bracelet on my wrist that never comes off that has the word hope on it, because I think that it is the Most powerful emotion in the emotional toolbox to propel us forward in a different way on a different path. So, you could sing that song all day to me. So let's get back to you, your company, your book and you shared a little bit about this already, the new happy philosophy Tell us more about how it's different from other approaches to happiness and not just kind of the old and new because there are other approaches to happiness that aren't necessarily maybe they're rooted in the old, but they have, they've evolved. Maybe it's just tell us more about the new happy philosophy.
Stephanie Harrison: it's funny like in my book I say at the like at the very beginning that in many ways this idea isn't that new because there have been thinkers and theorists and philosophers and religious teachers and all that stuff who advocated for Very much the same thing. And I actually think that that's what's hopefully exciting about it because I did all of this research to essentially read everything ever written on happiness.
Jen Fisher: she's right about that. I know her and she literally did read everything ever written.
Stephanie Harrison: I probably still have. I have a lot to go, but you like I'm speaking a little hyperbolically, but, um, you know, like I, um, Because I wanted to figure out, like, what, what is the thread here? Like, what's the common message that has persisted across different cultures, across different times of history? And what have people said about what we need to do to be happy? And, I just found this same thing over and over again. [00:23:00] There's a need for, self determination, right? This sense of self and authenticity or self expression, you know, it takes many different forms. And then there's also this need for service and for being a part of a community and experiencing a sense of belonging and contributing to that community. And so my hope is with this philosophy is that I'm taking all of these ideas and then bringing them together in a way that's easy for people to understand, because again, like, you shouldn't have to read all the books about happiness to figure out how to be happy. It should be easier. It should be simpler for people. And so my hope is like, I'm kind of bringing all these things together and then giving it to people in language that's understandable, but that's also modernized for the period of time that we're in. And I think what one thing that makes the new happy philosophy unique is that I'm, I'm grounding I'm grounding the philosophy and the shift I'm trying to make in many of the forces that affect our modern society. So specifically individualism, which we [00:24:00] talked about, but then also capitalism and domination, which have profound impacts upon the way that we see ourselves and navigate the world. And, you know, when the Buddha was talking about well being and happiness like that was a very different time frame. And I'm trying to take what we know from modern research and from our society and the systems that we're a part of and integrated into something that is for the moment that helps us to hopefully move forward. forward in a better direction from where we are right now.
Jen Fisher: Yeah. And I just want to point out for people that regarding your book, you not only wrote the book, but you did all of the graphics and drawings for it too. So I would love like, because I'm just such a big fan of all of your graphics and your drawings. What led you to that? Like, what's the story behind it?
Stephanie Harrison: I always wanted to be an artist. it was always something that I dreamed of doing. My dad was really into art. And so he used to take me to museums when I was a kid and it would be like a special father, daughter thing that we would do. And so from that early age, I think I was very lucky to be kind of exposed to a lot of this visual style, and he was especially passionate about, you know, abstract expressionism and, the kind of modern art of the last 100 years. And so, all of that was brewing in my consciousness for many years, but I never thought that I could ever do something like be an artist or, you know, create something visual in that way. And then I had always had this way of seeing these images in my mind because of it. So, I guess it's something like thinking in pictures .I have these mental representations that look like images and colors and things like that. And so, um, when I decided to focus full time on the new happy [00:26:00] and do that as my primary work, I thought, I might as well try and share some of these ideas in this artistic way, because maybe, maybe it will help cut through the noise and help people to understand them in a more accessible way. And so I started making these pieces and I had never done anything like it before. I had never used a graphic design soft software. I had never made a piece of art and shared it publicly. So it was a very, very big leap outside of my comfort zone. But over time, I started to develop this visual language of how to communicate these ideas. And, you know, what really amazed me was how people connected with them. I was absolutely blown away. I never in a million years expected that. I thought that these visual representations were something that would only make sense to my consciousness or maybe a few other people's. In fact, it seems like there's something that people really can respond to when they're given something that [00:27:00] has a visual representation that helps them to understand the concepts.
Jen Fisher: Yeah, I love that. And in a very positive use for social media, if you're not following the new happy co, you should be cause it will make you happy every single day. All right. So let's kind of like switch, not switch, but like, let's talk about happiness in the workplace. Um, and kind of what you're seeing, what you're hearing, what the research is saying. And then I think more importantly What's your view on kind of the why of happiness in the workplace? Like, why is it so important?
Stephanie Harrison: I'm so keen to hear your thoughts on this. I think It's great that we have researchers out there who are doing this amazing work that shows all of the impacts of well being and happiness on the bottom line and on productivity and all that stuff. And I think it really helps. Like, it helps [00:28:00] to have the data. It helps to have something to point to, especially for, You know, people in organizations who are passionate about this topic, but have to, advocate and get buy in from their executive leadership team who might not be in the same place with that awareness. So I'm so happy and thrilled that we have that that data. On the other hand, at the same time. It's also just the right thing to do. there's a moral element here that I think often gets disregarded and, kind of coming back to what we talked about with institutional support and how in America we really disdain that level of needing support from our government or from where we work or anything like that. I think the moral case for happiness in the workplace is actually almost more interesting at this point in time, right? Like what is the responsibility that an organization has to their employees? To me, that's a really interesting question. I'm curious to hear your thoughts on that though.
Jen Fisher: Yeah. I mean, I completely agree. And It's kind of the foundation of what we've been researching and talking about as human sustainability, right? That the organizations need to move beyond this transactional relationship that we've traditionally had. You know, as a worker and our employer, right? Like I do my job, you pay me and that's it. And we're in a different place, right? We're in a different place or in a different time. The expectations on both sides from both the employer and the employee are different and it is much more. It's much less of a transactional relationship and much more of a meaningful relationship where there is a virtuous cycle, right? And so I do good work for an organization which benefits the organization, and therefore the organization has a responsibility to provide benefit for me. And when I say benefit, it's not a benefits package. [00:30:00] Is benefit to me as a human being in terms of making me a better, more, sustainable human being. And so that's not to say that an organization has to commit to or be responsible for keeping you employed for your entire life. But they should make you employable, right? And so they should continue to invest in you as an employee to upskill and reskill to make sure that your ongoing skill sets, should you change jobs for whatever reason, make you very employable, right? And so like a different level of Responsibility in terms of how we think about that employer employee relationship. It needs to evolve and change. And I think, it's interesting because people will be like, well, is it the workplaces responsibility to make somebody happy? And so of course the answer is no. Cause none of us can make anybody else happy. A lot of that we [00:31:00] it has to be the internal work, but we can certainly make other people miserable, right? So, you know, I mean, and perhaps you can say, well, if you can make a miserable, you can also make them happy. I don't know, human beings don't work that way. So, and, and maybe it's a do no harm, right? Like make sure you're not hurting them. But also I do think that there's an increased responsibility for leading organizations in today's day and age and the ones that are going to be sustainable to have a much different lens to the relationship of the employer employee So you can react to that and tell me you agree or disagree
Stephanie Harrison: Of course, I agree. I think that's such a wise lens to look at it through. I mentioned, one of the big parts of old happy is this culture of domination. And the way that that plays out in the workplace is exactly what you're describing. It's the lack of a reciprocal [00:32:00] relationship that benefits both parties. And it's almost like we have this baked in assumption that, you know, you can't actually you know, like have a healthy relationship at work. Like you can't both benefit at the same time in the way that you're describing one person or one party always has to win and come out on top. And like the workplace of the past, that seems like that's kind of the guiding assumption in many ways. Like you're oppressed in many ways through the hierarchy and through the systems that you're a part of. And then eventually you have to climb up and You know, beat other people in order to eventually overcome that. And, you know, what is a workplace based on egalitarian and mutually beneficial relationships look like? I think what you're describing to me seems like the kind of the secret and the heart of it.
Jen Fisher: Yeah. And also just that, we know all the research tells us, and I think every organization's employee engagement employee [00:33:00] experience survey if they do them will show that for those and this, you know, certainly doesn't apply to people that Kind of are at poverty or below the level of you know being able to take care of their family or their own personal needs, but once you Elevate past that, right? And so part of human sustainability is fair and equitable wages. And so making sure that your workforce is able to care for themselves and their family, right? And in a way that is sustainable. And so we know that once people kind of move beyond that You know, that need being met that, you know, you could kind of say is like Maslow's hierarchy of needs. If you need a comparison the relationship, the transactional relationship of you do a job and I pay you like that is no longer the driving force behind why people work, you know, after they meet that, like the money, not that it's not important. We all want to make money and need to make money, but it becomes. Just a piece of the puzzle of what the workforce needs and wants.
Stephanie Harrison: That's beautiful. I think that's such an inspiring vision.
Jen Fisher: Thank you. Okay. So let's talk about some. tangible ways. And knowing you, there's tons of them in your book, but let's talk about some tangible ways that people can find their new happy.
Stephanie Harrison: I think that the first thing that I would counsel somebody to do, especially if you're thinking about this, applying this from a work perspective is. To take a an audit almost of the things that bring you joy and your unique gifts. And in the book, I lay out that there are three different types of gifts. There's your humanity, which is who you are, your wisdom, which is what you know, and your talents, which are what you can do. And actually just taking a minute to write those [00:35:00] down. From what you know of and then even better, if you can ask for feedback from your team, ask people who know you and who have worked with you and who manage you or who, you know, report into you. What is it that I'm good at? And I know it can be really awkward, but it's worth the awkwardness. it's worth it's worth persevering through that because what you're going to get is this Picture of the things that you probably are taking for granted because, you know, that's one of the interesting findings is that we tend to be almost blind to our own strengths. We don't notice them. it's other people who can help us to understand them. And so getting that feedback and starting to identify. Okay, what am I? What am I hearing that I'm uniquely good at? And what are the threads that connect those? And then once you have that list, the easiest way to start being happier is to just ask yourself, how can I do one of these things today? How can I use one of these gifts in some way in the work that I'm doing or with my team or even with my family or after work, if that's appropriate as well? You know, like If you [00:36:00] hear over and over again that you're a great listener, you might be tempted to brush that off and be like, Oh, that's easy. Everyone can do that. But like, we know that not everybody knows. That's not true. Um, that's not true at all. Um, but you know what I mean? Like you, you think, Oh, like that's not something special, but it is something special. And maybe if you discover that it brings you a lot of fulfillment, like what could you do today? To actually go out and proactively listen to somebody, and in doing that, you're not only going to help yourself to feel better, but you're also going to support another person's well being and so that's the simplest and kind of the most straightforward way to get started. And I hope that it's something that feels really accessible to people, because you don't need to buy anything. You don't need to change your life. You just need to start prioritizing some of these activities that bring you joy.
Jen Fisher: Yeah, I love that. And Flip that a little bit. Cause that's from the individual perspective, which I love because I think it's important that we all recognize [00:37:00] that we have a role to play in our own happiness and wellbeing, but also for leaders, like what, how do we flip that to like, okay, if you're a leader of people, how do you create that team or workplace culture? And I assume it's many of kind of the same tangible ways, but as a leader, how do you cultivate it?
Stephanie Harrison: Yeah. You know, I think We could actually just totally invert it and say, okay, if you're a leader, could you block off an hour on your calendar this week? And in that hour, could you send an email to every person who reports to you and just tell them like three things that you think they're really good at? Like, I think about how that would feel as an employee. If I got an email like that, how meaningful that would be to me, like you as the leader have so much access to another person's talents. And so tell them about it. Let them know about it. that would be honestly, I feel like that could be transformational in and of itself. Just the act of sending those emails.
Jen Fisher: Yeah, I love [00:38:00] that. And, you know, even if you can't do your whole team in one week or you don't have an hour due. Yeah. You set a goal to do two people a week or three people a week. Yeah. You can get through depending on how many you have, right? And so, like, you can even break that down into smaller chunks and it will still have You know, such a transformational impact. I love that. So, one final question, although I really have like a hundred more questions that I'd love to ask you, so maybe there's a part two at some point. I love that. What are you, like, how do you personally, like, what are your favorite tactics to cultivate happiness in your everyday life?
Stephanie Harrison: You know, honestly, it just comes down to helping people for me. Like that's the number one thing. the more that I help people, the happier I am and finding ways to do that and integrating that into my life has utterly transformed it. I had no idea that I could experience the happiness that is possible from that. It was something that would have [00:39:00] felt impossible to me in the past. And that's sort of like my core principle. Like if I can go out there and help somebody in any way that I can, whether that's a really small way, like, you know, giving somebody a compliment or whether it's a big way, it doesn't really matter. It's all kind of comes down to the same feeling at the end of the day. So for me, that's the core principle that has changed my life too.
Jen Fisher: Mm. I love that. And you do that so well. I mean, there's many days in my life that you've helped me and that you've impacted me. So let me say thank you for that.
Stephanie Harrison: right back at you. Thank you. I feel the same about you. And that's the beauty of it, right? Like, you know, I often say that if I had to boil down the new happy philosophy to one sentence, it's we are here to help each other. Like, That's the point of all of this. So, like, the more that we do that, the more joy we get to experience. So, um, right back at you. I'm so thankful for everything that you've given to me.
Jen Fisher: Thank you. Thank you. And Stephanie, it was amazing to have you on the show [00:40:00] today. I'm not kidding that I think we need a part two because I have many, many more questions, but a lot of wisdom to digest in this one discussion. So thank you and congratulations on the book. I can't wait to get my copy in my hand.
Stephanie Harrison: Thank you. Thank you so much for having me. It was such a
Jen Fisher: I'm so grateful Stephanie could be with us today to talk about happiness. Thank you to our producers, Rivet360 and our listeners. You can find the Work Well podcast series on Deloitte. com or you can visit various podcatchers using the keyword work well. All one word, to hear more. And if you like the show, don't forget to subscribe so you get all of our future episodes.
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