“Rave reviews all around! Homerun! Way out of the park! We were enriched, refreshed and left wanting more. Discussion continues and will, I’m sure for some time.”
-Carlos Hoyt, Associate Dean of Students, Phillips Academy Andover

"Shawn′s message was refreshing and fun; he made a significant impact in building a more positive workplace culture in our organization. His words impacted people at all levels of our organization and many of us are still talking about his message months later. It was a terrific day for our employees."
-Pam Milloy, Grand View College, Iowa

“The happiness seminar was outstanding. The speaker was articulate, informative and entertaining. A follow-up presentation would be highly recommended. You know that a presentation is good when the entire audience is still attentive even though you have crossed into lunch.”
-Teacher, West Morris Public School District, New Jersey

With a self-effacing style and humor that made his Harvard undergraduate lectures the most popular on campus and his TED talk a viral sensation, Shawn Achor delivers dynamic, insightful, uplifting and impactful presentations, backed by acclaimed research and practical takeaways.

By researching top performers at Harvard, as well as the world’s largest banks, and Fortune 500 companies, Achor discovered patterns, which created a “happiness advantage” for positive outliers—the highest performers at these organizations.

Based on this science of positive psychology (linking positive mindset to exceptional performance) case studies and work within major corporations, Achor provides practical applications for helping leaders to keep teams motivated and engaged by linking a positive mindset to exceptional performance.

Achor takes his audiences to the leading-edge of positive psychology and neuroscience to demonstrate how one can become a “positive genius” – that is, one who can continually architect successful, positive realities based upon true facts and then transfer those realities to others. Using his signature humor, new case studies and interactive experiments that engage the audience, Achor makes this research come alive.

The Happiness Advantage: Linking Positive Brains to Performance
Most companies and schools follow this formula: if you work harder, you will be more successful, and then you will be happy. This formula is scientifically backward. A decade of research shows that training your brain to be positive at work first actually fuels greater success second. In fact, 75% of our job success is predicted not by intelligence, but by your optimism, social support network and the ability to manage energy and stress in a positive way. By researching top performers at Harvard, the world’s largest banks, and Fortune 500 companies, Shawn discovered patterns, which create a happiness advantage for positive outliers—the highest performers at the company. Based on his book, The Happiness Advantage, Shawn explains what positive psychology is, how much we can change, and practical applications for reaping the Happiness Advantage in the midst of change and challenge.

Positive Leadership: Restoring a Culture of Confidence
Confidence, trust and job satisfaction are at historic lows. When the economic collapse began, the world’s largest banks called in Shawn Achor to research how to restore confidence and forward progress. While many managers succumb to helplessness, with their teams and clients quickly following suit, Shawn researched those who maintained high levels of success and leadership during the challenge. He found that our brains create confidence based on the belief that our behavior matters to the outcome we desire. To develop this trust, we must create "wins" for our brain necessary to overcome learned helplessness and must train our brains for rational optimism. Based on the science of positive psychology and case studies of working with companies in the midst of an economic collapse, Shawn provides practical applications for raising the belief that individual behavior matters and helping leaders to keep teams motivated and engaged.

The Ripple Effect: How to Make Positive Change Easier
Common sense is not common action. This is because information does not necessarily cause transformation because we require a certain level of "activation energy" to start a change. Shawn′s research in the field of positive psychology has revealed how changes in our own brain due to mindset and behavior can have a ripple effect to a team and an entire organization. This positive ripple effect can create a more productive, positive work culture making positive change easier. Audiences will learn about the latest scientific research on mirror neurons and mental priming to explain how positivity and negativity spread, case studies on how to become a lightning rod for change, and findings on how a positive ripple effect profoundly affects an organization′s ability to transition and change.