Leading Happiness
In 2014 I graduated from SIT Graduate Institute in Brattleboro, Vermont with a Master of Arts in Service, Leadership and Management Development — and this was my thesis. The presentation above was recorded the day I defended it, surrounded by classmates, teachers, and friends. It remains one of my favorite days.
What it’s about
The full title is a mouthful: Leading Happiness: Leadership and Happiness at Work in Certified B Corporations. The short version: I interviewed leaders and employees inside Certified Benefit Corporations — companies that measure themselves by their benefit to the world, not just their bottom line — to understand how shared leadership shapes how happy people are at work.
At its heart are two simple frameworks: five characteristics of shared leadership — shared vision & values, trust & openness, accountability, interdependence, and ownership — and eight dimensions of happiness at work: perspective, balance, autonomy, mastery, purpose, progress, culture, and appreciation. What I heard in interview after interview is that happiness at work isn’t a perk you bolt on afterward — it grows where leadership is genuinely shared.
The thesis opens with a dedication to my grandparents and a line from the Dalai Lama that has stayed with me ever since: “The very purpose of life is happiness, the very notion of our life is towards happiness.” If that line speaks to you too, you might enjoy the Dalai Lama quote library I keep on this site.
What I read
The research behind it: 25 books, 50 research articles, 50 interviews and about 250 hours of video. These are the books that shaped it most.
- The Happiness Advantage — Shawn Achor
- Before Happiness — Shawn Achor
- Happier — Tal Ben-Shahar
- Being Happy — Tal Ben-Shahar
- Choose the Life You Want — Tal Ben-Shahar
- Learned Optimism — Martin Seligman
- Drive — Daniel Pink
- Give and Take — Adam Grant
- The Progress Principle — Teresa Amabile & Steven Kramer
- Good to Great — Jim Collins
- Great by Choice — Jim Collins & Morten Hansen
- The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People — Stephen Covey
- Emotional Intelligence 2.0 — Travis Bradberry & Jean Greaves
- Goal-Free Living — Stephen Shapiro (my review)
Thank you
These people allowed me the honor of sitting down with them, interviewing them and answering my questions: Scott Crabtree of Happy Brain Science, Charity Carbine-March of SunCommon, and my advisor Aqeel Tirmizi of SIT Graduate Institute. And I’m very grateful to the researchers, authors and experts who have created amazing resources for the world, especially Tal Ben-Shahar, Shawn Achor and the Dalai Lama.
Read it, watch it, keep it
Download the thesis free (PDF) →
The full 71-page study — free, always.
Find it in SIT’s digital collections →
Its official academic home.
Get the paperback →
For people who like real pages.
The presentation slides (PDF) →
The deck from the talk above, if you’d like to follow along.