Shawn Achor is redefining happiness. The American author, motivational speaker and Harvard graduate is an advocate for positive psychology. He believes that positive psychology is the key to success, rather than success being the key to positivity, so tours the world promoting this ideology. As a young psychologist, Shawn earned a Bachelor of Arts from Harvard University, then later graduated with a Master of Arts in Christian and Buddhist Ethics from Harvard Divinity School. His passion for happiness, gratitude and spirituality shapes Shawn as a public speaker.
After Shawn graduated, he worked as a teaching assistant at Harvard, supporting the renowned happiness course by Tal Ben-Shahar. Continuing his exploration of psychology, he then founded GoodThinkInc in 2007 and later co-founded The Institute for Applied Positive Research, both businesses invest in speakers, research and advisors on workplace performance, driven by positive psychology. Shawn has also presented one of the most viewed TEDx talks, with nearly 21 million views, on how success and happiness are directly linked. His speech has been listed as one of TED's 25 most popular talks.
Shawn completed a research paper entitled The Happiness Advantage while at university. As he continued to explore psychology and happiness, he expanded upon his research to later publish Before Happiness with Crown in 2013. In the book, he includes studies by the likes of Prof. Peter Salovey at Yale University, and explores topics on changing your mindset and handling stress. In 2018, he published another book entitled Big Potential, as well as writing for the Harvard Business Review.
As a motivational business speaker, Shawn is an integral speaker for business conferences and industry events. Charismatic, hilarious and passionate about his field of study, he has received countless positive testimonials for his speeches, with business owners seeing a visible improvement in their employees' wellbeing. From practising gratitude to overcoming personal challenges, Shawn's engaging presenting style is both personable and knowledgeable.
Books
Big Potential: Five Secrets of Reaching Higher by Powering Those Around You
The Happiness Advantage: The Seven Principles of Positive Psychology that Fuel Success and Performance at Work
Before Happiness: Five Actionable Strategies to Create a Positive Path to Success
How to Make a Shark Smile
The Orange Frog: A Parable Based on Positive Psychology
Shawn Achor's official speaking topics are listed below.
- The Happiness Advantage - Linking Positive Brains to Performance
- The Ripple Effect - How to Make Positive Change Easier
- Resilient Optimism - Restoring a Culture of Confidence
- Rethinking the Formula for Success - The Power of Positive Education
- Positive Genius - The Key to Raising Success, Spreading Happiness & Sustaining Positive Change
Official Feedback from In-Person & Virtual Events
"An amazing event! It was such fun and so stimulating to have Shawn at Facebook! As we strive to help the world become more open and connected, remaining positive and grateful for meaningful and productive relationships is essential! Shawn’s ideas and research is very insightful to us as we think about our mission. Thank you!" - Facebook
"We can’t thank Shawn enough for making this year’s Johnson & Johnson OCMO Leadership Team meeting such a success. His presentation was a highlight of our event. Our meeting objectives focused on audience engagement, leadership skills, structured networking and fun – Shawn helped us achieve all of these and then some. I’ve already witnessed my colleagues engaging in the happiness habits, and I’m practising them myself!" - Johnson & Johnson
"Our expectations for Shawn’s talk at our recent H.R. Conference was quite high, given what I had seen of his TED talk and having read much of The Happiness Advantage = and all those expectations were exceeded! While I knew the content would be powerful and anticipated the delivery would be engaging, I underestimated the positive impact it would have on the audience beyond the conference. The attendees have been quite energized and have begun taking actions to be happier and more grateful in their own lives. Further, while the learning will be applicable at our workplace, I think the attendees felt he impact was transferable to all aspects of their lives (and their families)." - Wendy's
- 2014 - Published 'How to Be a Positive Leader: Small Actions, Big Impact'
- 2014 - CEO of BetterUp
- 2013 - Author of 'Before Happiness' & 'The Orange Frog'
- 2013 - Author of 'Rethinking Stress: The Role of Mindsets in Determining the Stress Response'
- 2012 - Author of 'Ripple's Effect'
- 2010 - Author of 'The Happiness Advantage'
- 2007 - Founder of GoodThinkInc
How to hire Shawn Achor
Contact the Champions Speakers Agency to provisionally enquire about hiring Shawn Achor for your next event, today. To get in touch, simply call an official booking agent on 0207 1010 553 or email us at [email protected] for more information.
** We do NOT accept requests for autographs, signed merchandise, fan mail, birthday messages or any other non-commercial contact with the speakers or acts. Each speaker on the website may not have necessarily worked with Champions in the past but are known to perform such engagements within the industry.
