Happiness is what your heart needs
I have an awesome guest for you in this episode. He is truly the go-to person on the subject of happiness at work!
Come and listen as I talk to Matt Phelan, Co-founder and Co-CEO at ‘The Happiness Index’.
A few years ago, Matt gave a TEDx talk where he presented 12 million data points in happiness, from 1 million people in over 100 countries. It’s safe to say, what this man doesn’t know about happiness, particularly in a work context, probably isn’t worth knowing!
In our conversation we dig into what The Happiness Index is all about, and we talk through what the latest learnings are around happiness and engagement and what really drives us in these areas.
We also get into something called The Super Happiness Suit, and talk about whether happiness at work is different from happiness in our personal lives. Do we have separate drivers for those areas of our lives, or are there strong commonalities?
Come join us!
In this episode we get into:
- Matt’s work background and how The Happiness Index came to be.
- Happiness vs engagement: what’s the difference? Matt talks to us about howengagement is what your brain needs and happiness is what your heart needs. We get into the balance between energy, direction and a thriving culture.
- What the 4 key drivers of happiness at work are and which one comes top.
- The business case for happiness. We talk through the tangible impacts of happiness on employee productivity and retention. Matt shares research-backed examples, including NHS outcomes and stock market performance.
- Practical tips for leaders. I ask Matt to share some tips for those who lead and manage others around understanding how their people think and feel.
Matt shares fascinating insights from an extensive dataset of 37 million happiness-related data points, highlighting key drivers of happiness at work and their critical relationship to employee engagement. Be sure to listen to the full episode, it’s fascinating stuff!
Quick ref to resources or links we mention
In this episode we have referred to some of Matt’s resources:
- The Happiness Index Platform: to measure employee happiness and engagement.
- Matt Phelan’s TEDx Talk: “12 Million Lessons in Happiness.”
- Books by Matt Phelan: Freedom to Be Happy and The Happiness Index.
- Podcast: The Happiness Index – Data, Insights, Stories. (Spotify, Apple)
A bit more about Matt Phelan
Matt is the founder of The Happiness and Humans Community, host of The Happiness and Humans Podcast and author of ‘Freedom To Be Happy: The Business Case for Happiness’ and ‘The Happiness Index: Why Today’s Employee Emotions Equal Tomorrow’s Business Success’.
Matt has delivered a TEDx talk where he drew on a world of 12 million data points, and tells the story of our happiness in the workplace from 1 million human beings in 100+ countries in less than 15 minutes.
Matt Phelan is also a Co-Founder and Co-CEO of the Happiness Index, a business that helps organisations to thrive by understanding how their people think and feel, then use these insights to create a culture of high performance. In his day-to-day role, he’s responsible for the strategic direction of the business.
If you would like to know more about Matt or would like to connect with him, check out his business website, thehappinessindex.com, or his personal website for speaking opportunities, mattphelan.co.uk. In terms of socials, you can find him on X, Instagram or LinkedIn.
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