Speaker and lecturer Shawn Achor.

In light of current discussion during performance review season, Ted Talk speaker Shawn Achor delivers an inspirational speech that the secret to improved work performance is happiness. This is not surprising to anyone except Achor points out that it is not improved work performance that makes us happier…happiness must come first.

According to his bio on the TED site, “Shawn Achor is the winner of over a dozen distinguished teaching awards at Harvard University, where he delivered lectures on positive psychology in the most popular class at Harvard.”

His bio continues that “he is the CEO of Good Think Inc., a Cambridge-based consulting firm which researches positive outliers — people who are well above average — to understand where human potential, success and happiness intersect. Based on his research and 12 years of experience at Harvard, he clearly and humorously describes to organizations how to increase happiness and meaning, raise success rates and profitability, and create positive transformations that ripple into more successful cultures. He is also the author of The Happiness Advantage.”

Being a generally happy person myself, this talk resonated deeply within my professional psyche.