The Happiness Equation

When your unhappiness affects your productivity and that of those around you, it’s time to reassess
how you are living your life.

Carl was unhappy and had been for a long time. He life, in most instances, happiness will be at the top of
was unhappy with his work, his life, the world, and, their list. It is one of the most important, if not the
most of all, with himself. He always focused on what pre-eminent goal to which many aspire.
was wrong, and was bitterly envious of others,
begrudging them for having, what he believed to The potpourri of reactions attributed to happiness
be, a much better deal in life. What made things include the good life, freedom from suffering,
even worse was the fact that he never expressed any flourishing in whatever we are doing, feeling well in
gratitude to people who were kind to him. This our skins, joy, prosperity, and pleasure. According
pessimistic outlook had closed the door to most to an old Chinese saying, “Happiness is something
connections outside his close inner-circle. Even his to do, someone to love, and something to hope for.”
wife was getting fed up with him. Whatever efforts It’s fair to say that the key ingredients for being
she made never seemed to be good enough. happy seem to be feelings of competence,
belonging, and meaning.
In his role as VP of Sales, Carl was also well known
for his negativity. Wherever he was, his unremitting Aristotle made a seminal contribution to the
criticism would dampen the atmosphere, affecting happiness conundrum when he suggested that
the productivity of those who interacted with him. happiness should be seen as a combination of
immediate pleasures (hedonia) and a life well lived
The situation wasn’t helped by the fact that he didn’t (eudaimonia).
really like his job. When asked why he didn’t look
for a position more aligned with his values, his Perhaps, another way of translating Aristotle’s
predictable response was that it “would not make observations is by separating three elements of
any difference”. Taking risks had always been happiness: frequent positive feelings, infrequent
difficult for Carl. Highly concerned about money, he negative feelings, and high life satisfaction.
was afraid that any change would have negative
financial consequences. The role of personality

What’s happiness? Another factor that we need to add to the happiness

equation is our personality. Extravert people tend to
When people are asked what they most want out of be happier while increased neuroticism, or
Visit INSEAD Knowledge
http://knowledge.insead.edu
01

Copyright © INSEAD 2020. All rights reserved. This article first appeared on INSEAD Knowledge (http://knowledge.insead.edu).
emotional instability, corresponds with a decreased It also notes only a modest correlation between
amount of happiness. There is also a significant income and happiness. Money, in the context of the
relationship between agreeableness and happiness, happiness equation, should be viewed as a relative
meaning the more agreeable a person is, the concept. We feel prosperous only if we do better
happier he or she will be. In addition, more than the people with whom we compare our wealth.
conscientious people and people more open to
experience tend to be happier. To take this comparative tendency one step further,
societal happiness appears to be lowest in countries
But most of all, happiness is about other people. with the greatest gap between rich and poor, and
Although the ability to create strong social networks highest in countries with smaller differences.
doesn’t guarantee happiness, it is a key ingredient
in the happiness equation. Happy people have All in all, a high level of materialism seems to lower
better relationships. our degree of happiness. Perhaps, in seeking
money, materialistically-driven people sacrifice
The hedonic treadmill other important things in life, such as relationships,
spirituality, or following their true interests.
Evolutionary psychologists refer to the concept of
happiness as the hedonic treadmill, critical for the The pursuit of happiness
continuation of the human species. They suggest that
any increase or decrease in happiness (after a This brings us to the question of whether happiness,
significant life event) eventually returns to as a relative concept, can be pursued and truly
a “happiness set point”, or baseline. For the attained? What can we do to increase our chances of
purpose of survival, it’s essential for Homo sapiens being happy? And is there hope for a person like
to have a happiness baseline that is positive. Carl?

Given the evolutionary nature of this hedonic Going back to the role of intentional activity, we
treadmill, we can assume that genetics has a major may be able to do many things. Carl, for example,
influence on happiness. Some researchers suggest could make a greater effort to manage his negative
that the inheritability of well-being has an estimated thoughts and emotions such as anger, envy and
set point of 50 percent. There are two other spite. Instead, he should try to foster positive
variables in this equation. The first is life’s thoughts and attitudes such as empathy,
circumstances - the events that influence an forgiveness, serenity, and especially gratitude. He
individual’s outlook on life. The second consists of could start by putting an end to his negative
our intentional activities, or what we choose to do, ruminations and to proactively address the question
which constitutes (according to positive of leading a more purposeful life.
psychologists) about 40 percent of the equation.
What these figures suggest is that we have some To this end he should take action to look for work
control over whether we are happy or not - we can that truly fits his values and interests. He could also
make choices with respect to the happiness consider intentionally creating more happy
equation. moments, such as spending quality time with his
wife, family and friends, taking time out to have an
Money and happiness honest chat with his colleagues or people who work
for him and pursuing an activity outside of home and
But what makes people happy or unhappy is not work-life that interests him. These singular
merely a matter of the individual. It is also related to moments, while insignificant on their own, add up to
the kind of society we live in. a fulfilled life. Although action may not always bring
happiness, there can be no happiness without
According to the World Health Organization - one action.
out of twenty people, or 350 million people
worldwide, suffer from depression. These In addition, what may help in changing Carl’s
“unhappy” statistics have even encouraged the outlook to life is to start practicing gratitude. A
publication of a “World Happiness Report,” taking simple “thanks” to others may do wonders for his
into consideration dimensions such as real GDP per mental health as happiness is often a by-product of
capita, life expectancy, social support, perceived an effort to make someone else happy. Also, instead
freedom to make life choices, freedom from of dwelling on past hurts, Carl would do well to
corruption, and generosity. Not surprisingly, the practice the art of letting go. Instead of counting his
largest degree in unhappiness occurs in countries troubles, he should count his joys. Instead of being
that are ravaged by conflict. Clearly, a lack of preoccupied by envy and spite, he should try to
human rights, wars, internal strife, corruption and enjoy his own life without comparing it to that of
other forms of social discord will negatively affect others.
the happiness equation.
Visit INSEAD Knowledge
http://knowledge.insead.edu
02

Copyright © INSEAD 2020. All rights reserved. This article first appeared on INSEAD Knowledge (http://knowledge.insead.edu).
 A happiness regime

Oscar Wilde once said, “Some cause happiness

wherever they go; others whenever they go.” We
cannot always have happiness, but we do have the
power to create happiness. In many ways,
happiness is very much a regime. The happiest
people don’t have the best of everything; they make
the best of everything.

Manfred Kets De Vries is the Distinguished Clinical

Professor of Leadership Development &
Organisational Change at INSEAD and The Raoul de
Vitry d'Avaucourt Chaired Professor of Leadership
Development, Emeritus. He is the Founder of
INSEAD's Global Leadership Centre and the
Programme Director of The Challenge of
Leadership, one of INSEAD’s Top Executive
Development Programmes. In 2015 Manfred received
the Dominique Héau Award for Inspiring Educational
Excellence.

Follow INSEAD Knowledge on Twitter and Facebook

Find article at
https://knowledge.insead.edu/blog/insead-blog/the-
happiness-equation-4265

Download the Knowledge app for free

Visit INSEAD Knowledge

http://knowledge.insead.edu
03

Copyright © INSEAD 2020. All rights reserved. This article first appeared on INSEAD Knowledge (http://knowledge.insead.edu).
Powered by TCPDF (www.tcpdf.org)