Building a Moat in the First Half Hour

Today we're talking to Shawn Achor who's one of the world's leading experts on the connection between happiness and success. Shawn's research on mindset made the cover of the Harvard Business Review. His TED Talk is one of the most popular of all times, with over 13 million views, and his lectures airing on PBS have been seen by millions of people around the world. Shawn has worked with over a third of the Fortune 100 companies, as well as the NFL, the NBA, the Pentagon, and the White House. He is also the author of the New York Times best-selling books, "The Happiness Advantage," and "Before Happiness," and his newest book is "Big Potential."

In this episode, we explore why the biggest impediment to our success is not a lack of productivity, hard work or intelligence, but the way in which we pursue it. Shawn explains why researchers have found that it is our ability to connect with, contribute to, and benefit from the ecosystem of people around us that ultimately determines our success.

Connect with Shawn Anchor: 

http://goodthinkinc.com/

• [02:11] - Shawn explains why realizing our potential relies on our ability to work well with others.
• [05:41] - Shawn outlines why studies suggest in workplaces it is not survival of the fittest, but survival of the best fit.
• [07:54] - Shawn shares why hyper-competitive environments undermine our wellbeing and potential.
• [10:27] - Shawn offers some practical tips for enabling survival of the best fit in our workplaces.
• [16:41] - Shawn outlines five simple steps for we can take to help us realize our big potential.
• [22:08] - Shawn explains how to nudge even the most skeptical people into experimenting with more collaborative and big potential behaviors in workplaces.
• [27:07] - Shawn completes the Lightning round.

• Brene Brown TED Talk on Vulnerability
• The Happiness Hypothesis by Jonathon Haidt
• Dare to Lead by Brene Brown
• MPPW Podcast on Facebook

Thanks so much for joining me again this week.  If you enjoyed this episode, please share it using the social media buttons you see at the bottom of this post.

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Until next time, take care!  Thank you Shawn!