Connected Leadership with Peter Boyd Leading the Way | Laurie Santos | The Happiness Expert
Feb 3, 2025
Laurie Santos, a Yale professor and cognitive scientist, is the host of The Happiness Lab and creator of the most popular course in Yale's history, The Science of Well-Being. In this engaging conversation, she emphasizes the importance of self-care in leadership and discusses balancing energy with purpose. Laurie also explores the connection between learning and happiness, advocating for joy over traditional success metrics. Additionally, she highlights gratitude's role in leadership and calls for systemic changes in education to prioritize mental health and social engagement.
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From Missed Class To Global Reach
- Laurie Santos stumbled into psychology after missing a law class and that serendipity set her career path.
- Teaching Yale's popular happiness course later propelled her into a global role and podcasting work.
Burnout Led To Hard Choices
- Laurie described burning out after juggling head-of-college duties, podcasting, teaching and pandemic work.
- She stepped away from the head role to reset priorities and reduce overload.
Purpose: Scale Evidence-Based Wellbeing
- Laurie defines her current purpose as using wellbeing science to help as many people as possible.
- She focuses on learning how to deliver evidence-based strategies at large scale via courses and podcasts.
