504. The Science of Sovereignty and Balancing Happiness with Success feat. Emma Seppälä

How are happiness and success intertwined when it comes to business? What crucial element do you lose as a company when the boss or the culture becomes one of stress or pressure? 

Emma Seppälä teaches at the Yale School of Management and is a Scientific Director at the Center for Compassion and Altruism Research at Stanford University. She is also the author of several books, most recently Sovereign: Reclaim Your Freedom, Energy, and Power in a Time of Distraction, Uncertainty, and Chaos.

Greg and Emma discuss the evolving field of happiness studies, its application in business, and Emma's research on the relationship between success, well-being, and stress. Emma shares insights on how high-stress cultures in academia and workplaces undermine long-term performance and creativity and offers practical strategies for individuals and leaders to cultivate emotional intelligence and resilience through practices like meditation and breathwork.

*unSILOed Podcast is produced by University FM.*

Show Links:

Recommended Resources:

• Robert Thurman
• SKY Breath Meditation
• Breathwork

Guest Profile:

• EmmaSeppala.com
• Faculty Profile at Yale School of Management
• Faculty Profile at the Stanford Medicine Center for Compassion and Altruism Research and Education
• Social Profile on Instagram
• Social Profile on Facebook
• Social Profile on X
• LinkedIn Profile

Her Work:

• Amazon Author Page
• Sovereign: Reclaim Your Freedom, Energy, and Power in a Time of Distraction, Uncertainty, and Chaos
• The Happiness Track: How to Apply the Science of Happiness to Accelerate Your Success
• The Oxford Handbook of Compassion Science
• YouTube Channel

Episode Quotes:

Self-awareness vs. self-criticism in leadership

18:17: If you want to be a good leader, compassion is so essential. It's a no-brainer. And I teach a lot of female executives, male too, but I would say both of them are highly self-critical. I differentiate between self-awareness and self-criticism. Self-awareness is, oh, you know what? My statistics are terrible. Like I actually need to hire a statistician to help me on my team. That's self-awareness, right? Self-criticism is, I'm a terrible accountant. I can't do this. Like, I'm just so bad, all that stuff is either going to make you feel less than and all the consequences thereof or make you feel like you have to make up for it by being a jerk or "narcissist." Everyone's a narcissist these days, according to everybody else. You know what I mean? But, like, yeah, both of those are consequences of profound self-hatred. That's why, you know, self-awareness is key. Self-criticism? Not so much.

Innovation starts with resilience and a sovereign state of mind

11:24: What we need the most is innovation, both in our young people, in our employees, and all around ourselves. We need to figure out the problems in our lives, and the best way to access that is to come back to, I'm going to call it, a sovereign state because when you're sovereign and you're sort of centered within yourself, and you're in a calmer state, and you're less frazzled, and also the whole antifragile thing. Well, it's antifragile psychologically, so you're in a state where you are most resilient to the outside world and most creative.

Why leadership begins with your well-being

33:25: People can't flourish around you if you're stressed, if you're burnt out, if you're showing up yourself; it's not going to happen. As a leader, people are watching you. They're very attuned to you because they're watching out for their own safety, and they're measuring where they are at, where they stand, and so it's critical. I think that's a place where people get lost. You're like, "Oh, well, if I just offer these perks or see these things, everything will be fine." It's like, well, really, people see through you. They see through you. And if you're not authentic, they know that.