The document discusses the importance of positive intelligence, highlighting that a positive mind-set enhances performance across productivity, creativity, and engagement. It emphasizes the 'happiness advantage', where individuals achieve better outcomes when personally satisfied, countering the common belief that success leads to happiness. Additionally, it presents evidence linking employee happiness to increased profitability for companies, supported by various studies.

1. Positive Intelligence
Overview

2. Positive Intelligence importance
• Research shows that when people work with a
positive mind-set, performance on nearly every
level—productivity, creativity, engagement—
improves. Yet happiness is perhaps the most
misunderstood driver of performance. (2)

3. Benefits
• People who cultivate a positive mind-set
perform better in the face of challenge. I call
this the “happiness advantage”—every
business outcome shows improvement when
the brain is positive. (2)
• Most people believe that success precedes
happiness. “Once I get a promotion, I’ll be
happy,” This is a trap because success is a
moving target. (2)

4. Exercise those Positive Habits
1. Jot down three things you were grateful for.
2. Write a positive message to someone in
your social support network.
3. Meditate at your desk for two minutes.
4. Exercise for 10 minutes.
5. Take two minutes to describe in a journal
the most meaningful experience of the past
24 hours.
Reference: Harvard Business Review Jan-Feb 2012 issue, article entitled 'Positive Intelligence
by Shawn Achor

5. Bottom line of happy employees
• For companies, happy employees mean better
bottom-line results. Employees who score low
in “life satisfaction,” a rigorously tested and
widely accepted metric, stay home an average
of 1.25 more days a month, a 2008 study by
Gallup Healthway’s shows this, translates into a
decrease in productivity of 15 days a year.

6. Bottom line of happy employees
• In a study of service departments, Jennifer
George and Kenneth Bettenhausen found that
employees who score high in life satisfaction
are significantly more likely to receive high
ratings from customers.
• In addition, researchers at Gallup found that
retail stores that scored higher on employee life
satisfaction generated $21 more in earnings
per square foot of space than the other stores,
adding $32 million in additional profits for the
whole chain.

7. References
1 Understanding pro social behaviour, sales performance, and
turnover: A group-level analysis in a service context.
George, Jennifer and Bettenhausen, Kenneth Journal of
Applied Psychology, Vol 75(6), Dec 1990.
2 Harvard Business Review Jan-Feb 2012 issue, article
entitled 'Positive Intelligence by Shawn Achor
3 Gallup Healthway’s Well Being Index:
4 http://www.well-beingindex.com/

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