One of the greatest things about modern society is our increasing acceptance of talking about our emotions. Here's my journey to measuring happiness at a systemic level:
Building on the last 20 years, I realised that happiness is a metric you can also apply to the workplace. Through weekly feedback loops, teams and organisations can track their happiness as a single KPI.
A study of wellbeing across 23 European countries. Nobel prize-winner Daniel Kahneman called it “state of the art wellbeing measurement”. One highlight was working with the Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan on its Gross National Happiness.
A 2008 project with Jody Aked for the UK’s Government Office for Science. They wanted the equivalent of five fruits and vegetables... for wellbeing. Our findings were picked up globally by public health authorities (now it’s a foundational reference).
Answering that question led to the HPI, a metric that continues to show that good lives don't have to cost the earth. Using this I consulted various governments on how to think about wellbeing. I presented the findings at TED in 2010.
Walking with Monty I saw a power station from the top of a green hill overlooking the Thames. An equation struck me: Could society divide its modern lifestyle and wellbeing by its environmental cost? Could I calculate this efficiency, statistically?
Joining The New Economics Foundation, I built a team and for the next 12 years we explored an idea in the spirit of Max-Neef: what would policy look like if people's wellbeing was its aim? The science of happiness was just emerging.
Between the London School of Economics' basement and Tim Jackson's tiny office near Smithfield's meat market, we worked on my first big question: how can we create a language to talk about what a sustainable future looks like?
Unsure of my next move, my interest in people led me to follow my mother's lead to become a trained therapist. Mixing psychology with economic statistics excited me. I was ready to get back into the numbers.
After I quit the firm, my father (anxious for my future!) took me to see Chilean Ecological Economist, Manfred Max-Neef. Manfred thrills me with the idea that most people don't ask big enough questions. Cue a lifelong mentorship.
However upon leaving university I immediately made a poor decision: joining an American management consultancy—just because I was told it was hard to get.
An early memory was my fascination with powers of two. Counting with my father 2, 4, 8… 128… 16,384… trying to get one further each week.
Social distancing and self-isolation are impacting everyone. My Five Ways to Wellbeing framework is designed to help individuals to improve their mental health. These positive daily actions can help people cope during challenging times.
Ideal for: individual wellbeing podcasts & webinars
My most
requested topic
Team morale is at risk with the drastic changes to how we work. With three decades of stats, from working with global organizations measuring & improving employee experience, uncover how companies can protect their culture.
Ideal for: employee experience webinars and broadcast
While nations are in lockdown to save people’s lives, we must not forget the impact on mental health.
Discover insights from 25 years of working in public policy and learn what we need to do next.
Ideal for: agenda setting media opportunities
I keynote on these topics
Learn More + Book MeNic is an engaging speaker. His work on happiness in the workplace has been at the forefront of explaining why happiness is a serious business and how happiness can be measured in organizations of all sizes.
Happier employees lead to strong, nurturing relationships—and a more profitable business.
© Marius Bugge / Playboy
A love of numbers led me to become an applied statistician to measure quality of life. I studied therapy and it helped me contextualize the data. But I’m not interested in talking to people in a way that academics approve. By using numbers I can share a language that helps everyone talk about happiness.
If you’ve got an article or recording in mind, see:
A few times a year, I send updates about my research on the numbers behind happiness. If you’d like them, please subscribe.
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