Publications

June 2021
Case

Chris Ernst: Purpose, People, Progress

By: Boris Groysberg, Robert Cross, Robin Abrahams and Katherine Connolly Baden

Executive Chris Ernst uses a unique personal strategy to define his six life roles (spiritual explorer, natural being, development pioneer, global/local citizen, thriving family, true friend) and achieve harmony among them. View Details

Keywords: Self-awareness; Self-discovery; Self-affirmation; Life Satisfaction; Work-Life Balance; Identity; Personal Development and Career; Family and Family Relationships; Happiness; Technology Industry; United States

Educators

June 3, 2021
Article

How to Build a Life: How to Escape the Happiness Guilt Trap

May 2021 (Revised September 2021)
Case

CPE and SUS Environmental: You've Got to Know When to Hold 'Em (A)

By: Josh Lerner and Franko Jira

In July 2016, Di Yang and Grace Guo of the leading Chinese private equity group CPE faced a dilemma—a happy dilemma, but a challenge nonetheless. CPE’s investment in the waste-to-energy firm SUS Environment had proved to be exceedingly successful. This success had... View Details

Keywords: Decision Choices and Conditions; Private Equity; Financial Liquidity; Investment Return; Growth and Development

Educators

May 6, 2021
Article

How to Build a Life: How Adult Children Affect Their Mother's Happiness

May 2021
Supplement

Hello Alfred: Come Home Happy — Operating the Business Model Exercise, Instructor Version

By: Joseph B. Fuller and Christopher Payton

On a mission to "automate the on-demand economy," Harvard Business School classmates Marcela Sapone and Jessica Beck launched Hello Alfred in 2013 to provide subscribers with an "Alfred" to complete various chores for a monthly fee. In early 2016, the company has built... View Details

Keywords: Growth and Development Strategy; Internet and the Web; Business Startups; Service Operations; Mobile and Wireless Technology; Service Industry; New York (city, NY); Boston

April 15, 2021
Article

How to Build a Life: How to Buy Happiness

2021
Article

Leisure Beliefs and the Subjective Well-being of Nations

By: Lucia Macchia and A.V. Whillans

Here, we construct a data set of 79 countries (N = 220,000) and explore whether differences in the prioritization of time (leisure) vs. money (work) explain cross-country differences in happiness. Consistent with our predictions, countries whose citizens value leisure... View Details

Keywords: Leisure; Work; Subjective Well-being; Public Policy; Employment; Happiness; Governance; Policy

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January 28, 2021
Article

How to Build a Life: There Are Two Kinds of Happy People

January 25, 2021
Blog Post

Lower Income Translates to Fewer Happy Experiences—Here Is How We Can Fix It

By: Jon M. Jachimowicz and Adam Eric Greenberg

Can money actually buy happiness? Research shows that having more money makes people evaluate their lives more favorably (what researchers call “life satisfaction”). Surprising as it may seem, whether money leads to greater life satisfaction because it makes people... View Details

Keywords: Life Satisfaction; Social Justice; Money; Happiness; Satisfaction; Well-being

2021
Article

Helping and Happiness: A Review and Guide for Public Policy

By: Lara B. Aknin and Ashley V. Whillans

Perhaps one of the most reaffirming findings to emerge over the past several decades is that humans not only engage in generous behavior, they also appear to experience pleasure from doing so. Yet not all acts of helping lead to greater happiness. Here, we review the... View Details

Keywords: Generosity; Helping; Behavior; Motivation and Incentives; Happiness; Policy

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December 31, 2020
Article

How to Build a Life: New Year's Resolutions That Will Actually Lead to Happiness

December 3, 2020
Article

How to Build a Life: Measuring Your Happiness Can Help Improve It

November 19, 2020
Article

How to Build a Life: Sedentary Pandemic Life Is Bad for Our Happiness

The times when we most want comfort and rest may paradoxically be the times we most need to move, for the sake of our well-being. View Details

Keywords: Health Pandemics; Welfare

November 2020 (Revised March 2022)
Teaching Note

Social Salary Setting at Spiber

By: Ashley Whillans and John Beshears

Teaching Note for HBS Case No. 920-050. The case tells the story of Spiber, a Japanese technology start-up company. To reflect the company’s values, the leadership team implemented a new and unique salary-setting process: each employee had the authority to choose their... View Details

Keywords: Compensation; General Management; Employee Benefits; Incentives; Motivation; Compensation and Benefits; Fairness; Motivation and Incentives; Management; Happiness; Negotiation; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Japan

August 2020
Case

Sheena Gupta (A)

By: Leslie Perlow and Matthew Preble

Sheena Gupta (A) is a first-person narrative of a Harvard Business School alumna (class of 2008) who has thoughtfully and purposefully crafted the various components of her life in a way that aligns with her personal values and needs. Gupta shares her life story, and... View Details

Keywords: Personal Development and Career; Values and Beliefs; Work-Life Balance

Educators

August 2020
Article

Does Spending Money on Others Promote Happiness? A Registered Replication Report

By: Lara B. Aknin, Elizabeth W. Dunn, Jason Proulx, Iris Lok and Michael I. Norton

Research indicates that spending money on others—prosocial spending—leads to greater happiness than spending money on oneself (e.g., Dunn, Aknin, & Norton, 2008, 2014). These findings have received widespread attention because they offer insight into why people engage... View Details

Keywords: Prosocial Spending; Generosity; Well-being; Replication; Happiness; Behavior; Spending

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