Future Perspectives
Happiness:
Is it your business?
100%
75
50
25
0
1
Contents
100%
75
50
25
0
This report is part of the Future Perspectives series of white
papers on the local and global currents shaping the business
and consumer landscape. Each Future Perspective tackles a
single issue, dissecting key data, correcting prevailing wisdom
where necessary and providing strategic guidance.
We created this report to help you focus on the information
about happiness that matters most, and help you consider
whether using a happiness framework could benefit your
organisation or brand.
While happiness clearly matters to people – and is the topic
of the day – should it matter to brands and organisations?
Within the limited scope of things they do and deliver, is happiness the right thing to focus on?
Please come and talk to us about happiness. We can help you
identify the benefits and think more about whether or not
happiness is your business.
Will Galgey, CEO
T: +44 (0)20 7955 1818
[email protected]
www.thefuturescompany.com
www.twitter.com/futuresco
www.facebook.com/futuresco
www.linkedin.com/company/the-futures-company
2
Happiness: Why now?
4
The benefits of happiness
9
What is happiness?
10
Where does happiness come from?
16
What now? What next?
28
How we can help
30
Happiness:
Why now?
We take it for granted that
everyone is always seeking
happiness, so why have so many
people suddenly started talking
more directly about happiness,
and what does this mean for your
organisation?
A number of important social, economic
and political trends, as well as scientific
developments, have pushed happiness to the
fore. These are now playing out in the attitudes
of consumers, the focus of scientists, and the
corridors of political power.
In terms of consumer trends, people are
increasingly disenchanted with the story of
wealth and consumerism for its own sake.
4
While they still want to consume, they are looking
for a deeper sense of meaning and purpose. The
global recession has raised questions for many
about what is most important in life.
Globally only 37% of people agree
“I would be happier if I owned more
material possessions”. 1
Coinciding with this social and economic
moment, the human sciences have become
increasingly able to measure happiness
accurately. They are better at determining what
really makes people happy.
Governments worldwide are also turning
to happiness as a better measure of social
progress than GDP. We see this in the OECD’s
statistical push for better measures of wellbeing and the state-funded wellbeing initiatives
in the UK and France.
1 - The Futures Company Global MONITOR Survey 2011 (all countries, base = 28,077)
5
Meanwhile in Latin America, caution toward
market-led models have led leaders in Ecuador
and Bolivia to incorporate broader goals like
“the good life” into their new constitutions.
Brazil is considering laws to make the pursuit
of happiness an inalienable right.
Amid concerns about the fast pace of
development, China and Thailand are also
developing happiness measures to counterbalance the pressures of economic growth.
“[A] nation’s total production of
goods or services is at best a means
to other ends, and often a dubious
means at that. In contrast, happiness,
or satisfaction with life, can lay claim
to be not merely an end in itself, but
the end most people consider more
important than any other”2
Derek Bok, former President of Harvard University
2 - Derek Bok (2010) The Politics of Happiness: What Government Can Learn from New Research
on Well-Being (Princeton University Press)
6
7
Businesses have also started to focus explicitly
on happiness and how a better understanding
of this complex but universal emotion can help
improve relationships with consumers as well
as grow the bottom line. They are approaching
happiness in many ways. You might argue that
it is something that they have always done:
from the goal of delivering happiness in their
products, services and communications, through
to business strategy, innovations, organisational
culture and brand values.
But what is happiness, and how will the issue
evolve? This booklet will help you navigate the
literature on happiness, and consider how it may
be relevant for your organisation.
The benefits of happiness
Happiness could potentially help you answer
these kinds of questions:
■■ What can your brand do to improve
people’s lives?
■■ How can you improve your customers’
experiences?
■■ What should your brand stand for?
■■ What services should you provide?
■■ What products should you sell?
■■ How do you want your organisational culture
to evolve in the future?
“My hope is that...entrepreneurs will
be inspired to start new companies
with happiness at the core of their
business models”3
Tony Hsieh, founder and CEO of Zappos.comh
3 - Tony Hsieh (2010) Delivering Happiness: A Path to Profits, Passion and Purpose (Business Plus)
8
9
What is happiness?
It is easy to get lost in the vague language of
happiness, so what exactly is everyone talking
about? There are two main understandings of
what happiness is. These two definitions have
also become the key ways of measuring it.
Happiness is:
Life
Satisfaction
10
Mood
11
Life satisfaction
This is the common understanding of happiness
– how content you are with how your life is
going. Life satisfaction is the measure favoured
by Professor Martin E. P. Seligman, who helped
launch the field of positive psychology. Life
satisfaction incorporates the whole experience
of life and moves beyond the “happiness as
hedonism” approach that focuses only on
momentary positive experiences which Seligman
finds so limiting.4
Positive
psychology
is the branch
of psychology
that aims to
improve normal
life, rather than
treat illnesses
Common measures include the Cantril 10 point
self-striving scale which measures where people
feel they are relative to their ideal life and Ed
Deiner’s Subjective Well-Being scale which brings
together a range of satisfaction questions.
However this measure is often very goal-oriented,
reflecting retrospective judgements on your life,
and social narratives of what success should look
like. Findings can often be static over time and
subject to mis-remembering past events.
4 - Martin E. P. Seligman (2002) Pleasure, Meaning & Eudaimonia, Authentic Happiness newsletter
12
13
Mood
At a simple level, this is “how happy are you now”.
Nobel Laureate Daniel Kahneman has developed
mood into the concept called “positive affect”,
which is the actual experience of being happy,
rather than the memory of a happy experience.
Measures include reporting on the balance of
positive and negative moods experienced, random
sampling of mood via portable devices, and
Kahneman and Kreuger’s “day reconstruction
method” that records mood according to episodes
that took place on the previous day.5
Looking at mood has the advantage of revealing
how people feel in their day-to-day lives. It is
less goal-oriented and less subject to misremembering past events. A focus on mood
avoids what Kahneman calls the “tyranny of the
remembering self”.6
However, a focus on happiness as mood can limit
it to transient moments of pleasure. Memories do
matter – people are more than a sum of momentary
experiences. We define our sense of self by
interpreting memories and shaping them over time.
14
5 - Daniel Kahneman, Alan B. Kreuger, et al. (2004) A Survey Method for Characterizing Daily Life
Experience. Science v306(n5702):1776-1780
6 - Daniel Kahneman (Feb 2010) “The Riddle of Experience vs. Memory” TED Talk
14
15
Where does happiness
come from?
There are also six main understandings of what
actually drives happiness. We explore what is
behind these definitions and understandings on the
following pages.
1. Frame of mind
6. Personal
connections
2. Wealth
5. Meaning &
engagement
3. Autonomy &
competence
4. Basic needs
16
7 - David Lykken and Auke Tellegen (1996) Happiness Is a Stochastic Phenomenon. Psychological
Science v7(n3). 8 - Verme, Paolo (2009) Happiness, Freedom and Control. Università Commerciale
Luigi Bocconi, Econpubblica Centre for Research on the Public Sector, Working Paper No. 141
9 - Tim Harper (27/12/2010) Happiness: A measure of cheer. Financial Times.
1. Frame of mind
David Lykken has suggested through twin studies
that there is a genetic element to happiness, and
that everyone has their own “set point” of happiness
that they will eventually return to.7
This can be due to a tendency to be optimistic, but
also draws apart distinctions in terms of whether
people choose to live in the moment or focus on
the future. Frame of mind can also be influenced
by cultural background: French people report they
are less happy and satisfied, even though they
spend more of their time in positive moods than
Americans.8
Much of the emphasis in positive psychology
is in helping to shift frames of mind to improve
happiness, for instance focussing on the positive.9
This has, however, created backlash from
sceptics such as Barbara Ehrenreich, who argues
that positive thinking can distract from real
problems in potentially dangerous ways.10 Julie
Norem argues that the focus on happiness can be
over-exaggerated and that negative thinking can
be more effective for some people.11
10 - Barbara Ehrenreich (2010) Smile or Die: How Positive Thinking Fooled America and the World
(Granta Books). 11 - Julie Norem (2002) The Positive Power of Negative Thinking: Using Defensive
Pessimism to Harness Anxiety and Perform at your Peak (Basic Books)
17
We have found The Futures Company’s ecology
model to be a useful way to visualise how happiness is
contextualised by basic material provision and cultural
values, though not determined solely by them.
2. Wealth
Traditional economic theory would state that
money satisfies needs and desires, hence more
money means better fulfilment of desires and
greater happiness.
While this logic holds true to a certain extent,
challenging the belief that money equals
happiness sits at the heart of the happiness
sciences.12 The Easterlin Paradox holds that after
a country reaches middle income levels, greater
wealth does not improve happiness.13
Debates around this data continue, but Daniel
Kahneman has demonstrated that, on individual
levels, income after a certain threshold ceases
to improve mood, even if it can boost life
satisfaction.14
Explanations include the “hedonic treadmill” –
the idea that people get used to higher standards
of living, so rising expectations destroy lasting
gains, or that “keeping up with the Joneses”
means that “wealth” is always relative so the bar
will continue to rise.
18
12 - Richard Layard (2005) Happiness: Lessons from a New Science (Penguin Books)
13 - Carol Gluck (2009) Happiness around the World: The Paradox of Happy Peasants and Miserable Millionaires (Oxford University Press)
14 - Daniel Kahneman (Feb 2010) “The Riddle of Experience vs. Memory” TED Talk
18
19
3. Autonomy & competence
Ronald Ingelhart, head of the World Values
Survey, suggests that freedom is the underlying
driver of happiness.15
This includes political and social freedoms, as
countries with greater freedoms also tend to have
citizens who are happier than those in countries
with fewer freedoms.16
On a day-to-day basis, this definition of happiness
has been shown by positive psychology to include
the ability to control your own life and choose your
own path. It includes the importance of simply
being able to achieve what you set out to do.17
Globally 80% of people feel that “Being
in control of your life” is very/extremely
important to them, and far more so than
many other factors like being part of close
communities, taking time to relax, having
convenience and making the world
a better place18
20
15 - Ronald Inglehart, Roberto Foa, et al (2008) Development, Freedom, and Rising Happiness: A
Global Perspective (1981–2007). Perspectives on Psychological Science v3(n4): 265-285. 16 - Ibid.
17 - Verme, Paolo (2009) Happiness, Freedom and Control. Università Commerciale Luigi Bocconi,
Econpubblica Centre for Research on the Public Sector, Working Paper No. 141
18 - The Futures Company Global MONITOR Survey 2011 (all countries, base = 28,077)
21
4. Basic needs
The Futures Company Ecology Model
Needs-based approaches require that people will
be happy only when they have their fundamental
needs provided for. These include food, shelter,
good physical and mental health and easily
available education. The basics are often measured
by standard public health indicators, including life
expectancy and infant mortality rates.
The World
Our World
My World
Some economists, such as Diane Coyle, criticise
the current fashion for happiness when there are
more pressing problems like poverty and disease.19
Professor Ruut Veenhoven, director of the World
Database of Happiness, has offered the idea of
a “happy life expectancy” which measures the
number of years people live happily alongside
quality of life factors. According to Veenhoven, in
order for people to be happy, quality of life must
also be maintained.20
Happiness
Values
Basic provision
But quality of life often emerges as more of a
foundation of happiness than a cause in itself.
We have found The Futures Company’s ecology
model to be a useful way to visualise how happiness is
contextualised by basic material provision and cultural
values, though not determined solely by them.
19 - http://blog.enlightenmenteconomics.com/blog/_archives/2010/11/25/4688195.html
20 - Ruut Veenhoven (1996) Happy Life Expectancy: A comprehensive measure of quality-of-life in
nations. Social Indicators Research, v39:1-58
22
22
23
5. Meaning & engagement
Greek, Chinese and Buddhist philosophies
presume that a truly happy life must be one
infused with meaning. Utilitarian philosopher
John Stuart Mill holds that happiness is the
product of having an aim, rather than something
to be sought in itself: “Ask yourself whether you
are happy, and you cease to be so.”21
Recent studies have also shown that belief
systems underwrite happiness. Studies in the
US, for example, demonstrate that religious
belief correlates strongly with happiness,
because it provides a framework for making
sense of the world.22
However, as Ronald Ingelhart has noted, any
positive belief system can provide this and in many
countries national pride and a sense of communal
purpose provide meaningful frameworks, in
addition to religion or ideology.23
24
21 - John Stuart Mill (1909) Autobiography. The Harvard Classics v25(94)
22- David Myers (2007) The Science of Subjective Well-Being (Guilford Press)
23 - Ronald Inglehart, Roberto Foa, et al (2008) Development, Freedom, and Rising Happiness: A
Global Perspective (1981–2007). Perspectives on Psychological Science v3(n4):265-285
24
25
6. Personal connection
Relationships are vital to happiness, whether it
is having a stable family life or sharing time with
people you feel close to.
The Futures Company’s Global MONITOR
research demonstrates that, across the world,
relationships with friends, family and partners
are consistently the most important factors in
determining how people feel.
Globally 87% of people feel that “Your
relationship with your spouse or partner” is
highly important (8-10 on a 10 point scale) in
determining how they feel, more so than any
other factor including work, health and the
amount of money they have24
Many of the actions that have been proven to do
the most to increase happiness revolve around
deepening relationships, even when they may appear
to have no direct benefit, such as taking time to
express gratitude to important people in your life.25
24 - The Futures Company Global MONITOR Survey 2010 (all countries, base = 27,083)
25 - Robert Emmons (2007) Thanks!: How the New Science of Gratitude Can Make You Happier
(Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)
26
26
27
Happiness: What now?
Happiness: What next?
To help you dig deeper and uncover what
happiness means for your organisation, we have
added a new suite of happiness questions onto
our Global MONITOR survey, our proprietary
research program that tracks macro and
consumer trends across 21 countries.
As people focus on happiness more, and as they
better understand what it is and what it can do
for them, there are some key uncertainties to
consider:
■■ Measures of mood and life satisfaction help
you understand how the different sides of
happiness can vary globally and within markets
■■ Will people move “beyond” materialism?
■■ Will happiness and materialism come to be
seen as at odds?
■■ We directly ask consumers what they think
will make them happier to identify what needs
resonate most
■■ Will happiness get genuinely integrated into
policy decisions?
■■ Who will lead the way: government, science,
business, the third sector?
■■ Findings uncover the relationship between
happiness and other consumer trends and
attitudes
■■ Will measuring happiness lead to effective
interventions?
■■ Our study of core values compares the
importance of mood and life satisfaction to
other priorities
28
■■ How will happiness interact with economic
anxieties?
28
29
100%
How we can help
75
50
25
0
consumer futures
brand futures
category futures
Understand what makes your
consumers happy, how much
of a priority happiness is, and
how it affects behaviours and
customer interactions
Determine if happiness should
be central – or simply a component part – of your brand and
how this should be framed
(beware ‘happy wash’!)
Identify which dimensions
of happiness are relevant
for your category and where
permissions lie
Happiness:
Is it your business?
Written by Rebecca Nash and Pendragon Stuart.
The Futures Company is the leading global foresight and futures
consultancy, formed in 2008 from the coming together of The Henley
Centre, HeadlightVision and Yankelovich. Through a combination of
subscription foresight services and bespoke research and consultancy,
we create commercial advantage for our clients by helping them to
take control of their futures. By exploring the future needs, motivations
and behaviors of consumers, and the broader dynamics shaping the
marketplace, we unlock the future of consumers, brands, categories
and companies.
We are a Kantar company within WPP with teams in the UK, US,
Mexico, Brazil, Argentina and India.
company futures
macro futures
30
Determine the role happiness
should play in your organisation’s culture and its link to
recruitment, motivation and
retention
Monitor how happiness is
evolving and the expectations
this will set for the future
Will Galgey, CEO
T: +44 (0)20 7955 1818
[email protected]
www.thefuturescompany.com
www.twitter.com/futuresco
www.facebook.com/futuresco
www.linkedin.com/company/the-futures-companyny
31
32