CONFERENCE SPEAKERS
THE SECRET TO HAPPINESS
Leadership Conference guest speaker, Arthur C. Brooks
Steve Starks reported on the 2013 operational results,
as well as moderated a leadership panel discussion.
“Today, I want to share with you the secret to happiness,”
began keynote speaker Arthur C. Brooks, Ph.D., president of
the American Enterprise Institute. In the thought-provoking
presentation, Brooks distilled 40 years and hundreds
of social science research studies on happiness into a
surprising set of answers to questions like:
What percentage of the population is happy?
What brings us happiness?
Who is happier – men or women?
How much of happiness is genetically determined?
How much control do we really have over our happiness?
According to Brooks, happiness boils down to three things: Genes. Events. Choices.
“The first of these things matters a lot, but you can’t control it. The second matters
relatively little, but most people obsess about it. And the last is where the secret lies.
“The survey data are fascinating and really consistent. For the past 40 years, about a
third of Americans say they’re very happy, and a