A Culture of Happiness: How to Scale Up Happiness from People to Organizations

Ha Vinh, the former program director of the Gross National Happiness Center, debuts with a novel program on how to build happier communities, offering a “step-by-step approach to cultivating and sustaining happiness at individual, institutional, societal, and national levels.” Positing that transforming social systems requires transforming minds, Ha Vinh pushes back against privileging material needs and suggests that happiness requires addressing spiritual ones. He urges readers to take “Gross National Happiness” as seriously as GDP and, using some GDP terminology, outlines how to evaluate GNH using nine domains, which include “psychological well-being” and community vitality, and 33 indicators that prioritize sustainability, cultural preservation, and political participation. The author provides Buddhism-inspired exercises to foster happiness, such as meditating while on a walk or practicing mindfulness to grapple with strong emotions. Calls to transform “violence and hatred with compassion and loving kindness” don’t provide many concrete solutions, but the GNH framework offers a provocative new way to think about what makes a society successful. Though more suggestive than conclusive, this provides plenty to chew on. (Sept.)