The Business of Happy

I’m beginning to believe in the midst of this economic malaise, good news travels faster than bad.  Today I saw Steve Case’s tweet OF Huffington Post’s coverage OF the Today Show video OF Air Force Master Sgt. Joseph Myers surprising his 10 year old daughter in her classroom upon his return from Iraq.  And it ricocheted around Twitterland faster than Susan Boyle’s record deal.

Happy is the new black. The New York Times Style section discussed the return of happiness in culture with the likes of ‘nice’ actors like Paul Rudd. Sears has The Good News Now website which is devoted to things that are uplifting. Today’s post has a great grandmother who is graduating from HighSchool.  And Big Spaceship’s post ‘C’mon Get Happy discusses Ian Fitzpatrick’s project The Optimist Conspectus where he queries and records what people are optimistic about with wonderful tag clouds that soften the blow of 9.4% unemployment.

The point is these stories lean into the prevailing wind, which I’ll summarize as ‘In these difficult economic times”.  They remind us that happiness needs to be in your culture, your values and in your business model. Because after all, relentless optimism is the DNA of innovation. It’s the sheer pursuit to see the world in a different and better way. Innovation needs caretaking by people with not only remarkable ideas, but an indestructible spirit. Maybe it’s a recovering market, or our collective boredom with misery. But a wave of happiness is enveloping the culture. That alone is worth a smile.

Tagged as: happiness, indestructible spirit, iraq, love, recession, seargeant