Shawn Achor

Shawn Achor is a leading expert on positive psychology who specialises in the science of happiness, resilience, and human potential. He holds over a dozen distinguished teaching awards from Harvard University, where he taught the university's most popular course on positive psychology, and his TED talk on happiness has been viewed by millions worldwide. His research has graced the cover of Harvard Business Review, and he is the New York Times bestselling author of The Happiness Advantage, Before Happiness, and most recently The Power of Beliefs and Resilient Optimism. Through his engaging, research-backed sessions, Shawn equips organisations to boost performance, restore confidence during change, and create cultures where optimism and productivity thrive together.

When Shawn Achor's research on happiness made the cover of Harvard Business Review, it marked a turning point in how organisations worldwide understood the relationship between wellbeing and performance. A magna cum laude graduate of Harvard University with a Master's degree from Harvard Divinity School, Shawn spent over a decade at the university, earning more than a dozen distinguished teaching awards and serving as Head Teaching Fellow for Positive Psychology, the institution's most popular course. His TED talk has been viewed over four million times, and his PBS special has reached millions of viewers, establishing him as one of the most influential voices in the science of happiness and human potential. His New York Times bestselling books, including The Happiness Advantage, Before Happiness, The Power of Beliefs, and his latest work, Resilient Optimism, have transformed how leaders approach performance and change.

Shawn's academic rigour is matched by his real-world impact. He teaches at Wharton Business School's Advanced Management Programme and collaborates on research with Yale University and the Institute for Applied Positive Research. In 2007, he founded GoodThink Inc. to translate his findings into practical tools for organisations, and has since worked in more than 50 countries with audiences ranging from CEOs in China to doctors in Dubai, farmers in Zimbabwe to the Royal Family in Abu Dhabi. His partnerships extend beyond the lecture hall: he advises BetterUP's online training community, developed The Orange Frog workshop with the International Thought Leadership Network, and created interactive learning experiences with CorpU and Happify. He has also worked with the U.S. Department of Health and led the Everyday Matters campaign with the National MS Society, demonstrating how happiness remains accessible even during profound challenges.

Shawn equips organisations to create cultures where optimism and productivity strengthen one another. His sessions provide leaders with evidence-based strategies to boost team performance, restore confidence during periods of uncertainty, and build resilience that lasts beyond the event itself. Audiences leave with actionable frameworks for linking positive mindsets to measurable outcomes, understanding how small shifts in perspective can create ripples of change across entire organisations. Whether addressing peak performance, leadership during transition, or making change more sustainable, Shawn's work delivers lasting value by showing teams how to harness the competitive advantage of a positive brain. His ability to combine rigorous science with warmth and accessibility ensures that complex research translates into meaningful transformation for every person in the room.