The Joy of Leadership

Chapter 3Myths of Happiness and Leadership: Making the Case for SHARP

When we first met more than five years ago, our conversation returned again and again to the disaggregation of the world's social and economic structures and the effect this volatility was having on organizations and people. That conversation, and the many that followed, were spirited, invigorating—and revelatory. We realized a few important things, which led us to create Potentialife and write this book:

• Today's disaggregated world creates space and offers individuals new opportunities and challenges: In an era in which people increasingly move from gig to gig, rather than job to job, leadership behaviors enable them to find and cultivate experiences that will allow them to grow and flourish. With the lifelong loyalties of the gold watch era on the wane, everyone must be an opportunity seeker. While this may seem like a lamentable development for organizations that want to retain talent, it clarifies a simple truth: Opportunities for flourishing and influence—for the joy of leadership—within the organization must be more attractive than those outside it.
• Our interactions have repeatedly shown the feeling of being happy and fulfilled and the ability to lead—to inspire others and make a meaningful difference—to be so strongly associated as to be virtually inseparable. Whether an organization's people are happy, capable, and energized is far more important to a company's success than the logic of its organizational ...