Tal Ben-Shahar
World Authority in Leadership and Positive Psychology. Bestselling Author & Happiness Guru
We all aspire to happiness, but most of us find it to be frustratingly elusive. Speaker Daniel Gilbert has devoted his life to studying happiness and the ways in which our decisions support or suppress it. One of the world’s most prominent scientists, Gilbert is also one of its most celebrated teachers. Organizations looking for an unforgettably enriching keynote address find just the thing in Gilbert’s eye-opening speeches.
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In his bestselling books and TED talks, happiness speaker Daniel Gilbert illuminates our search for purpose and fulfillment. A sparkling keynote speaker, Daniel Gilbert brings inspiration and insight to audiences around the world.
More than 20 million viewers have benefited from Daniel Gilbert’s immensely popular TED talks. His first TED presentation, “The Surprising Secret of Happiness,” remains one of the series’ most popular talks of all time.
His 2006 book Stumbling on Happiness spent six months atop the New York Times bestseller list. It has sold more than a million copies in more than 35 translations. Gilbert later co-wrote and hosted the groundbreaking PBS series This Emotional Life, which earned more than 10 million viewers.
Gilbert’s books and presentations draw on his expertise as a lauded professor of psychology. At Harvard, where he is the Edgar Pierce Professor of Psychology, Gilbert perennially ranks among the school’s most popular teachers. His clinical research and celebrated teaching skills earned Gilbert the 2018 William James Award for contributions to the field.
His contributions to Time, The New York Times, and All Things Considered have introduced Gilbert to still larger audiences. He is one of the most-followed scientists on social media, and has been named one of the 50 most influential psychologists on earth.
Most of us think we know what would make us happy and that our only problem is getting it. But research in psychology, economics, and neuroscience shows that people are not very good at predicting what will make them happy, how happy it will make them, and how long that happiness will last. Is the problem that we can’t really imagine what our futures will hold? Is the problem that our friends and family mislead us about the true sources of human happiness? Yes, and yes again. Professor Gilbert will explain why, when it comes to finding happiness, we can’t always trust our imaginations or our mothers.
Floss daily, save for retirement, and don’t wear plaid pants before or after Labor Day. Most experts tell us what to decide but they don’t tell us how, and so the moment we face a novel decision—should I move to Cleveland or Anchorage? Become an architect or a pastry chef?—we’re lost. Is there any way to know how to do precisely the right thing at all possible times? In fact, science provides a simple method for making decisions. Although that method is easy to understand, most of us don’t apply it in our daily lives, and so we make a host of mistakes that we later regret. New research in psychology, neuroscience, and behavioral economics explains why.