The How of Happiness: A New Approach to Getting the Life You Want
by Sonja Lyubomirsky

Learned Optimism: How to Change Your Mind and Your Life
by Martin E. P. Seligman

The science around well-being and happiness is well developed. Living through COVID-19 reminded me how important it is to put the science into everyday practice to help all of us thrive professionally and personally. I am in the middle of the free Coursera course by Laurie Santos on “The Science of Well-being,” which is both intellectually stimulating and practical. I am also reading and listening to two books related to the same topic: The How of Happiness and Learned Optimism. I passionately believe that employers can and should play a role in teaching the next generation of professionals how to put the principles of well-being into practice as a core part of their professional development.

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It takes a village to curate amazing lists from this rather busy group of leaders from all over the world. We would like to thank Kris Coratti, Chantal De Soto, Rimjhim Dey, Melanie Newman, Joellen Perry, and Jayne Rosefield for their help.

Within McKinsey Global Publishing, Eleni Kostopoulos led the effort to make this year’s list come alive, with collaboration and support from Mike Borruso, Nancy Cohn, Victor Cuevas, Torea Frey, Mary Halpin, Drew Holzfeind, Kathleen O'Leary, LaShon Malone, Philip Mathew, Janet Michaud, Kanika Punwani, Sarah Thuerk, Duane Tomaszewski, Petra Vincent, and Nathan Wilson.