Learning and Development

Presents

OPEN TALK SERIES

A series of illuminating talks and interactions that open our minds to new ideas

and concepts; that makes us look for newer or better ways of doing what we did;

or point us to exciting things we have never done before. A range of topics on

Technology, Business, Fun and Life.

Be part of the learning experience at Aditi.

Join the talks. Its free. Free as in freedom at work, not free-beer. Speak at these events. Or bring an expert/friend to talk.

Mail LEAD with topic and availability.

What makes us

happy deep

inside.

And how we chose

Happiness is under understood

Happiness is in the brain

We are the first generation in human history to choose!

3 important life decisions we make

• Spouse • Jobs/career • Place of residence

And xillions of daily choices

• Clothes – 12 trousers, 28 shirts, 9 pair of socks, 18 T-shirts

• Dinner - 42 local options

• Ketchup – 7

• Cars – 87 mid segment variants

How do we chose what makes us happy ?

Friday evening Options

2% 98% Probability

Utility Value Expectation

Rational choice levers

Objectivity of probability estimations

Subjectivity of utility estimations

Expectation of how I will feel when I get it

Empirical acceptance of outcomes

Remembering

Imagining and forward predictions

How good are we at forward predictions

Imagine yourself here

The real deal

Turns out, we suck at it. But we rock when it comes to adapting.

Here is a easy one

What do you want to be when you grow up ?

6 year old

12 year old

15 year old

23 year old

Ice cream seller Kite flier

Doctor Astronaut

Noble prize winner, Physics Spend every free moment watching ****

Manager NRI

What do you want to be, now ?

2000, as imagined in 1935

Prisoners of today

Zeppelins

All white men

All suited

Offices with high power distance

and what cars!!

So much of what we think will make us happy 5 yrs hence is what will make us happy 5 mins hence. It’s scary.

How the brain figures it

Seat of forward projections

Seat of judgment

We are the only creatures that thinks about the future

Are we any better for it ?

This insight = 8 nobles between Economics, medicine and chemistry

Biases in prediction and choice

Anchoring bias : Choices depend on where you start from

Loss aversion bias : twice likely to chose no-loss option

Frequency bias : ‘If it happens often, it will happen again’ expectation

Overestimation bias : We think the world of ourselves

Framing bias : The context decides the outcome

Autopilot bias : The large popocorn bag gets eaten just as well.

We overestimate the likelihood of events we can easily remember. ?

Representative bias : Finding patterns when they are none : Lucky cap.

Biases in action

6 noble prizes in last 15 years

The brain is a wonderful dodo

Lucky Phineas Gage

Lesson : Our happy decision making framework sucks

However a little bit of IQ is a good thing

Are we happier than our grandparents ?

Geography of bliss

Iceland = Bliss in failure

Holland = Bliss in freedom

UAE = Bliss in affordability

Thailand = Bliss in acceptance

Italy, Mongolia = Bliss in family

Spain = bliss in unhurriedness

Guatemala = bliss in respect

What about Income ?

15,000 USD worth of Purchasing power – The magic number

The happiness treadmill

The economics of bliss

A short term course of psychological therapy is 32 times more cost effective at increasing happiness than simply increasing income

Religion, politics, and happiness, 2004. Source: General Social Survey

The belief system of bliss

The social connections of bliss

If you can name at least 5 close friends, you are 60% likely to be very happy

The family bliss bump

Stay married or go free, fast.

Raising children. Empirically makes us unhappy

But it is the perfect viral business model.

The group that acts to maximize happiness by not having kids, ceases to exist.

Old age is not so bad after all

Experiences trump materialistic joys

Daily bliss ballasts

Key to happiness at work

Fogget Pay hike. Do what you love

A greater cause is a great catalyst

Wit = α + βxit + εit

Your reaction to events Euphoric, measured, glum

Mathematical abstraction of bliss

How happy you are at any given time

Your happiness predisposition Genetics, persona

Variables vector Events, outcomes

How happy you are at any given life stage Age, marriage, kids, weight

One of many accepted model

Putting things in perspective

Come to think of it, your goose is cooked. The rest is all seasoning