Put Happiness to Work

Have you ever wondered why, despite billions spent on employee engagement, your workplace still feels disengaged and drained? In Put Happiness to Work: 7 Strategies to Elevate Engagement for Optimal Performance, Eric Karpinski argues that organizations have been chasing the wrong goal. The true driver of engagement isn’t more surveys, meetings, or metrics—it’s happiness. Not the shallow, beer-cart and ping-pong-table kind, but a deeper form of positive emotion rooted in meaning, connection, and purpose.

Karpinski contends that traditional engagement programs have failed because they focus on outcomes—a more committed, proactive workforce—rather than the emotional experience that fuels them. Engagement, he says, is simply a measure of activated positive emotion at work. When people feel inspired, enthusiastic, proud, or fulfilled, they naturally go above and beyond. By aligning employees’ desire for happiness with leaders’ desire for engagement, everyone wins.

Why Happiness Is the Missing Piece

Karpinski begins with a simple but powerful idea: employees don’t come to work dreaming of being “engaged”; they want to be happy. Research from positive psychology and neuroscience shows that positive emotions broaden our thinking, enhance creativity, and build resilience. Yet most workplaces ask people to “leave emotions at home.” This suppression strips away the very source of energy that drives performance. Instead, workplaces should cultivate what Karpinski calls rational optimism—an attitude that acknowledges real problems but believes effort can make a difference.

Happiness, in Karpinski’s view, includes not just joy and enthusiasm but also pride in a job well done, curiosity, gratitude, interest, and connection. He distinguishes between two types of happiness: the short-lived pleasure of hedonic happiness and the fulfilling pursuit of eudaimonic happiness, which stems from meaning and growth. True engagement, he argues, comes from the latter.

The Research Behind the Revolution

To make his case, Karpinski draws on the last two decades of positive psychology. He recounts how Martin Seligman’s call to study what makes people thrive—not just what makes them ill—sparked a worldwide research movement. Meanwhile, Gallup’s studies of employee engagement revealed clear ties between positive emotions and business outcomes: higher productivity, lower turnover, and better profitability. However, despite massive investment, overall engagement numbers barely budged because organizations ignored the emotional roots behind the data.

Karpinski’s experiences with the Orange Frog Training Program—based on Shawn Achor’s The Happiness Advantage—bring this research to life. At Cemex, the world’s largest cement producer, teams using happiness-based training saw a 20% increase in engagement. A large insurance company achieved a 50% sales gain and cut attrition from 12% to 3%. Even a struggling hospital network, amid layoffs, boosted optimism and profitability through these practices. The data speaks for itself: happiness doesn’t just feel good; it works.

The Seven Practical Strategies

The book translates science into a set of seven actionable strategies that any leader or team can use to embed happiness into everyday work habits:

• Hardwire Authentic Appreciation — Build a culture where meaningful recognition flows freely and specifically from everyone, not just the boss.
• Cultivate Connection — Foster belonging and trust through micro-moments of positive interaction that link people to each other and the organization’s purpose.
• Put Stress to Work — Reframe stress as fuel for growth rather than a threat; learn to shift from anxiety to challenge responses.
• Activate Employee Superpowers — Identify and use signature strengths that energize people and lead to higher engagement and performance.
• Mine for Meaning — Help employees see how their work matters and aligns with their core values or a broader purpose.
• Embrace the Negative — Teach teams to face, rather than suppress, negative emotions and transform them into learning and resilience.
• Approach as a Coach — Shift from commanding to coaching by investing in one-on-one conversations that unlock people’s growth and potential.

A Human-Centered Blueprint for Change

Through these seven strategies, Karpinski offers both a mindset and a method: happiness must be hardwired into daily work through habitudes—small, recurring habits that compound into big cultural change. Rather than top-down mandates, he advocates distributed ownership where every employee contributes to a happier workplace. The goal isn’t to create utopia but to replace burnout and apathy with vitality and meaning.

“You can’t do engagement to people,” he writes. “They must be active participants.” When happiness becomes intrinsic to the work itself—embedded in meetings, feedback, and relationships—engagement follows naturally.

In a time of rapid change, remote work, and widespread burnout, Put Happiness to Work reminds readers that happiness isn’t a perk—it’s a performance strategy. If you learn to activate positive emotions, cultivate connection, and coach rather than command, you can turn work from a source of stress into a source of strength. This isn’t about being cheerful all the time—it’s about building psychologically safe, purpose-driven teams where people and performance flourish together.

Karpinski begins his seven strategies with the simplest—and most overlooked—form of workplace magic: appreciation. Drawing on the experiences of leaders like Dr. Lisa Hagel from Michigan’s Genesee Intermediate School District, he shows how fostering genuine gratitude can transform fearful, disconnected teams into energized communities.

Authenticity Over Empty Praise

Authentic appreciation isn’t the same as tossing out generic compliments. It means noticing specific contributions and communicating that they matter. As research from Bersin and Associates shows, nearly 80% of senior executives believe their teams receive regular recognition—but only 22% of front-line employees agree. The gap lies in how (and whether) praise is delivered. To work, appreciation must be frequent, personal, and genuine.

When Dr. Hagel led a school system facing a financial crisis and the trauma of Flint’s water contamination, she started every day by sending an email celebrating small wins and recognizing acts of care. As positivity spread, teachers who once felt isolated began sharing encouragement with each other. Over time, appreciation became “hardwired” into the daily rhythm of work, proving its resilience when COVID-19 struck and the team was forced apart.

The Science of Gratitude and Altruism

Karpinski explains that appreciation sits at the crossroads of two of psychology’s strongest happiness drivers: gratitude and altruism. Robert Emmons’ studies show that people who practice gratitude daily report 25% higher well-being and sustained optimism for months afterward. Add altruism—the joy of helping others—and you activate a self-reinforcing “virtuous cycle” where giving thanks motivates more kindness, which produces more appreciation in turn.

In the workplace, this effect amplifies. Employees who get frequent recognition are twice as likely to praise peers themselves, according to research by Shawn Achor and LinkedIn. Karpinski calls this the “hidden 31”—the 31% of people who quietly see good deeds but hesitate to speak up. By normalizing appreciation, you unlock their silent goodwill.

From Habit to Culture

The author outlines practical steps to embed appreciation into your team’s DNA:

• Start each one-on-one with “What’s one good thing you saw a colleague do this week?” This primes both brains for optimism and rewires attention toward the positive.
• Create visual tools like “WOW” boards or gratitude walls where peers post quick shoutouts. At Genesee, the board grew so overflowing that staff had to redistribute cards weekly.
• Encourage micro-habits: a two-line daily email of thanks, a quick walk-around for praise, or handwritten notes that research shows have outsized emotional impact.
• Tie appreciation to specific behaviors and impacts: “Your extra data check prevented an error” is far stronger than “Great job.”

Finally, broaden the responsibility for recognition. Peer-to-peer systems like JetBlue’s “Globoforce” platform increased engagement by 14%, while European energy firm E.On saw a 33% jump in employees feeling valued. Genuine recognition, when decentralized, builds trust and creates a continuous feedback loop of positivity.

“Appreciation is a renewable and self-expanding resource,” Karpinski writes. “The more you give it, the more there is to go around.”

By “hardwiring” this practice through daily habits—personal reflection, team rituals, and systems that spotlight positive stories—leaders create workplaces where recognition isn’t a chore or policy but a reflex. As positivity compounds, engagement follows naturally. After all, when people feel seen and valued, they don’t need to be pushed to perform—they choose to.

If appreciation is the heart of engagement, connection is its circulatory system. In Put Happiness to Work, Karpinski shows how human relationships—not perks or perks-driven culture—are the strongest predictor of happiness and performance at work. Drawing from neuroscience, anthropology, and corporate research, he builds a compelling case: social connection is as essential to our well-being as food and water.

The Science of Belonging

Across studies, those with rich social ties report higher happiness, better physical health, and longer lives. Former U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy even called loneliness a public health epidemic, comparing it to smoking fifteen cigarettes a day. At work, the data is equally striking: Gallup found that employees with a best friend at work are more than twice as engaged. Google’s Project Aristotle revealed that team success depends less on individual brilliance than on psychological safety—the sense that it’s safe to speak openly and be heard.

Four Building Blocks of Connection

Karpinski organizes connection around four practical elements:

• Authentic Caring: Leaders must genuinely want their people to thrive as humans, not just as producers. Connection begins with empathy and sincere interest in others’ lives. Asking about a colleague’s family or hobbies isn’t small talk—it’s social glue.
• Psychological Safety: Inspired by Simon Sinek’s “Why Good Leaders Make You Feel Safe,” this involves eliminating blame and shame from team culture. Replace criticism with curiosity—“Tell me more about how you approached this”—to invite openness and learning.
• Micromoments of Connection: Small interactions—eye contact, laughter, shared gratitude—create sparks of oxytocin that deepen trust. Barbara Fredrickson calls this “positivity resonance.”
• Giving and Generosity: Helping others through “Five-Minute Favors” or peer support meetings multiplies positive emotion and strengthens networks of reciprocity (a point echoed by Adam Grant’s Give and Take).

Creating a Culture of Connection

So how do you make social connection part of how work gets done? Karpinski shares dozens of concrete tactics—like starting meetings with a simple check-in question (“What’s something you’re proud of this week?”), holding regular team lunches, or celebrating personal milestones. These micro-habits send powerful signals that relationships matter.

He also suggests empowering “connectors” on your team—those natural relationship builders who can bring quieter members into the fold. Even for introverts, who may dread forced socializing, one or two meaningful work friendships can provide the same benefits as a broad network.

“Workplaces are communities, not just hierarchies,” Karpinski reminds us. “When people feel someone has their back, they go further together.”

Cultivating connection, he argues, isn’t a side activity—it’s the infrastructure of engagement. Teams that laugh, listen, and learn from one another aren’t just happier; they are more resilient and effective. Whether through gratitude boards, virtual coffee breaks, or simply smiling at colleagues in the hallway (the “10/5 Way”), connection turns workplaces into communities where people feel safe, supported, and inspired to contribute.

Most people see stress as the enemy—a thief of joy and a trigger of burnout. Karpinski, drawing from cutting-edge neuroscience and researchers like Kelly McGonigal and Alia Crum, flips that narrative: stress isn’t harmful by nature. It’s our mindset about stress—not the stress itself—that determines whether it breaks or builds us.

Two Stress Responses: Threat vs. Challenge

When you perceive a stressor as beyond your ability to manage, your body triggers a threat response—flooding you with cortisol, narrowing your thoughts, and priming you for avoidance. But when you view that same situation as a challenge, your body releases a healthier balance of hormones, including DHEA, which sharpens focus and strengthens performance. Heart rate rises, but arteries stay open; thinking becomes clearer, not cloudy.

Karpinski illustrates this with stories from workplaces shifting how employees interpret pressure. When a hospital system in Iowa taught staff to reframe layoffs as opportunities to serve patients differently, optimism soared, burnout fell, and profits followed. Challenge doesn’t mean denying difficulty—it means channeling stress as fuel for purpose.

The ASPIRe Framework

Karpinski teaches a five-step model to transform stress from threat to challenge:

• Acknowledge your stress instead of suppressing it. Simply naming anxiety (“I feel nervous”) moves processing from the emotional amygdala to the rational prefrontal cortex.
• Shift your mindset by reminding yourself, “This energy means my body is preparing to succeed.” Research shows that viewing stress as helpful reduces cortisol and improves cardiovascular health.
• Purpose: Reconnect with why the challenge matters. Stress signals that something is meaningful—what Karpinski calls the “stress paradox.”
• Inventory resources—skills, allies, time, data—that you can tap to meet the challenge.
• Reach out to help others. Altruism activates oxytocin and dopamine, boosting courage and perspective.

Making Stress a Shared Resource

Beyond personal use, Karpinski encourages teams to apply ASPIRe together. When managers model open talk about stress and connect it to meaning (“We’re under pressure because this work matters”), they normalize healthy responses. He cites research showing that positive stress mindsets are contagious: even one trained employee can shift how teammates interpret challenges.

“Stress is a signpost for meaning,” Karpinski writes. “If you want a life that matters, you’re going to have stress—it’s how you use it that counts.”

By reframing stress as a natural companion to purpose, workplaces can transform anxiety into activation. Rather than teaching people to avoid stress through “balance,” Karpinski shows how to work with it—to notice, name, and mobilize its energy. You can’t eliminate stress, but you can alchemize it into endurance, empathy, and excellence.

Imagine leading a team where everyone works in their “flow zone”—energized, confident, and fully alive. That’s the promise of Karpinski’s fourth strategy: activating each person’s signature strengths. These are the unique combinations of talent and energy that not only make people effective but also make work inherently rewarding.

From Well-Rounded to Well-Directed

Traditional workplaces prize well-rounded performance—pushing employees to fix weaknesses rather than amplify strengths. Karpinski calls this approach misguided. Developed skills that drain energy are decoy strengths: they may produce competence but at the cost of motivation. Signature strengths, by contrast, give energy when used. Instead of chasing balance, high-performing teams should chase alignment.

To uncover these strengths, he recommends tools like Gallup’s CliftonStrengths or qualitative exercises such as the Reflected Best Self process, where colleagues share stories of you at your best. In his own work, Karpinski credits strengths like Harmony, Positivity, and Adaptability—traits that helped him coordinate massive projects, from biotech startups to his elaborate Burning Man camps in the desert.

Building Strength-Based Teams

Karpinski provides a detailed playbook for mapping and leveraging strengths:

• Encourage self-discovery through assessments or journaling.
• Rank strengths not just by proficiency but by energy. Which activities make you say, “I could do this all day”?
• Run “strengths brainstorming meetings” where teammates share real examples of using their strengths and spot overlooked ones in others.
• Create a visible strengths map in your workspace—like a profile board—to make collaboration easier.

Teams that focus on strengths see large returns. Gallup’s study of over 1.2 million employees found that strengths-focused workplaces increased engagement by up to 15% and profits by 29%. Training on strengths is one of the most efficient ways to build a “team that’s well-rounded collectively, not individually.”

Own, Apply, and Evolve

Karpinski encourages creating a “My Superpowers” document—a personal inventory of top five strengths with definitions, stories, and examples. These aren’t static; they evolve as they’re applied. Use them daily through the 21-Day Strengths Challenge by asking yourself: How did I use a strength yesterday, and how will I use one today?

“Even a small investment in a strength can turn it into a superpower,” Karpinski notes. “The more energy you feed it, the more it feeds you.”

Ultimately, activating employee superpowers means redesigning work so people use their best abilities most of the time. When each person leans into what energizes them—and collaborates with colleagues who complement their gaps—the workplace shifts from an obligation to an ecosystem of thriving talent.

Meaning is the fuel that turns routine into purpose and persistence. Karpinski argues that helping employees see how their work matters—to others and to their own values—creates deep, enduring engagement. He distinguishes between two paths to meaning: Purpose-Meaning (serving something larger than oneself) and Values-Meaning (living in alignment with core personal values).

Finding Purpose in Service

Karpinski tells the story of Genentech’s manufacturing division. Teams who rarely saw patients were asked, “Who benefits from your work?” As they shared stories of people whose lives were saved by the medicines they produced, a quiet pride filled the room. They realized their work wasn’t just factory process—it was life-changing. Purpose became visceral, not abstract.

To help teams tap this purpose, Karpinski recommends collecting and sharing “meaning stories” of customers, patients, or end-users who’ve benefited from your organization’s efforts. These tangible narratives remind employees that behind every spreadsheet or shipment stands a human being. Posting them on office walls or internal networks keeps purpose visible. (Adam Grant’s research on fundraising staff echoed this effect: five-minute contact with a beneficiary quadrupled their results.)

Living Your Values at Work

Meaning also flourishes when people can live their deepest values. Karpinski guides readers through a powerful values discovery process—from reflective journaling to prioritizing a top five list. One client, Bryan—an uninspired training manager—realized his core values were compassion, inclusion, and trust. When he began managing through those principles, his energy returned and his team flourished. The work itself hadn’t changed; his relationship to it had.

The key is congruence: matching what you believe with what you do each day. When employees identify their personal values and link them to organizational purpose, they experience what psychologists call “ego integrity.” As long as they feel alignment, motivation becomes intrinsic. When misalignment grows, burnout follows.

From Reflection to Action

Karpinski provides several practices to “mine” meaning out of work life:

• Hold “Why Are We Here?” sessions where teams brainstorm the end-beneficiaries of their efforts.
• Develop a shared “Story Database” of lives improved by your work, and revisit it in meetings or newsletters.
• Take the 21-Day Values Challenge—daily reflection on how you expressed your values yesterday and how you’ll express them today.
• Tie individual and team values back to the organization’s mission.

“Meaning is the invisible thread that ties effort to fulfillment,” Karpinski writes. “When people can see that thread, they will follow it anywhere.”

Mining for meaning transforms work from a series of tasks into a narrative of contribution. Whether by connecting to beneficiaries or living out personal values, employees discover not only why they work—but why it matters. That realization, Karpinski suggests, can sustain engagement far longer than any incentive or perk.

Happiness isn’t about ignoring pain—it’s about integrating it. Karpinski dedicates an entire strategy to negative emotions, arguing that distress tolerance, not perpetual positivity, separates resilient teams from fragile ones. Drawing on psychologists Susan David and Kristin Neff, he reframes discomfort as data: emotions aren’t obstacles to professionalism; they’re signals guiding us toward growth.

Necessary vs. Gratuitous Negativity

Karpinski distinguishes between necessary negative emotions (pain, grief, anger, fear that stem from real events) and gratuitous negativity—the self-inflicted “second darts” of rumination, guilt, or catastrophic thinking. It’s natural to feel frustration when a project fails, he notes, but saying “I’m worthless” adds unnecessary suffering. Recognizing this difference allows us to respond rather than react.

Working with, Not Against, Emotions

Instead of suppressing emotions, Karpinski suggests a mindful approach: notice, name, and sit with them before deciding what to do. Labeling feelings (“I’m anxious” rather than “I’m failing”) shifts processing to the brain’s rational centers. Mindfulness and meditation help expand this pause, echoing Viktor Frankl’s insight that “between stimulus and response there is a space.”

For gratuitous negativity, he offers three remedies: healthy distraction (walks, movement, laughter), changing the narrative (“act the way you want to feel”), and challenging inner voices with evidence. For necessary pain, he recommends expressive writing, self-compassion, and authenticity—sharing struggles safely to dissolve shame (a theme developed by Brené Brown).

Harnessing the Power of ‘Negative’ Emotion

Some emotions, channeled correctly, can strengthen teams. Anger directed at injustice can drive moral courage; guilt can inspire accountability; even anxiety sharpens attention to risk. The goal isn’t a 100% positive workplace—Karpinski suggests an 80/20 balance, where positivity predominates but dissent and honesty have room to breathe.

Leaders, he advises, should model emotional agility by admitting when they struggle, listening without judgment, and helping team members process difficulties rather than fixing them. Transparency invites trust. At its best, this fosters psychological safety—the foundation for innovation and mutual respect.

“The most authentically happy people don’t suppress the negative,” Karpinski writes. “They turn toward it, learn from it, and move through it.”

By embracing the full spectrum of emotion, leaders can create workplaces that are not only happier but more human. When disappointment and empathy coexist, teams grow stronger, wiser, and more resilient. Emotional honesty becomes not a liability but a leadership advantage.

The seventh and final strategy reinvents what it means to manage: stop directing, start coaching. Karpinski teaches that high engagement depends on meaningful one-on-one relationships where leaders focus less on control and more on curiosity. Coaching, he explains, is how all previous strategies find their human expression—through individualized support and genuine belief in people’s potential.

From Manager to Multiplier

Using stories from Deloitte managers and research from Google’s Project Oxygen, Karpinski contrasts directive management—“do as I say”—with coaching that empowers employees to think for themselves. Effective managers, he notes, talk less than 20% of the time during coaching sessions, asking open-ended questions like “What excites you about this project?” or “What help do you need to succeed?”

The most successful “connector-managers” don’t try to teach everything personally; they link employees to mentors, peers, and resources. This model increased performance 26% in a Gartner study. In contrast, the “always-on” coach—constantly correcting and instructing—actually lowered performance by 8%.

The Anatomy of Coaching Conversations

Karpinski structures coaching around a rhythm of pre-meeting reflection, dialogue, and shared action steps. Employees send brief updates on progress and priorities beforehand; managers prepare tailored questions, not lectures. During the session, 80% of time is spent listening and exploring, not prescribing. Each meeting ends with clear next steps and mutual accountability.

Critical prerequisites include caring about employees as people, balancing praise with constructive feedback (at roughly an 80/20 ratio), and believing in their potential. Echoing studies of the “Pygmalion Effect,” he writes, “People rise—or fall—to the level that their leaders believe them capable.”

Empowering Through Autonomy and Strength

Coaching also means giving people space to shape their roles through “job crafting”—adjusting techniques, tasks, timing, and teaming around what energizes them. Instead of demanding compliance, great coaches ask, “What would you do if you were in charge?” This autonomy taps intrinsic motivation more effectively than any external carrot.

“Everyone has superpowers,” Karpinski reminds us. “Your job is to help them find and use them.”

By approaching leadership as a coach, you convert performance management into a partnership of growth. Coaching weaves all prior strategies—appreciation, connection, meaning, and strengths—into personalized development. The result: teams that not only perform but evolve, with engagement born from trust, curiosity, and care.