The Key to Happiness with Laurie Santos

11/15/23 • 29 min

We sat down with Dr. Laurie Santos, a renowned professor of psychology at Yale University and the host of the popular podcast The Happiness Lab.

Her course on evidence-based strategies for happiness, The Science of Well-Being, became the most popular in the university’s history and has developed into a global phenomenon, with the online version garnering more than 4.5 million enrollments on Coursera.

In this conversation, Laurie tells us what the science of psychology says about how to make wiser choices and live a life that’s more fulfilling. She also explains how being happy with your life differs from being happy in your life, and how balancing the two is key to overall happiness. We also cover how we can help our kids, and ourselves, adjust our own expectations about happiness.

Episode Resources:

Interested in exploring Dr. Santos’ course? With Coursera Plus, you’ll have unlimited access to 7,000+ world-class courses, hands-on projects, and job-ready certificate programs from world-class universities and companies like Yale, Google, Microsoft, and Salesforce. Sign up for Coursera Plus today.

We sat down with Dr. Laurie Santos, a renowned professor of psychology at Yale University and the host of the popular podcast The Happiness Lab.

Episode Resources:

Previous Episode

Learning About Learning with Barbara Oakley

We sat down with Dr. Barbara Oakley, whose research on the relationship between neuroscience and social behavior has been described as “revolutionary” by the Wall Street Journal.

Dr. Oakley shares practical advice on tackling daunting subjects and beating procrastination, debunks misconceptions about limits on learning, and reveals how to cultivate a lifelong learning mindset.

She also illuminates the inspiration behind her online course Learning How to Learn, taken by more than 3.6 million students from nearly every country in the world.

Interested in exploring Dr. Oakley’s course? With Coursera Plus, you’ll have unlimited access to 7,000+ world-class courses, hands-on projects, and job-ready certificate programs from world-class universities and companies like Yale, Google, Microsoft, and Salesforce. Sign up for Coursera Plus today!

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Epic Leadership with Vishal Gupta

We sat down with Vishal Gupta, Professor in Organizational Behavior at the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad, whose insightful theories on practical leadership frameworks have empowered thousands of professionals across the globe.

In this conversation, Professor Gupta details how you can become a respected and influential leader by mastering self-leadership, cultivating an empathetic communication style, and effectively navigating ethical challenges—and how the Indian epic The Mahabharata, has heavily inspired his work. Whether you're a new grad or have been in the workforce for some time, he explains why it’s never too late to embark on a journey of self-discovery and leadership development to make a difference in your career and organization.

We also cover his outlook on the future of higher education in India, and how schools like IIMA are taking steps to make themselves more universally accessible to a global audience.

From shaping company strategy to boosting organizational agility, understanding how to be an effective leader is critical to cultivating a culture that inspires and motivates employees. You can learn how to strengthen your capacity to lead across boundaries through Professor Gupta’s course—Leadership Skills—for free on Coursera.

Episode Resources:

Demystifying Leadership: Unveiling the Mahabharata Code by Asha Kaul and Vishal Gupta

With Coursera Plus, you’ll have unlimited access to 7,000+ world-class courses, hands-on projects, and job-ready certificate programs from world-class universities and companies like Yale, Google, Microsoft, and Salesforce. Sign up for Coursera Plus today.