POSITIVE CORNER #28: Pathways to Happiness
What makes a society happy? The current study , Global Mapping of Happiness, with data from 97,220 people in 66 countries, provides a remarkable answer: Societal well-being does not primarily arise from as many people as possible focusing on their individual happiness. A social environment in which the actions and freedoms of individuals are able to promote the well-being of others is particularly important.
(ref. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/17439760.2026.2684517?scroll=top&needAccess=true and the pre-print of the study at https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/mdftw_v1 )
The researchers distinguish between two pathways to societal happiness. The individualistic pathway describes conditions under which the individual pursuit of health, material and psychological security, or personal freedom is central for people.
The study shows that another, the so-called communitarian pathway, leads much further to happiness in a society: Here, society creates an environment in which community-oriented factors play a central role, especially
openness and freedom,
education and participation,
security and good living conditions,
reliable institutions,
personal closeness and social belonging.
The data showed that this communitarian approach was significantly more associated with societal happiness than the individualistic one.
These results demonstrate that the communitarian pathway to societal happiness significantly outperforms the individualistic pathway.
(ref. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/17439760.2026.2684517?scroll=top&needAccess=true )
This provides an important impetus for the ω-dimension of leadership. Leadership can and must strive for success, effectiveness, and performance. But the question is: To what extent does our success also contribute to the well-being of everyone else?
The ω-dimension connects leadership with the conscious recognition of universal human values and attitudes. It calls for understanding humanity not as a private virtue or a mere add-on to performance, but as its foundation and as a responsibility for our ONE world. From this perspective, the conscious recognition of humanity unleashes a sense of responsibility.
This also changes our perspective on well-being and happiness: they are never merely individual or local matters, but depend on the extent to which we remain aware of the impact our decisions have on people who are not directly involved. This is how societal happiness becomes possible. For leaders of people and organizations, this means finding and implementing solutions that allow everyone else to live happily as well.
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