IAM1397 – Author Teaches on Driving Productivity through a Culture of Happiness

Tia Graham is an international speaker, author, and consultant on positive psychology and employee engagement. She has worked with dozens of global companies such as Hilton Hotels and Hewlett Packard to drive bottom-line results. Prior to founding her company, Arrive at Happy, she led teams at luxury hotels in the United States and Europe for brands such as W Hotels, Westin, and The London. Her insights have been featured in major media such as CNN, Forbes, and Fast Company to name a few. Her new book, Be a Happy Leader, teaches her proprietary 8-step methodology on driving productivity and business growth through a culture of happiness.

• CEO Story: Started off in the hotel industry. Obsessed with the science of happiness and happiness at work, so she built her own company.
• Business Service: Leadership development programs and training.
• Secret Sauce: Zest, vitality, and hope linked with hope. Constantly doing research and educating herself.
• CEO Hack: Humor and laughter. Humor is connected to resilience. Meditation to help you feel calm.
• CEO Nugget: Consistently communicate to your team the meaning and purpose of your work.
• CEO Defined: Responsibility. Being a guide for people and society.

Website: www.arriveathappy.com

www.happyleaderbook.com

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00:18 – Intro

Do you want to learn effective ways to build relationships, generate sales, and grow your business from successful entrepreneurs, startups, and CEO's without listening to a long, long, long interview? If so, you've come to the right place. Gresham Harkness values your time and is ready to share with you precisely the information you're in search of. This is to I AM CEO podcast.

00:46 – Gresham Harkless

Hello. Hello. Hello. This is Gresh from the Imco podcast. I have a very special guest on the show today. I have Tia Graham of arriving at happy. Tia, super excited to have you on the show.

00:55- Tia Graham

Thanks for having me.

00:57 – Gresham Harkless

Yes, excited to have you on. And before we jump into the interview, I want to read a little bit more about Tia so you can hear about all the awesome things that she's doing. Tia is an international speaker, author, and consultant on positive psychology and employee engagement. She has worked with dozens of global companies such as Hilton Hotels and Hewlett Packard to drive bottom-line results. Prior to founding her company, arriving at Happy, she led teams at luxury hotels in the United States and Europe for brands such as W Hotels, Westin, and London.

Her insights have been featured in major media outlets such as CNN, Forbes, Fast Company, to name a few. And of course, the I AM CEO podcast coming up soon. Her new book, be a Happy Leader, teaches a proprietary eight-step methodology for driving productivity and business growth through a culture of happiness. Tia, excited about the work that you do? I'm happy for the work that you do. Are you ready to speak to the Imco community?

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01:47 – Tia Graham

I am.

01:49 – Gresham Harkless

Awesome. Well, let's make it happen then. So, to kind of kick everything off, I know I touched on a little bit, but I wanted to hear a little bit more about what I like to call your CEO story. Started with all the awesome work you're doing.

01:58 – Tia Graham

Started off in the hotel industry, as you mentioned, and I had the great fortune to work in places such as the Hawaiian Islands and New York City. I was in Istanbul and then also in Los Angeles, and living a happy life. Making choices to be happy has always been really important to me and has just sort of been a part of who I am. And also being a positive leader, you know, was fortunate to work with really inspirational, fantastic leaders. And then I also, I'm sure it was like a lot of your listeners worked for and with the opposite, really toxic, negative leaders. And I remember thinking, how is this person in this high position, yet they treat people so poorly and communicate so negatively? So that was a huge inspiration for the book and the work.

And then when I went back to work after having my second daughter, and I was really struggling juggling, you know, corporate career, kids, marriage, health, and wellness, you name it, is when I started researching happiness and discovered the science of happiness, you know, positive psychology, and I actually started building my company, arrive at happy on the side.

And so I'm just obsessed with all of the research on the science of happiness, as well as happiness at work and neuroscience. And so I work with all different types of leadership groups and companies to help the leaders as well as the teams. So that's a little about me.

03:27 – Gresham Harkless

Nice. I appreciate you sharing that with us. And I literally wrote down something that really stuck out to me about what you said, is that making the choice to be happy, and I think it's sometimes something we see as ancillary and something that maybe we arrive at, maybe it comes along. But I love that phrase because it sounds like, and I imagine in the work that you do, the book that you read, and all the work that you've been able to kind of accomplish, that is something that you can make steps towards.

03:54 – Tia Graham

It sounds like, yes, absolutely. So your happiness and your well-being are partly genetic. You know, the research shows it's 40% to 55% genetic. So your genetic history does play a part in your happiness and your life circumstances. Right. I say if you're a farmer in rural China or you're a single lawyer in the middle of Manhattan, very different life circumstances, of course, play a part. But the research shows that a substantial part of our happiness and well-being is based on number one, the choice to be happy, that you make that choice, that it's going to be a priority, and then to make conscious, intentional choices every single day that increase your happiness. So the great thing about this is that there is a lot within your control. And the research is exploding with how many actions and how you can influence how you feel and then create your own reality.

04:55 – Gresham Harkless

Yeah, that's so powerful. And I appreciate you so much in breaking down those statistics and that number of the percentages. I guess I should say a little bit more, because I always remember I had an internship, and one of the things that my boss always used to tell me is that control what you can control. And I think as you talked about genetics and all those things when you try to change those things.

I won't say you're fighting and losing battle, but it's probably not as easy a challenge to try to move from China to New York or vice versa. But you can, you know, make those changes, I think, and control what you control a lot more in that third piece that you spoke about.

05:28 – Tia Graham

Yes, yes, absolutely. And know that there is a lot of, you know, I've taken courses. I've, like, educated myself, like I didn't educate, but there's so many. For all the listeners, fantastic free resources. One right off the bat is the happiness class at Yale University is available for free online and then books, Ted talks, you name it. There's so much. So if you are feeling like this is something that. Yeah, I think I want to pay some attention to it.

There are so many great resources available that are all science-based, and proven on how to increase your well-being. Also, so much research shows that when you increase your happiness, you're going to be more professionally successful, you're going to make more money, and your business is going to grow. If you're in a job, you're going to get promoted faster, you're going to get more accolades. So in addition to it, just you feel better. There's also a professional benefit.

06:32 – Gresham Harkless

Yeah, absolutely. And I appreciate you sharing all those resources and how powerful that intentionality can be. But I know one of the other resources you have is the book that you wrote. So I wanted to hear a little bit more about how you work with clients. I know you touched on a little bit more about that and also what we can find in your book and all that happiness that you have flowing from there.

06:52 – Tia Graham

Yes, yes. So thanks for asking both of those. So organizations partner with me. I help the business grow, and how I do it is through keynote talks, leadership development programs, and training, and then consulting as well. The two main outcomes that leaders and organizations get are is leaders and teams learn how to become happier and more successful. That's a big outcome.

And then the second is how to create thriving, happy, engaged teams so that the people working in the company are more productive, sell more, customers are happier. So that's really the way in terms of the book. Got it right here. Be a happy leader. And I wrote this book reflecting on my 14 years of leadership and then all of the research I've done over the last five years with happiness at work, personal happiness, neuroscience, you name it.

09:00 – Tia Graham

I became a leader really, really young at 26 years old. And, you know, I didn't know anything. Of course, like most young people, starting off leading a team in a hotel, and by the time after 14 years, I had so many strategies and tools in my toolbox. And so I put together eight steps, this eight-step methodology that I wish someone could have handed me that going back to that 26-year-old tia of wow, if I knew all of this, that I now know it. I wrote the book when I was, let's see, 40. So it's a culmination of the research and then personal experience. And there's a lot of stories in the book as well. People really get to know me.

I'm very vulnerable about falling down and getting up many times. And I want leaders to feel like they have a lot of control and influence, not only over their happiness but also over the team's happiness. And then I included business strategies that helped me be successful, you know, so there are, you know because you're not going to be happy if you're not achieving the goals, if you're not achieving the results. So that's everything that's in the book.

10:25 – Gresham Harkless

Nice. I love that. And I was going to ask you for a little bit more about what I call your secret sauce. It could be for yourself, the business, or a combination of both, but like something that makes you unique and you feel like sets you apart. But I almost wondering, is it, you mentioned that neuroscience piece. It's not just saying these are the things that you do to make you happy. It seems sound, sounds like you've done the research, the homework, had the experience as well too, that you can kind of couple those things together. But, you know, I don't know if that kind of is part of your secret sauce.

10:52 – Tia Graham

Yeah. So I think my secret sauce, it's a combination so authentically, and I know I'm genetically predisposed to be a pretty happy person. Like, I have a lot of those happy genes. So there is a zest and a vitality, and there's an inspiration that I give to people and leave them with hope just for who I am as a human being. And the energy and I truly believe in this and the work coupled with it.

I'm constantly doing research. So I studied with a neuroscientist. I studied with the Harvard professor who taught happiness at Harvard University, and I'm constantly educating myself. I went over to Denmark and got certified as a chief happiness officer for happiness at work because Scandinavians are significantly happier while they're working than people in North America. So, yeah, there's a credibility piece, too. Whatever I teach, I want it to be substantiated by really smart people.

12:01 – Gresham Harkless

Right. That doesn't make so much sense. I wanted to switch gears a little bit, and I want to ask you for what I call a CEO hack. You might have already touched on this, but it could be like an app, a book, or a habit that you have, but something that makes you more effective and efficient.

12:13 – Tia Graham

Oh, such a good question. So, um, one CEO hack, and this actually isn't anything to do with business, but it really helps your mindset and psyche is humor and laughter. So there's so much research that shows that humor is connected to resilience, and CEOs and executives need to be resilient. So several times a week, my husband and I will watch stand-up comedians or Saturday Night Live and laugh out loud.

I was watching David Spade last night. I was laughing so hard, and it just helped balance all the challenges and ups and downs. So humor, for sure, is one. And then the second, I would say, is meditation, taking time to sit still, and be present, whether it's just you or guided meditation, again, to help you feel calm, more present. And when you're quiet, that's when answers come to you, you know, and whether it's business or personal. So those are two, I would say.

13:12 – Gresham Harkless

Awesome. Awesome. Awesome. So I want to ask you now for what I call a CEO nugget. So it's a little bit more of a word of wisdom or piece of advice. It could be something from your book or something you might tell your favorite client, or if you happen to be a time machine, you might tell your younger business self.

13:25 – Tia Graham

So a CEO nugget would be to consistently remember and then communicate to your teams about the meaning and purpose of your work and show the team how they're making their small wins in the meaningful work. And I ask, whenever I'm working with the organization, I will say, how are you making society better? How are you contributing to society? Because it's not about money.

It's not about necessarily what you're doing for your clients or customers. It's how are you benefiting society. That's the meaning and purpose. Companies that tap into this and leaders that consistently communicate about this and talk about the progress in meaningful work are the ones that will have the most motivated people.

14:15 – Gresham Harkless

Yeah, absolutely. And I imagine that during this great resignation as well too, we'll have people at all because I imagine that a lot of people are going through this. I guess I don't know if it's a self-discovery process or trying to understand what their personal purpose is and how an organization can help fulfill that. So want to ask you now my absolute favorite question, which is the definition of what it means to be a CEO, and we're hoping to have different, quote-unquote CEO's on the show. So to you, what does being a CEO mean to you?

14:42 – Tia Graham

Well, being a CEO is such an incredible honor and of course, responsibility. It's about being a guide for people and also in society to improve society and improve people's lives and hopefully the earth as well. And to solve problems. To solve problems of the world.

15:07 – Gresham Harkless

Well, awesome. Well, Tia, truly appreciate that definition. And of course, I appreciate your time even more. So what I wanted to do now was pass you the mic, so to speak, just to see if there's anything additional that you can let our readers and listeners know. And of course, how best people get a hold of you. Get a copy of your book, and find out about all the awesome work that you're doing.

15:24 – Tia Graham

Thank you. Well, my website is quite easy to remember. It's arriveappy.com. you'll find everything there as well as the book, be a happy leader. It's available anywhere you like to buy books and audio, paperback or ebook. And I would say my last words are just to remember that to all to start with you, that you cannot expect that your team will be extremely happy and motivated and productive if you're not.

So even though you are really busy and your to-do list is a mile long, remember to take care of yourself in all areas of your life and you'll benefit professionally and the organization will as well. So don't push it off. Keep taking care of yourself.

16:14 – Gresham Harkless

Yeah, I love how that comes full circle and with all the awesome work that you've been able to do in your story as well too, and you understanding that as a leader and deciding to take those steps in order to do that. So of course we're going to have the links and information in the show notes so that everybody can get a copy of your book, getting contact with you, and find out about all the awesome things. But I really just want to hammer home that, you know, we sometimes forget you can't pour from an empty cup.

And it's so important to kind of fill ourselves up, not just for ourselves, but for the impact that we give and the service that we can provide to so many others. And we sometimes forget that in order to change the world, we have to start with changing ourselves. So thank you so much for doing that and all the awesome work that you're doing, and I hope you have a phenomenal rest of the day.

16:54 – Tia Graham

Thank you. You too.

16:56 – Outro

Thank you for listening to the I AM CEO Podcast powered by Blue 16 Media. Tune in next time and visit us at iamceo.co I AM CEO is not just a phrase, it's a community. Be sure to follow us on social media and subscribe to our podcast on iTunes Google Play and everywhere you listen to podcasts, SUBSCRIBE, and leave us a five-star rating grab CEO gear at www.ceogear.co. This has been the I AM CEO Podcast with Gresham Harkless. Thank you for listening.

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