Broadcasting Happinesss: The Science of Igniting and Sustaining Positive Change

by Michelle Gielan

Overview

Broadcasting Happiness will "inspire you and change your life."
—Parade Magazine

We are all broadcasters. As managers, colleagues, parents and friends, we are constantly transmitting information to the people around us, and the messages we choose to broadcast create success or hold us back.

What's your broadcast?

New research from the fields of positive psychology and neuroscience shows that small shifts in the way we communicate can create big ripple effects on business and educational outcomes, including 31 percent higher productivity, 25 percent better performance ratings, 37 percent higher sales, and 23 percent lower levels of stress.

In Broadcasting Happiness, Michelle Gielan, former national CBS News anchor turned positive psychology researcher, shows you how changing your broadcast changes your power by sharing jaw-dropping stories and incredible research.

Learn Michelle's simple research-based communication habits that have been featured in her PBS program Inspire Happiness and Oprah's 21 Days to Happiness class.

Broadcasting Happiness will help you:

- Inoculate your brain against stress and negativity by fact-checking challenges
- Drive success by leading a conversation or communication with positivity
- Rewrite debilitating thought patterns and turn them into fuel for resilience and growth
- Deal with negative people in a way that lessens their power
- Share bad news more effectively to increase future social capital
- Create and sustain a positive culture at work or home by creating contagious optimism
- Help the people you care about most move from negative to positive in seconds

Broadcasting Happiness showcases how real individuals and organizations have used these techniques to achieve results that include increasing revenues by hundreds of millions of dollars, raising a school district's graduation rate by 45 percent, and shifting family gatherings from toxic to thriving.

Changing your broadcast can change your life, your success, and the lives of others around you. Broadcasting Happiness will show you how!

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781941631300
Publisher:	BenBella Books, Inc.
Publication date:	08/11/2015
Pages:	224
Sales rank:	321,472
Product dimensions:	6.20(w) x 9.10(h) x 1.30(d)

About the Author

Michelle Gielan, founder of the Institute for Applied Positive Research, is an expert on the science of positive communication and how to use it to fuel success. She works with Fortune 500 companies and schools to raise employee engagement, productivity, and happiness at work. Michelle is a Partner at GoodThink, a positive psychology consulting firm, and she holds a Master of Applied Positive Psychology from the University of Pennsylvania.

Michelle is an executive producer of The Happiness Advantage with Shawn Achor on PBS. She formerly served as the anchor of two national newscasts at CBS News, as well as a correspondent for The Early Show. In 2009, Michelle produced Happy Week, a series focusing on fostering happiness in the midst of the recession. In 2011, she appeared in her own weekly health and wellness segment, "Manic Monday" on FOX News Chicago.

Michelle graduated cum laude in computer engineering. Her research and advice have received attention from Forbes, USA Today, CNN, FOX, Huffington Post, and NPR.

Table of Contents

Introduction ix

1 The Value of Broadcasting Happiness 1

Part I Capitalize on Positivity

2 Power Leads: Prime the Brain for High Performance 29

3 Flash Memories: Leverage Past Wins to Fuel Future Successes 57

4 Leading Questions: Spark Positive Thinking 83

Part II Overcomes Stress and Negativity

5 Fact-Check: Move from Paralysis to Activation 111

6 Strategic Retreats: Deal with Negative People 141

7 The Four Cs: Deliver Bad News Better 167

Part III Create a Positive Ripple Effect

8 Go Viral: Generate Contagious Optimism 199

Conclusion 231

The Journalist Manifesto 243

Notes 257

Acknowledgments 269

About the Author 275

Editorial Reviews

06/22/2015
Gielan, a former CBS news anchor and founder of the Institute for Applied Positive Research, outlines how a positive outlook can lead to both personal fulfillment and business success. She shares useful communication tactics like the “power lead,” which starts off conversations on an upbeat note; asking the right kind of questions “to change the frequency to positive territory”; and the “four Cs” of effectively delivering bad news. As a former journalist, Gielan knows all about fact-checking and reworks the concept as a way of finding new facts to create a new story. On dealing with negative people in one’s life or workplace, Gielan offers the “retreat, regroup, and reenter” strategy. She also discusses the components of a viral story, useful for journalists and businesses seeking good press, such as an element of “high emotion” or an element that can be turned to practical purposes, or “operationalized.” There are a number of examples of positivity in action, such as a Washington State high school that boosted graduation rates by sharing “stories of success” with its students. While a number of books tout the boons of a positive attitude, Gielan’s take is unique for focusing on how we affect others depending on the story we’re “broadcasting.” (Aug.)

Publishers Weekly

"[Broadcasting Happiness will] inspire you and change your life."
—Parade Magazine

"Michelle Gielan is one of the brightest stars in positive psychology and an eloquent champion for rethinking the way we communicate."
—Arianna Huffington

"Broadcasting Happiness is a truly exceptional book, one that will help you to be better and more effective in work and life right away."
—Tom Rath, New York Times bestselling author of Strengths-Based Leadership and Eat Move Sleep

"Broadcasting Happiness is an inspiring book on radically rethinking the way we communicate with others. Michelle Gielan is a gifted storyteller, and she shares powerful science and practical insights for improving the world around us."
—Adam Grant, Wharton professor and New York Times bestselling author of Give and Take

"Broadcasting Happiness taps into our power as individuals to lead collective positive change simply by altering the way we view and share our everyday experiences. Michelle Gielan is a transformative thought leader and her book will change the way you work, live, and look at the world around you."
—Betsy Korona, Senior Producer, MSNBC

From the Publisher