Happier TV
Happier Talk with Dr. Donna Mayerson
updated
While that’s where Luke works and the role in which he serves, Luke is most interested in answering the question, “What is it that enables an individual to be at their absolute best?” It’s this question that has guided his own personal development, research, coaching practice, and more for nearly 20 years, and transformed him from wallflower to dynamic speaker and CEO of the preeminent training and development organization in the fields of human potential, coaching, and leadership. But at the end of the day, it’s his passion for learning everything that he can to pass on to his two beautiful children that drives him most.
I spent several years pursuing my dream to be an Olympian. That goal was forced into retirement due to financial constraints; I then redirected my energy into coaching. It was while I was coaching that I sustained a spinal cord injury, leaving me paralyzed from the waist down. Life as I knew it no longer existed.
It’s hard to digest the gravity of such profound change; even to this day. Experiencing such a powerful personal transformation opened me to some beautiful realizations about life, love and how deeply connected we are on so many levels. I am eternally grateful for the people in my life that teach, encourage and inspire me to life a life of purpose and service. Life is a gift and it’s meant to be shared.
Before owning his own business, Luke worked at Corporate Investment International as vice president of business development and as a certified business intermediary for mergers and acquisitions, specializing in working with entrepreneurs with businesses netting under $20 million in revenues.
Throughout Luke’s career, he has developed a keen understanding for the needs of the modern professional and entrepreneur. His insight provides him with a unique skill set that helps him assist individuals in the navigation of significant business and life transitions.
A sought-after speaker in the area of leadership and entrepreneurship, Luke is currently co-authoring the book Skillpreneur, which aids entrepreneurs whose skills and expertise lie within their profession, in understanding the unique challenges of learning to grow a business. Luke is also working on an eBook series on workplace engagement – the top issue identified by corporations as critical to sustaining growth, retaining top talent, and developing their next generation of leaders.
Born and raised in New Jersey, Luke attended Seton Hall Preparatory School and went on to Fairfield University, graduating with a degree in marketing. Luke currently resides in New Providence, New Jersey with his wife and two children.
It has continued its preparation in the hands of global icons in the areas of Leadership, Personal Growth and Integral Wellbeing, such as: Deepak Chopra, Tony Robbins, Robin Sharma, John Maxwell, Camilo Cruz, Chris Gardner and Don Miguel Ruiz, among others. He is coauthor of the book "Beat the Curve", with Brian Tracy.
Born in Argentina, Prilleltensky received his M.A. in clinical child psychology from Tel Aviv University and his Ph.D. in psychology from the University of Manitoba. While working as a school psychologist, he discovered the social origins of child and family problems and soon became a community psychologist. He has written or co-edited seven books on community psychology and mental health.
From 2000 to 2002, Prilleltensky served as research chair in psychology at Victoria University in Melbourne, Australia, and prior to that, he directed the community psychology program at Wilfrid Laurier University in Canada. He is a fellow of the American Psychological Association and the Society for Community Research and Action. In 2002, he was invited to be a fellow of the British Psychological Society.
Founder of the Transformative Technology Space, Entrepreneur and Social Scientist
Over the last 10 years Jeffery has conducted the largest international study on persistent non-symbolic experience (PNSE), which includes the types of consciousness commonly known as: enlightenment, nonduality, the peace that passeth understanding, unitive experience, and hundreds of other terms. This resulted in the first reliable, cross-cultural and pan-tradition classification system for these types experience. It also led to the fundamental discovery that these were psychological states that had been identified and adopted for thousands of years by many cultures and belief systems. They were not inherently spiritual or religious, or limited to any given culture or population, and could be molded in many ways to shape the experience. More recently, he has used this research to make systems available to help people obtain profound psychological benefits in a rapid, secular, reliable, and safe way. TransTech – In 2007, Jeffery conceived of and created the Transformative Technology space. Since that time he has worked to catalyze the space by bringing together makers, scientists and other researchers, engineers, entrepreneurs, companies, educational institutions, non-profits and NGO’s, public policy experts, and investors. He is a co-founder of the first academic lab dedicated to TransTech, its first conference, taught the first university-level course and established the first graduate program in TransTech, and many other firsts. He serves as a formal and informal advisor to a wide range of companies and other organizations in the space, is an active early-stage investor, and is a frequent public speaker on TransTech related topics. Business – Jeffery is a successful serial and parallel entrepreneur with a 25+ year background at various intersections of wellbeing, media, advertising, and technology. Fun facts about him include that he has worked on broadcast crews for most major sports championships, run a division at the heart of the world’s largest advertising conglomerate that led the industry’s earliest conversion to digital, was one of the first successful online marketers, pioneered digital asset management for most of the Fortune 100, spent time as a notorious hacker, and much more. Author, Speaker, Educator – Jeffery is a bestselling author and award-winning educator who has authored, co-authored, or co-edited over 20 books and numerous other publications. His work has regularly been featured at leading academic conferences worldwide, as well as major public forums such as Deepak Chopra’s Sages and Scientists Symposium, Wisdom 2.0, H+, the Science and Nonduality Conference, the Asia Consciousness Festival, and TEDx. He has been covered in media as diverse as the South China Morning Post and PBS’s Closer to Truth, and been an invited speaker at many top universities including: Harvard, Yale, Stanford, University of London, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, and the National University of Singapore.
Chief Evangelist, Brand Marketing at Google
Gopi Kallayil is the author of “The Internet to the Inner-Net: Five Ways to Reset Your Connection and Live a Conscious Life.” He is Chief Evangelist for Brand Marketing at Google, helping grow customer brands through digital marketing. A fast-paced career in the high-tech industry combined with a deep yoga and meditation practice has allowed Gopi Kallayil to integrate his inner and outer technologies to a remarkable degree. Kallayil is an avid yoga practitioner, triathlete, global traveler, Burning Man devotee, and public speaker.
"The most important technology we use in our lives is right here–our body, our breath, our brain."
Co-Founder of GoodThink Inc. & Author
Amy Blankson has become one of the world’s leading experts on the connection between positive psychology and technology. She is the only person to be named a Point of Light by two presidents (President George H. W. Bush and President Bill Clinton) for creating a movement to acti- vate positive culture change. A sought-after speaker and consultant, Amy has now worked with organizations like Google, NASA, the US Army, and the Xprize Foundation to help foster a sense of well-being in the Digital Era. Amy received her BA from Harvard and MBA from Yale School of Management. Most recently, she was a featured professor in Oprah’s Happiness course. Amy is the author of two books: The Future of Happiness and an award-winning children’s book called Ripple’s Effect.
"Believing that your behavior matters is at the heart of training your brain, and true transformation comes when we connect brain change with heart change. If you are going to plug in, you have to be grounded."
CEO of BIT WORK, a leading exponent of the Science of Integral Welfare and Happiness in Latin America.
Eduardo Massé, Peruvian-Canadian, is a professional of immense prestige that has more than 25 years of experience. Authority at the Latin American level in the Science of Integral Welfare and Happiness and its applications in the personal and business world.
He worked 7 years, alongside the North American guru Anthony Robbins amplifying his passion and experience as a coach in human development. For almost a decade he worked as a Director of the LATAM Division for the North American group HAMIL in charge of development and growth in countries like Colombia, Mexico, Peru, Brazil, Chile, Argentina, Uruguay and Venezuela.
He studied Marketing at La Salle College and majored in Positive Psychology and Leadership under the tutelage of HAPPINESS's world ambassador, Harvard's distinguished professor: Tal Ben Shahar.
In 2004 he began a project in Montreal, HOPE IN A BOTTLE, the first bottled natural water brand in Canada, with the aim of educating and preventing against breast cancer, a project that led him to collaborate directly with former President Bill Clinton And the Susan G Kohen Foundation in the USA. In the USA, he co-directed the PORTAL program, as a specialist in BIENESTAR INTEGRAL, broadcast in cities such as Miami, New York, New Jersey, Atlanta, LA, San Antonio, Las Vegas, Fenix, San Antonio, Laredo and Chicago. He writes articles that are published and serve as references in prestigious news media and businesses such as Forbes and the newspaper El Financiero de México.
As a lecturer at international level, he has participated in WOBI (2014, 2015 and 2016), TED, the 2016 Neuro Leadership Summit and World Happiness Summit 2017. As a researcher, he actively contributes research projects and publications to institutions such as Oxford Neuroscience, American Clinical Neurophysiology Society, British Science Association, Neura Australia, Melbourne Neuroscience Institute and the Inamori Foundation in Japan.
He is the CEO of BIT WORK, an organization focused on the application of the Science of Welfare and the advances of Neuroscience to bring solutions and programs that help companies in matters of leadership, happiness and organizational culture management, through Of its programs: BIT WORK ELITE, PROGRAM PILLARS AND PILLARS ONE. He is the co-founder of the Latin American Positive Psychology Association (LAPPA) an organization that aims to bring the latest advances in the science of happiness through EDUCATEMIA with online programs Grow and Share and The 9 Online Transformations.
Mo has an impressive combined career of 27 years, starting at IBM Egypt as a Systems Engineer before moving to a sales role in the government sector. Venturing in to the UAE, Mo joined NCR Abu Dhabi to cover the non-finance sector. He then became acquainted with the consumer goods industry as Regional Manager of BAT. At Microsoft he assumed various roles over a span of seven and a half years, in his last role at Microsoft he headed the Communications Sector across Emerging Markets worldwide. Mo joined Google in 2007 to kick-start its business in Emerging Markets. He is fascinated by the role that technology plays in empowering people in emerging communities and has dedicated years of his career towards that passion. Over a period of six years, Mo started close to half of Google’s operations worldwide. In 2013, he moved to Google's infamous innovation arm, Google [X] where he lead the business strategy, planning, sales, business development and partnerships. [X] does not attempt to achieve incremental improvements in the way the world works, but instead, it tries to develop new technologies that will reinvent the way things are and deliver a radical, ten fold—10X—improvement. This leads to seemingly SciFi ideas such as: Project Loon, which aims to use high-altitude balloons to provide affordable internet access to the 5 billion people on every square inch of our planet, Project Makani, aiming to revolutionize wind energy generation using autonomous carbon fiber kites as well as Self driving cars, Google Life Sciences, and many more. The business team under Mo’s leadership has designed innovative business models analogous to the disruptive technologies [X] creates, and has created deep partnerships and global deals that enabled [X] to thrive and build products fit for the real world. Alongside his career, Mo remained a serial entrepreneur who has cofounded more than 20 businesses in fields such as health and fitness, food and beverage and real estate. He served as a board member in several technology, health and fitness and consumer goods companies as well as several government technology and innovation boards in the Middle East and Eastern Europe. He mentors tens of start-ups at any point in time. Mo Gawdat is the author of “Solve for Happy: Engineering Your Path to Joy” (2017). Through his 12-year research on the topic of happiness, he created an algorithm and a repeatable well-engineered model to reach a state of uninterrupted happiness regardless of the circumstances of life. Mo's happiness model proved highly effective. And, in 2014, was put to the ultimate test when Mo lost his son Ali to preventable medical error during a simple surgical procedure. Solve For Happy is the pillar for a mission Mo has committed to his personal moonshot: A mission to deliver his happiness message to 10 million people around the world.
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar is a humanitarian and spiritual leader, an ambassador of peace and human values. He has founded courses that provide techniques and tools to live a deeper, more joyous life and he has established nonprofit organizations that recognize a common human identity above the boundaries of race, nationality, and religion.
"If you can win over your mind, you can win over the whole world."
Laurent Potdevin, Chief Executive Officer of lululemonathleticainc.Joining in 2014, he has been fueling the company’s global growth through a dedication to innovation and a deep understanding of premium brands, technical apparel and engaging customer experiences. Laurent’s strategic investments in people, processes and technologies and a deeply held belief that ‘trust breeds magic’ have fostered a strong culture of innovation at the company, and his leadership has secured the brand’s global position in the category it created and continues to define.
Emceed by Rob Lee, Producer & Host of Speak Miami and lululemon ambassador.
Alexander is one of the world’s leading experts on happiness at work having worked in the field for more than 10 years. He is an author and speaker at businesses and conferences in over 40 countries. Alex is the author of 4 books including the international bestseller Happy Hour is 9 to 5 – How to Love Your Job, Love Your Life and Kick Butt at Work. The book has been extremely well received all over the world and is available in 10 languages. His work has been featured in CNN, New York Times, Forbes, Times of India, The Times, BBC, Huffington Post, Financial Times and many others.
"Happiness at work is not a luxury – it’s an absolute prerequisite for us to be successful and be happy in life in general."
Professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of California, Riverside and author of The How of Happiness, a book of strategies backed by scientific research that can be used to increase happiness. The majority of her research career has been devoted to studying human happiness. Why is the scientific study of happiness important? In short, because most people believe that happiness is meaningful, desirable, and an important, worthy goal, because happiness is one of the most salient and significant dimensions of human experience and emotional life, because happiness yields numerous rewards for the individual, and because it makes for a better, healthier, stronger society.
"If we can accept as true that life circumstances are not the keys to happiness, we’ll be greatly empowered to pursue happiness for ourselves."
Leading Happiness Researcher, Author, and Speaker
Shawn Achor is a leading corporate trainer, author, and speaker known for his advocacy of positive psychology. He authored The Happiness Advantage and founded the Institute of Positive Research and GoodThinkInc, a Cambridge-based consulting firm which researches positive outliers — people who are well above average — to understand where human potential, success and happiness intersect. Based on his research and 12 years of experience at Harvard, Shawn has become one of the world’s leading experts on the connection between happiness and success. He is also the winner of over a dozen distinguished teaching awards at Harvard University where he delivered lectures on positive psychology in the most popular class. His research on happiness made the cover of Harvard Business Review, his TED talk is one of the most popular of all time with over 13 million views, and his lecture airing on PBS has been seen by millions. Shawn has worked with over a third of the Fortune 100 companies, and lectured in more than 50 countries speaking to CEOs in China, senior leaders at the Pentagon, schoolchildren in South Africa, and farmers in Zimbabwe. His Happiness Advantage training is the largest and most successful positive psychology corporate training program to date in the world. Shawn is the author of three New York Times best-selling books. Shawn was recently published in the top psychology journal for the work he did at UBS in partnership with Yale University to create a more effective stress training. Recently, he did a two-hour interview with Oprah at her house discussing happiness research and perception of success. Shawn has become one of the world’s leading experts on the connection between happiness and success.
“You have to train your brain to be positive just like you work out your body.”
Isaac is also Vice Provost for Institutional Culture at the University of Miami. He holds the inaugural Erwin and Barbara Mautner Chair in Community Well-Being. He has published eight books, over 130 articles and chapters including his newest book The Laughing Guide to Well-Being: Using Humor and Science to Become Happier and Healthier. His interests are in the promotion of well-being in individuals, organizations, and communities; and in the integration of wellness and fairness. Isaac successfully combines humor and science to improve individuals, organizations, and communities. Among other honors, Isaac is the recipient of the 2011 “Distinguished Contribution to Theory and Research Award” by the Community Psychology Division of the American Psychological Association, and the of the 2014 Lifetime Achievement Award in Prevention by the division of Counseling Psychology of APA. Isaac is a vegan, fitness aficionado, and humor writer. His humor columns have been published in The Miami Herald and Miami Today. In 2015, Isaac won an award for his humor writing by the National Newspaper Association. His interests are in the promotion of well-being in individuals, organizations, and communities. He writes a humorous blog: Going Wellnuts: The Humor Blog for Wellbeing. He has developed an online platform (Fun For Wellness) to promote health and wellness in six domains of life: Interpersonal, Community, Occupational, Physical, Psychological, and Economic (I COPPE) well-being.
"When people think of well-being, they often think oh physical health, but this is just one aspect. The other domains are equally important. What's more, they all work in concert."
Wolcott is Co-Founder & Executive Director of the KIN and a Clinical Professor of Innovation and Entrepreneurship at the Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University and formerly a visiting professor at the Keio Business School (Japan). Wolcott won Teacher of the Year from Kellogg’s EMBA program in 2013, 2014 and 2015. He has served on the advisory boards of Nordic Innovation for the Nordic Council, Oslo, Norway; the Kraft Foods Global Technology Council (GTC); and GE’s Innovation Accelerator. Wolcott is also a managing partner with Clareo, a growth strategy consultancy serving senior executives at global corporations such as Exelon, Castrol, Johnson Controls, Owens Corning and others. He is a regular contributor for Forbes on the impact of technology on business, society and humanity. His book with Dr. Michael Lippitz, Grow From Within: Mastering Corporate Entrepreneurship and Innovation (McGraw-Hill, 2010) shares a decade of research and has been published in Chinese and Japanese. Wolcott’s work has appeared in MIT Sloan Management Review, strategy+business, The Harvard Business Review (online), The Wall Street Journal, Advertising Age, Business Week, The Financial Times (European Edition), The New York Times and numerous overseas publications. He is a frequent speaker at events worldwide. In 2003, Wolcott founded the Kellogg Innovation Network, now known simply as the KIN, a network of leaders dedicated to driving sustainable innovation. The KIN’s annual summit, KIN Global, takes place in late spring and includes leaders from around the world who collaborate around issues of significance for their organizations and for humanity (www.kinglobal.org). Wolcott is also an active angel investor in enterprises such as crowd funding leader Indiegogo (www.indiegogo.com), student loan innovator Lumni (www.lumni.net), legal documentation platform Page Vault (www.page-vault.com), transaction security technology firm Magic Cube (www.magiccube.co), healthcare data and analytics providers SA Ignite (www.saignite.com) and ClearCare Online (exited to Battery Ventures) and international art show, EXPO Chicago (www.expochicago.com). Wolcott received a BA, European and Chinese History; and an MS and Ph.D., Industrial Engineering & Management Science, Northwestern University.
Director General of the Smart Dubai Office
Dr. Aisha Bin Bishr is the Director General of the Smart Dubai Office, the government entity charged with overseeing Dubai’s citywide smart transformation, engaging with leadership in the public and private sector to make Dubai a global benchmark smart city. Prior to that, Dr. Aisha worked as Assistant Director General of the Executive Office of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Prime Minister and Vice President of the United Arab Emirates and Ruler of Dubai. The Executive Office role is to implement the vision of HH (to make Dubai #1 globally) as well as to be the source of the best futuristic initiatives. Part of her role was leading the Smart Dubai task force team from the time of the announcement of the Smart Dubai initiative in March 2014, to the formation of the Smart Dubai Office. Dr. Aisha also worked in the Ministry of Labor as an Assistant Undersecretary for support services responsible for developing and implementing strategic management, partnership development and change management policies. With more than 20 years of experience in information, communication and technology (ICT) development in public and government sectors, she possesses analytical, coordination, communication and advocacy skills relating to ICT, public reform trends and strategies. Dr. Aisha Bin Bishr holds a PHD in Management, Science, Technology and Innovation and Master of Philosophy (MPhil) in Policy and Research on Engineering, Science and Technology from Manchester Business School. A Bachelor of Science (BS) in Applied Science (Business Information Technology) from Higher Colleges of Technology , and a degree in Public Finance Management from Dubai School of Government as well as a graduate of Orchestrating Winning Performance Diploma from IMD Dr. Aisha Bin Bishr is a graduate of a two-year young leaders program organized by Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashed Centre for Leadership Development (MBRCLD). She is also enrolled in the Mindful leadership program run by the Prime Minster Office in UAE. Dr. Aisha Bin Bishr has received many awards; the latest is Leading Woman in Public Sector 2015 from the Global WIL Economic Forum, another as the Middle East Woman Leader in Corporate Management Excellence (2012) by Middle East Women leaders Excellence Awards. She received Community Service Medal 2013 by Lt. General HH Sheikh Saif bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Interiors as recognition of the national constructive role played by her. She received an award recognizing her role in enabling the smart city vision of His Highness Mohammed Bin Rashid, from the Swedish Embassy, Trade & Invest Council and Ericsson. Dr. Aisha Bin Bishr represents the Smart Dubai Initiative in many communities and conferences such as City Protocol Society, smart Cities Expo as well as at the GSMA.
“Dubai is a city that has continually strived to deliver the highest-possible quality of life for our residents and visitors. We are guided by the vision of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, to make people’s happiness our number one goal in everything we do."
The future of happiness.
CEO of Cisneros Group
Adriana Cisneros is CEO of Cisneros, a third generation family owned and operated business with a global footprint and operations in Latin America and the United States. The company has three areas of focus: Media, Digital Advertising and Real Estate. She is also the President of the Fundación Cisneros which is dedicated to improving education in Latin America. Adriana is Co-chair of Endeavor Miami, an organization that promotes high impact entrepreneurship. Adriana is a Henry Crown Fellow as well as a Term Member at the Council of Foreign Relations and an Advisory Board Member of Wyncode. Adriana holds a BA from Columbia University (2002) and a Master’s Degree in journalism from New York University (2005). She lives happily in Miami Beach with her husband, two children and their dog.
The future of happiness.
Research Professor, School of Business, Universidad Adolfo Ibáñez, Co-Director, Diploma in Organizational Happiness IAU
Wenceslao is also Co-Director of the Diploma in Organizational Happiness (DFO) IAU, Director of the Institute of Welfare, Director of the Port of Iquique, and advisor to multiple organizations both in Chile and abroad. He is a member of the Working Group of International Experts (IEWG) that are collaborating with the Government of Bhutan and the United Nations in implementing a new development paradigm based on happiness and welfare to enable mankind to build a more just, sustainable and happy world. His contributions have been recognized both nationally and internationally, which has led him to provide multiple conferences in countries such as England, the United States, Russia, Scotland, Poland, Bhutan, Romania, Holland, France, Colombia, Mexico and Chile. It is, additionally, editor and co-author of Happiness: Evidence and experiences to change our world.
"When the economy is not associated with the well-being of people, and a country focuses on generating products or services, without public policies that ensure conditions of quality of life that focus on collective well-being, you can be successful in figures and fail in the experience of people who produce wealth."
Professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of California, Riverside and author of The How of Happiness, a book of strategies backed by scientific research that can be used to increase happiness. The majority of her research career has been devoted to studying human happiness. Why is the scientific study of happiness important? In short, because most people believe that happiness is meaningful, desirable, and an important, worthy goal, because happiness is one of the most salient and significant dimensions of human experience and emotional life, because happiness yields numerous rewards for the individual, and because it makes for a better, healthier, stronger society.
"If we can accept as true that life circumstances are not the keys to happiness, we’ll be greatly empowered to pursue happiness for ourselves."
The future of happiness.
The future of happiness.
The future of happiness.
Maureen is a leader in helping highly sensitive children thrive. Her popular blogs on Psychology Today, and for the PBS series, this emotional life, have focused on helping children become inwardly stronger and happier. Unique about Maureen is her experience working directly with kids globally from the Bronx to the base of the Himalayas. In 2007, Maureen was invited to work with Tibetan refugee children in India as well as study with his holiness the fourteenth Dalai Lama. Her book, Growing Happy Kids, begins with her journey to Asia and being surrounded by monkeys (which really happened!).
address happiness as a paradigm shift in economics.
Dr. Saamdu Chetri, Executive Director GNH Bhutan, will share the significance of happiness in economics.
Better Life Index:
Dr. Carrie Exton, Policy Analyst, Household Statistics and Progress Measurement, Statistics Directorate, OECD, will compare wellbeing across countries in the areas of material living conditions and quality of life.
World Database of Happiness:
Dr. Ruut Veenhoven, Professor at Erasmus University Rotterdam, Pioneer and World Authority on the Scientific Study of Happiness, will discuss the archive of research findings on the subjective enjoyment of life.
Laura Musikanski, Executive Director, The Happiness Alliance, will address happiness as a paradigm shift in economics.
Measurement, Statistics Directorate, OECD, will compare wellbeing
across countries in the areas of material living conditions and quality of
life.
significance of happiness in economics.


