Modern society has a ‘destination addiction’ which focuses all of a person’s attention on future happiness, psychologist Robert Holden told 40 HR directors in London last Thursday night.

“Our challenge is to find a way to enjoy the journey as much as possible,” said Holden, director of The Happiness Project and Success Intelligence and author of the recently published book Be Happy. “Happiness is hugely important.”

Holden was the guest speaker at a dinner hosted by HR recruiter Digby Morgan. Holden’s work in the areas of happiness and success has been featured in two BBC documentaries and on US TV show Oprah. His  talk centered around the elements of leadership success:

IQ, or thought leadership, about which Holden said, “Leaders are not paid to be busy, they are paid to think.”

EQ, or social capital and “making sure we have space for conversations” with leaders responsible for “hosting the conversations that matter most” and spiritual intelligence, or understanding “what is really real about us”.

Research has found that the future will not necessarily make people happy. “The key is embracing ‘now’,”  Holden said.

Digby Morgan chief executive John Maxted told Recruiter: “I think the take-away from Robert for people in HR is to focus more on what makes people happy at work and recognise that this will make them successful rather than assume that success will bring people happiness.

“Some of his research into the choices that people make when having to choose between happiness and fame, recognition, and so forth is quite telling.

“The assumption that money and rewards is the source of happiness needs to be challenged.

“The other thing I would highlight is for HR to focus more on outcome rather than output. His point about people being busy but not always being clear what they were achieving was quite telling as was the point about people feeling guilty when they are not busy.”