Innovating Around Happiness: iPhone Apps, Company Culture & Positive Psychology

This event is 100% free to attend. Just show up! If you want more info on the whole conference, be sure to check out https://digitalcapitalweek.org/ .

We're excited that happierDC is hosting this panel in partnership with Digital Capital Week.

Full info on this specific talk is available on the DC Week page (https://bit.ly/94glBg).

https://www.digitalcapitalweek.org/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/dc.fb_.gif (https://digitalcapitalweek.org/)

And check out the 6/13 write-up of the conference in the Washington Post (https://bit.ly/aeMzFJ).

2:15pm Friday, June 18th

Innovating Around Happiness:
From iPhone Apps to Company Culture and Other Findings from Positive Psychology

We've all been witness to the rapid proliferation of #FAIL - whether it's on Twitter, FML or reality television. But how can we as innovators use our creativity and technology to improve happiness and increase positivity and well-being? Learn about new technologies to scientifically improve happiness, including an award-winning iPhone app (Live Happy) and other sites & projects. Discuss the growing science of positive computing, happiness as it relates to leadership and company culture and more.

A recent Washington Post article about Digital Capital Week (https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/04/16/AR2010041603925.html)

And an overview on the week of events. (https://www.huffingtonpost.com/jen-consalvo/dcweek-a-community-buildi_b_560984.html)

Panelist Doug R. Hensch

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Doug Hensch brings a wealth of experience and passion to the work he does for his clients. His philosophy is simple: Set meaningful goals. Identify your strengths. Work in them regularly.

This philosophy guided him at Nextel Communications where he led the company’s eCare efforts that resulted in yearly savings that exceeded $10 million. Working in his strengths with purpose helped him launch a leading self-improvement web site that helped over 100,000 people increase their well-being and resilience. Doug has touched the lives of business executives, managers, and individual contributors with innovative coaching, engaging workshops, and thought-provoking consulting. Dr. Martin Seligman, Fox Leadership Professor of Psychology at the University of Pennsylvania and the ‘father of Positive Psychology,’ referred to Doug as one of his “most talented young colleagues.”

The father of two active little boys, Doug lives in the Washington, DC, metro area, coaches his son’s sports teams, and is active in the community. He tries to use his signature strengths every day (Gratitude, Judgment, Modesty/Humility, Fairness/Equity/Justice, and Capacity to Love & be Loved) in his personal and professional life.

When he’s not working with clients or brainstorming with colleagues, he is wrestling with his kids, hanging out with friends, rooting for the Red Sox, working out, or just spending time with his family. Doug tweets from @doughensch (https://www.twitter.com/doughensch) and can be found online at https://www.drh-group.com

Panelist Shannon M. Polly
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Shannon M. Polly is a corporate communications trainer, facilitator and coach in Washington, DC. She is the founder and president of Accentuate Consulting. She has worked with executives, managers and partners of such clients as Booz Allen Hamilton, Lehman Brothers, PriceWaterhouseCoopers, Deloitte & Touche, Citibank, the United States Olympic Committee, the U.S. Olympic athletes, PNC Bank, JPMorgan Chase, PNC Bank, Merrill Lynch and Mackenzie Consulting as well as business students from mainland China, Columbia Business School Wharton Business School.

She has delivered or co-facilitated programs on Presentation Skills, Negotiation Skills, Presenting Market-Based Ideas, Managing Difficult Conversations, New Manager Experience, New Partner Orientation, Authentic Executive Presence and Communication, Collaboration and Creativity. Shannon facilitates workshops on presentation skills and executive presence based on her eleven years of experience as a professional actor, singer and playwright in New York and regional theaters. She received her graduate degree from the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art and a B.A. with honors from Yale University.

Recently, Shannon received her Master in Applied Positive Psychology (MAPP) degree from the University of Pennsylvania. Led by distinguished psychologist Dr. Martin E. P. Seligman, this is the first masters program in the world that presents research on the science of how humans thrive. Shannon uses the empirical research of positive psychology with her organizational clients to foster positive and flourishing workplaces. With her partner, Shannon created five Positive Management workshops including: Positive Communications and Feedback, Managing Challenging Conversations, Strengths-Based Managing, Optimism and Resilience, and Thriving through Change. All of these workshops have been successfully delivered across Canada and the
United States.

Shannon is currently an assistant instructor in the MAPP program at the University of Pennsylvania. She has given lectures & workshops at Columbia Business School, Wharton Business School, the Master of Applied Positive Psychology (MAPP) program at the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Delaware. In addition, she has been selected for the Master Resiliency Training program facilitating
resilience workshops for the U.S. Army.

Shannon tweets from @shannonpolly (https://www.twitter.com/shannonpolly)

Panelist Andrew J. Rosenthal
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Andrew has always been interested in the intersection of science and its application. Originally from Portland, Oregon, he graduated cum laude, and with honors, from the University of Pennsylvania, where he
studied health policy and bioethics. In 2006, he started at a privately-held Philadelphia-area company, working with major organizations to develop and implement online training and wellness programs. One area of focus included business leaders, with clients including the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, and other MBA programs in the US and Switzerland. Andrew also worked with Fortune-500 companies including Google, and BP, where he focused on business solutions to improve employee happiness and wellbeing. Andrew led the company's business research and development efforts in China, Switzerland, Australia and the United States.

In 2007, Andrew founded happier.com with colleague Doug Hensch. They raised over $1 million from investors in the online wellness company, and built a “personal trainer for your happiness” which had over
50,000 registered users, with consumer revenue growing at 20% monthly. happier.com was featured in hundreds of magazines, newspapers, tv shows and other media outlets, including CNN and The New York Times.

Concurrently, Andrew worked at the Center for Positive Psychology at the University of Pennsylvania, which is directed by Martin E.P. Seligman. In 2010, Andrew coordinated the first-ever meeting in Positive Computing, sponsored by HP and the University. Attendees included industry-leaders from Microsoft, HP, Facebook, and MIT Media Lab and the U.S. Army. Andrew also led a research team measuring
optimism in the 2008 presidential elections, and their work was featured in publications including The New York Times and San Francisco Chronicle. Since 2006, he has been an invited lecturer in the Masters of Applied Positive Psychology program at the University of Pennsylvania.

Starting in 2010, Andrew began working with start-up companies on marketing. He is currently leading a client's effort to expand its best-selling list of iPhone and iPad applications, and leading a project to develop and online wellness program for a major national nonprofit, based in Washington. He speaks frequently on happiness and technology.

Andrew is attending Harvard Business School and continuing to focus on the intersection of wellbeing, technology, and business. He tweets from @andrewrosenthal (https://www.twitter.com/andrewrosenthal) and @happier (https://www.twitter.com/happier) and can be found at
https://www.andrewjrosenthal.com