Origins of Positive Psychology


You have just been promoted to manager in a Fortune 100 organization. Most of the company’s leaders are from the baby-boomer generation—which is known for closely adhering to a hierarchical, top-down leadership model. They have been with the company for an average of 18 years. You have been in this corporate environment for almost 5 years, and you feel confident in your relationships with most of the senior leadership. The new director—an outsider—has asked you to create a leadership development program that focuses on concepts from positive psychology and the servant leader philosophy. These concepts are very foreign to the culture of the company, which will make your task slightly complicated.

Where did positive psychology originate, and why?

What were the primary prompts for its development?

What do you see as positive psychology’s greatest impact on making businesses more successful?

What impact could its application have on leadership development?