THE HAPPINESS FRAMEWORK

Last week, I attended the Vator Splash event, where I had the opportunity to listen to a talk by Tony Hseih, CEO of Zappos (sold to Amazon.com in 2009 for $1.2 billion). While his talk was mainly about building Zappos and the company culture within, it was the last 5 min of his presentation that really inspired me. He talked about the science of happiness and referred to one such framework, where he defined 3 levels of happiness as Pleasure, Passion, and Purpose. 

 Most of us, most of the time, seek happiness by pursuing things that give us pleasure. This kind of happiness is short-lived as such happiness cannot be sustained beyond the existence of the stimulus. The next level of happiness comes from pursuing your passion; this tends to last longer. The longest-lasting happiness, studies show, comes from a higher purpose – this is about being part of something that is bigger than just yourself. Tony went on to state that great companies are built on a similar framework – Profits, Passion, and Purpose. 

 When I started Green Coriander, I defined the purpose of Green Coriander long before I made a financial model show me how to make a profit (which is still an ongoing exercise). My purpose is to educate and encourage people to i) eat better ii) understand the sources of their food and iii) support sustainable food systems and lifestyle. 

 We provide a service that allows our customers to eat foods from good sources and empowers them with a choice if they love Indian food. The purpose stems from my passion for doing what we can to preserve our health and protect our environment. The purpose of The Chai Cart is rather simple - it is to deliver wholesome goodness in a cup. My belief is that if we remain true to our values and work hard to improve every single day, profits will follow. I also believe that by aligning passion with a purpose, happiness can be achieved with small pleasures in life. 

 Thank you, Tony for laying out a great framework – you indeed did live up to your goal of “Delivering Happiness”.