Arthur Brooks Shares the Science of Happiness with The Busch School of Business

Social scientist and Harvard Business School professor Arthur Brooks, 2023 Commencement keynote speaker and honorary degree recipient, returned to The Catholic University of America to share the secrets to a successful life as a guest lecturer during a Busch School of Business course on Nov 1. 

Brooks spoke to two sessions of the Busch School’s “Vocation of Business” course, which shapes the next generation of business leaders informed by lessons learned from Catholic teaching. He focused on his book Build the Life You Want, The New York Times bestseller cowritten with Oprah Winfrey that is among the students’ assigned reading.

He said the biggest misconception about happiness is that it’s about maximizing positive emotions and neutralizing negative emotions. The question for personal success, rather, is how to channel our feelings in healthy ways. 

“Your emotions are information. Emotions are not good or bad. Negative emotions are normal; you are not defective. Manage your emotions, so they don’t manage you,” said Brooks. 

A highly sought-after speaker on the science of happiness, Brooks’ message resonates with people no matter their faith tradition. But today’s presentation was more personal. 

“Traveling across the country and the world where not everybody is Catholic, I have to be delicate about the way I introduce my Catholic faith. I want to be more explicit with you today about what it means to me and what it can mean to you,” he said. 

During his lecture, Brooks told the students that getting a Catholic education, like that at the University, is a huge advantage because insights from the faith are affirmed by cognitive science to promote human flourishing. According to Brooks, neuroscience shows that expressing love stimulates neuropeptides in the brain to soothe our emotions when things go wrong. 

“The single best way for you to get more love is to choose to give more love,” said Brooks.  “You want love? Go give it. And this is the message of Jesus Christ.…That’s the ultimate strategy of success in life that we’re taught as Catholics. And then we can bring that to the rest of the world.” 

In other words, love – the willing the good of the other that is central to Christ’s message – is the answer. He explained one of the best ways to understand this is through reading Saint Thomas Aquinas, noting that the University is one of the best places in the world to study the philosophy that has illuminated much of Brooks’ work on living a meaningful life. 

“The only thing you ultimately need to know is that happiness is love,” said Brooks, explaining each person’s personal impact can be “supercharged with a Catholic education” that helps us transcend popular modern misunderstandings about love.

After each presentation, Brooks took questions from the audience and then greeted a long line of attendees who gathered to meet him. 

Associate Professor of Practice in Entrepreneurship Andreas Widmer said his students enjoyed reading Brooks’ book Build the Life You Want and interacting with the author further enhanced their engagement. 

“Having him come to lecture on the topic was an amazing experience for everyone,” Widmer, director of the Arthur & Carlyse Ciocca Center for Principled Entrepreneurship, said.