Tal Ben-Shahar

Tal Ben-Shahar (Hebrew: טל בן-שחר, also known as Tal David Ben-Shachar) born 1970, is an American and Israeli teacher, and writer in the areas of positive psychology and leadership. As a lecturer at Harvard University, Ben-Shahar created the most popular course in Harvard's history. He has subsequently written several best-selling books and in 2011 co-founded Potentialife with Angus Ridgway, a company that provides leadership programs based on the science of behavioral change to organisations, schools and sports organisations globally.

Ben-Shahar received his PhD in Organizational Behavior from Harvard University. His dissertation, completed in 2004, was titled "Restoring Self-Esteem's Self-Esteem: The Constructs of Dependent and Independent Competence and Worth." He has a bachelor's degree from Harvard in Philosophy and Psychology. His undergraduate thesis, completed in 1996, is titled "Honesty Pays: Bridging the Gap Between Moral Theory and Practice."

Ben-Shahar consults and lectures around the world to executives in multinational corporations, Fortune 500 companies, educational institutions, and the general public. Topics include leadership, education, ethics, happiness, self-esteem, resilience, goal setting, and mindfulness.

In 2011, Ben-Shahar co-founded Potentialife to "bring the science of flourishing to the world" and uses behavioral science and technology to allow anyone to embed the scientifically proven behaviors of positive psychology in their daily lives. It has proven particularly popular with organizations who wish to develop leadership behaviors in many of their people quickly - while the company also runs several not-for-profit programs including with school and communities. Potentialife now operates in twelve countries and, because of the innovative way in which it tracks behavioural change data, is allowing businesses and researchers alike to see the impact of positive psychology first-hand.

He is the author of the international best sellers Happier and Being Happy, which have been translated into 25 languages.

He has also written two children’s books in collaboration with Shirly Yuval-Yair in Hebrew; one about Helen Keller and the other about Thomas Edison. The books aim to teach children about happiness.

Ben-Shahar appeared on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart on August 9, 2007.

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