Michelle Gielan - Broadcasting Happiness: The Science of Igniting and Sustaining Positive Change

Michelle Gielan is one of the brightest stars in positive psychology and an eloquent champion for rethinking the way we communicateat work, in our lives, and especially in the media. In Broadcasting Happiness, she draws on the latest science and her own experience in the news business to passionately argue that by telling more positive stories and giving the full picture of whats actually happening in our world, we can create a ripple effect that can truly make a difference in peoples lives.

ARIANNA HUFFINGTON

Broadcasting Happiness is a truly exceptional book, one that will help you to be better and more effective in work and life right away. Michelle Gielans book is filled with compelling stories, novel research, and practical tips.

TOM RATH, New York Times bestselling author of Strengths Based Leadership and Eat Move Sleep

Broadcasting Happiness is an inspiring book on radically rethinking the way we communicate with others. Michelle Gielan is a gifted storyteller, and she shares powerful science and practical insights for improving the world around us.

ADAM GRANT, Wharton professor and New York Times bestselling author of Give and Take

Broadcasting Happiness taps into our power as individuals to lead collective positive change simply by altering the way we view and share our everyday experiences. Michelle Gielan is a transformative thought leader and her book will change the way you work, live, and look at the world around you.

BETSY KORONA, Senior Producer, MSNBC

BROADCASTING HAPPINESS

MICHELLE GIELAN

BenBella Books, Inc.
Dallas, TX

Copyright 2015 by Michelle Gielan

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.

Still I Rise from AND STILL I RISE by Maya Angelou, copyright 1978 by Maya Angelou. Used by permission of Random House, an imprint and division of Penguin Random House LLC. All rights reserved.

BenBella Books, Inc.
10300 N. Central Expressway, Suite #530
Dallas, TX 75231
www.benbellabooks.com
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First E-book Edition: August 2015

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Gielan, Michelle.

Broadcasting happiness : the science of igniting and sustaining positive change / Michelle Gielan.

pages cm

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 978-1-941631-30-0 (hardback)ISBN 978-1-941631-31-7 (electronic) 1. Organizational behavior. 2. Business communication. I. Title.

HD58.7.G544 2015

658.406dc23

2015015382

Editing by Glenn Yeffeth and Vy Tran

Copyediting by Francesca Drago

Proofreading by Chris Gage and Michael Fedison

Text design and composition by Sarah Dombrowsky

Cover design by Faceout Studio

Printed by Lake Book Manufacturing

Distributed by Perseus Distribution
www.perseusdistribution.com

To place orders through Perseus Distribution:

Tel: (800) 343-4499

Fax: (800) 351-5073

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To our son, Leo Achor,
who broadcasted love
even before finding the words.
He broke open my heart,
making me love the rest of the world
more deeply than ever before.

PART I
CAPITALIZE ON POSITIVITY

PART II
OVERCOME STRESS AND NEGATIVITY

PART III
CREATE A POSITIVE RIPPLE EFFECT

I knew something was wrong, but I was on a meteoric rise.

In the midst of going from anchoring a local news broadcast in El Paso, Texas, to hosting two national news programs at CBS News in New York, I saw something while reporting on the south side of Chicago that would eventually change my lifes story.

It was the sixth funeral Id covered in as many months. But this one was different. It was a funeral for a child: A ten-year-old girl had been shot by a stray bullet from gang gunfire at her own birthday party.

As a news reporter, I knew the formula to use to tell the story. I had told this story countless times before. It was a sensational one of random violence, full of raw emotion from family members, which would leave viewers shocked and fearful that this could happen to their loved ones too. And just like many viewers, I didnt know if I should feel numb to the violence or terrified at every moment that life could randomly and irrevocably be destroyed.

I was tired of it. As I sat in that church in Englewood, one of the roughest neighborhoods of Chicago, I was surrounded by a black congregation that was tired too. Yet amidst the emotional exhaustion there were stories of hope, and those stories changed the trajectory of my life.

As I listened to the preacher and watched the violence-ravaged congregation surround the grieving mother and sway together to songs of prayer, I realized that the story we often told on the newsa sensational tale of yet one more act of gang violence stealing our kids from uswas only one of the possible stories we could choose to tell. It was one that paralyzed the community instead of rallying everyone together for action. I thought, what would the ripple effect be if we were to focus on the other possible stories unfolding that day?

We could tell the story of a mom surrounded by a loving community that supported her in a time of great challenge.

We could talk about how, despite this tragic act of violence, according to the stats, Englewood was slowly becoming a better place to live, thanks to specific coordinated efforts by the police, community leaders, and local residents.

Instead of focusing solely on the pain and desperation, the story could also highlight the hope, optimism, and resilience of this community. These were all equally true facts.

It was clear to me that there was a better way for us to tell stories, but I had my sights set on a national news position in New York. It was a job I landed two years laterright as the economy collapsed. From my anchor desk at CBS News, I covered the greatest economic downturn in the United States since the Great Depression. We told heart-wrenching stories of the destruction of peoples lives as they lost their homes, jobs, and retirement savings. And the sad stories didnt end with the economy. The lights hanging above a multimillion-dollar studio shone down on me as I described in detail how five million barrels of oil devastated the Gulf of Mexico and its surrounding communities.

On July 17, 2010, I left.

It was not because we were telling negative stories or because of the long hours and early mornings. And it wasnt lost on me what I would be giving upbroadcasting to millions of people every time that red light went on over the camera.

I left because I had seen another light. This book is about that story.

Throughout this book, youll see what I saw over the course of the five years that followed my leaving CBS. Youll see how people can change the trajectory of their families, companies, and communities when they change the stories they communicate. How a single leader at a massive national insurance company changed the way his team thought about its work and tripled revenues. How a news series focused on fostering happiness during the recession, which didnt mention a single negative story, got the highest viewer response of the year. How a pair of estranged brothers, each facing the threat of losing his home, reunited to live together. How managers at a certain company trained their brains to experience 23 percent fewer negative effects of high stress. How a school district raised its graduation rate from 44 to 89 percent in a few short yearsand how its not done improving yet. How a two-minute habit can change someone from being a lifelong pessimist into an optimist. How shifting their mindset about getting older can scientifically alter the aging process for a group of seventy-five-year-old men. How a forward-thinking media mogul is using positive research to transform news coverage. And how