Raw: [Arthur Brooks ran the American Enterprise Institute for more than a decade. Now, he’s a fulltime happiness scientist. Here’s his guide to making it in Washington without sacrificing your humanity.]
Skip to Main Content
POLITICO
Politico Logo
Congress
Pro
E&E News
Search
Search
WASHINGTON & POLITICS
Congress
White House
Elections
Legal
Magazine
Foreign Affairs
2024 ELECTIONS
News
Results
GOP Candidate Tracker
STATE POLITICS & POLICY
California
Florida
New Jersey
New York
GLOBAL POLITICS & POLICY
Brussels
Canada
United Kingdom
POLICY NEWS
Agriculture
Cannabis
Cybersecurity
Defense
Education
Energy & Environment
Finance & Tax
Health Care
Immigration
Labor
Sustainability
Technology
Trade
Transportation
NEWSLETTERS
Playbook
Playbook PM
West Wing Playbook
POLITICO Nightly
POLITICO Weekend
The Recast
Huddle
All Newsletters
COLUMNISTS
Alex Burns
John Harris
Jonathan Martin
Michael Schaffer
Jack Shafer
Rich Lowry
SERIES & MORE
Breaking News Alerts
Podcasts
Video
The Fifty
Women Rule
Matt Wuerker Cartoons
Cartoon Carousel
POLITICO Live
Upcoming Events
Previous Events
Follow us
Twitter
Instagram
Facebook
My Account
Log In
Log Out
Playbook Deep Dive
The most unlikely ingredient to a successful career in Washington
Arthur Brooks ran the American Enterprise Institute for more than a decade. Now, he’s a fulltime happiness scientist. Here’s his guide to making it in Washington without sacrificing your humanity.
Arthur Brooks poses for a portrait after the Leadership and Happiness Symposium on June 20, 2023, in Cambridge, Mass. | Kayana Szymczak for POLITICO
By POLITICO Staff
12/21/2023 05:00 AM EST
Link Copied
Most people come to Washington seeking power.
Power to change policy; power to elect new leaders; power to sway the most influential judges; power to tell stories that shape people’s minds.
But the oldest story in Washington is how the quest for power almost always comes at the expense of what everyone says they really want: happiness.
Of course it’s not just a Washington story. It’s part of a much bigger story afflicting the country.
Life expectancy in America is down from where it was before the pandemic, driven by so-called deaths of despair: fatal drug overdoses, alcohol-related diseases and suicides.
Depression, anxiety and chronic illness are all on the rise.
Vivek Murthy, the Surgeon General, has described a national “Loneliness Epidemic” that has a similar effect on the human body to smoking 15 cigarettes a day.
If there’s a silver lining to these grim trends, perhaps it’s that more people are trying to figure out what truly makes us happy.
A few years ago, Arthur Brooks traded away his job running one of the top think tanks in Washington for a career as a fulltime happiness scientist. He’s also a bestselling author on this subject and recently published a book with Oprah Winfrey called “Build the Life You Want: The Art and Science of Getting Happier.”
On today’s show, he’s going to share a secret at the heart of his research that we hope you’ll find a worthy idea to reflect on over the holidays.
In a city of strivers, workaholics and perfectionists, a lot of people — maybe even you — come to Washington believing that success will lead to happiness and then they’re confused and even crushed when they attain the former but the latter doesn’t follow.
Brooks’ many years of research show we’ve got it backwards: It’s actually happiness that leads to success — not the other way around.
The question of course is how do we obtain happiness? Well, Arthur Brooks is going to tell us.
Listen to this episode of Playbook Deep Dive on
Apple
,
Spotify
,
Google
or
Audible
.
Filed under:
American Enterprise Institute
,
Harvard
POLITICO
Link Copied
About Us
Advertising
Breaking News Alerts
Careers
Credit Card Payments
Digital Edition
FAQ
Feedback
Headlines
Photos
POWERJobs
Press
Print Subscriptions
Request A Correction
Write For Us
RSS
Site Map
Terms of Service
Privacy Policy
Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information and Opt Out of Targeted Advertising
© 2023 POLITICO LLC