Neil Pasricha

Neil Pasricha helps audiences rediscover joy in everyday moments through his bestselling Book of Awesome series and research on intentional happiness. He speaks on gratitude practices and resilience and creating awesome life by appreciating simple pleasures. Neil’s blog and books celebrating small moments like warm laundry or the other side of the pillow resonated globally because they remind people that happiness often comes from noticing rather than acquiring. His work counters cultural messages equating happiness with achievement or consumption. Organizations value Neil’s evidence-based happiness frameworks. His book The Happiness Equation synthesizes research into nine secrets for happiness at work and life providing practical guidance beyond generic positivity advice. His insights help people make choices aligned with actual wellbeing rather than what society says should make them happy. His presentations address intentionality in happiness creation. While circumstances matter research shows people have significant control over wellbeing through daily practices like gratitude and social connection and finding flow in meaningful work. Neil provides specific strategies anyone can implement. Neil discusses resilience through his personal experience of devastating loss including his friend’s suicide and his own divorce. Rather than hiding difficulties he shares how practices like gratitude and perspective and social support helped him navigate dark periods. What makes Neil’s message powerful is accessibility. He doesn’t claim happiness requires major life changes or special circumstances. Instead he shows how shifting attention to what’s already good while working toward goals creates sustainable wellbeing. Beyond individual happiness Neil addresses workplace culture and creating environments where people flourish. He shows how organizations prioritizing employee wellbeing and authentic connections and meaningful work attract and retain talent while improving performance. Neil discusses the paradox that pursuing happiness directly often backfires while finding meaning and helping others and appreciating present moments produces wellbeing as byproduct. This insight reframes how people approach life satisfaction. Companies wanting to improve employee wellbeing and leaders seeking to create positive cultures and individuals wanting more joy find Neil’s happiness frameworks transformative for discovering that awesome life comes less from dramatic achievements and more from noticing and appreciating the remarkable hidden in ordinary moments.

Neil is the New York Times bestselling author of 10 books and journals including The Happiness Equation, Two-Minute Mornings, and The Book of Awesome. His books have been published in dozens of languages, spent over 200 weeks on bestseller lists, and sold over two million copies.

His first book The Book of Awesome was based on his blog, 1000 Awesome Things, which scored over 100 million hits and twice won the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences’ award for “Best Blog in the World”.

Neil has degrees from Queen’s University and Harvard Business School and spent a decade as Director of Leadership at Walmart.

As a speaker, Neil has delivered one of the “Ten Most Inspiring” TED Talks of all time. He has spoken to hundreds of thousands of people around the world from Ivy League Deans to Fortune 500 CEOs to Royal Families in the Middle East.

The Happiness Equation: Science-Backed Habits to Cultivate Positive Mindset

We live in a world where we’re bombarded by change, expectation, and uncertainty. News media hijacks our brains while social media tells us we are never good enough. Anxiety, depression, and loneliness rates are at record highs. What we need is a splash-of-cold-water talk that is science-backed, story-laden, and full of laughs. Audiences learn how it is possible, despite larger tectonic plates they cannot control, to use specific research-backed tools and practices to cultivate a habit-based positive mindset every day. Based on Neil’s #1 international bestseller The Happiness Equation.

Be Happy First: Resilience and Breakthrough Performance In Times Of Change

After Neil’s wife left him and his best friend took his own life, he crash-landed in an empty downtown bachelor apartment. Just twelve months later, he was working directly for the CEO at Walmart, running the International Academy of Digital Arts and Science’s “Best Blog in the World”, and had just published The Book of Awesome, which stormed the New York Times bestseller list and sold over a million copies. The lesson was clear: resilience and growth can come from challenge and change. An inspiring talk that shares action-based ways to lift performance to new heights.

The Science Of Positive Growth Mindset

Does great work lead to happiness? Or… does happiness lead to great work? Neil Pasricha shares counterintuitive research-based answers in this fun, fast-paced, research-grounded tour of the emerging neuroscience and positive psychology landscape. Neil shows how cultivating a positive mindset results in 31% higher productivity, 37% higher sales, and 300% greater creativity – and then shares how to get there. Based on fresh research Pasricha published in Harvard Business Review, this is a high-energy, takeaway-laden talk that gets audiences buzzing.

Lead Yourself Before You Lead Others

Which company is #1 on the Fortune 500 and has been for over a decade? Walmart. The retail behemoth’s rise to half a trillion dollars in sales with over two million employees has been well-documented. But what hasn’t been documented is how they develop, nurture, and grow leaders up through those ranks. Neil served as Director of Leadership Development at Walmart and worked for the CEO while partnering with Harvard Business School to develop the first global leadership program inside the retail giant. In this talk he shares how leaders can use science-backed practices to help themselves show up to lead teams of two, two thousand, or two million. It starts with yourself. Neil will show you how.

Happy Habits: Tiny Changes, Massive Results

Why do so few people say, “I love my job”? Gallup reports a whopping 79% of the global workforce is disengaged. But what if there were simple habits that could help turn employees into their most engaged, creative, and productive selves? It’s not crazy talk. It’s actually happening. Using his unique blend of science-backed models and lean-in-and-laugh stories, Neil shares simple happiness habits and, more importantly, teaches audiences how to make them stick. The result is an easy and research-backed way to build small, simple habits to help create workplaces where people show up inspired to do their best work every day.