Reminding us that America's founders ranked the pursuit of happiness right up there with life and liberty, a column published this month in The New York Times proposes that we, as a nation, start taking our happiness seriously.

    "Despite all the wealth we have accumulated - increased life expectancy, central heating, plasma TVs and venti-white-chocolate-mocha Frappuccinos - true happiness has lagged our prosperity," writes Eduardo Porter in an Opinion column. That's why, he says, some economists and psychologists are looking for ways to bring happiness into the realm of public policy - for instance, by developing a measurement of national happiness that could be reported alongside economic indicators like the Gross Domestic Product.

    If that happens, you can be sure that on-the-job joy - or lack thereof - will play a major role in the results. "When we say our vision is for all business environments to be great places to work, that's what we're talking about," says Sylvia Lafair, President of CEO, Inc. "A work environment that fosters honest communication, trusting relationships, and effective conflict resolution goes a long way toward eliminating the things that make people unhappy at work."

    In fact, Porter says studies have shown that increased wealth produces only fleeting, if any, increase in happiness, while the happiness people derive from social interaction tends to produce more lasting changes in satisfaction.

    To read the full article, click here.

• What are your images or beliefs about female leaders?
• What does the word power mean to you?
• How do gender differences impact leadership?

    These are just a few of the questions discussed by a group of women who came to The Country Place to participate in the Women Executive Leadership Learning (WELL) workshop on October 25th. The women were from organizations ranging from insurance and finance to hospitality and media.

    The program, entitled "Breaking the Gender Politics Barrier: Transforming the Glass, Brass or Bamboo Ceiling," was designed to help women leaders learn how the business ceiling is created, how it is driven by stereotypical thinking, and how it can be broken by self awareness and personal choice.

    Topics eagerly discussed by the group included contextual leadership, power and influence, "double bind" issues for both women and men, gender differences in the workplace and how those differences impact leadership.

    "Many of the women talked about the attitudes and feelings that made us different from men and that that was valuable! Vive la difference!" commented Cassandra Alleyne, a financial advisor with Merrill Lynch. "And, of all things, we realized that men, too, labor under tight corporate restraints and narrow stereotypes that are imposed on their gender, as well. Today, in finding a way to redefine the workplace for women, our greatest (and perhaps unintentional) accomplishment may be that we are liberating the men as well!"

    The daylong session was an opportunity to hear from others who were wrestling with similar issues, to support women in their quest for success on their own terms, to talk about how to use their increased understanding of gender differences to start a dialogue with men in the workplace, and just to spend time on themselves in a relaxed environment.

    Participants left the program with an action plan to begin shifting the context within themselves and their organizations so both genders could move forward in a different way. Said Jill Murray, Ph.D., Director of the Institute for Health and Wellness at Marywood University, "It's always wonderful to meet new women executives who are facing the same issues you are on a daily basis. Their perspectives are the lenses through which we are able to reframe our strategies and approaches that can help make our organizations even more successful."

    For more information, please contact info@ceoptions.com or call 570-636-3858.

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