Biography

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Arthur Brooks is the William Henry Bloomberg Professor of the Practice of Public Leadership at the Harvard Kennedy School and Professor of Management Practice at the Harvard Business School. Before joining the Harvard faculty in July of 2019, he served for ten years as president of the Washington, D.C.-based American Enterprise Institute (AEI), one of the world’s leading think tanks.

Brooks is the author of 12 books, including the national bestsellers From Strength to Strength (2022), Love Your Enemies (2019), The Conservative Heart (2015), as well as the forthcoming book Build the Life You Want with Oprah Winfrey to be published in September 2023. He is also a columnist for The Atlantic, host of the podcast “How to Build a Happy Life,” and subject of the 2019 documentary film “The Pursuit,” which Variety named as one of the “Best Documentaries on Netflix” in August 2019. He gives more than 100 speeches per year around the U.S., Europe, and Asia.

Brooks began his career as a classical French hornist, leaving college at 19, touring and recording with the Annapolis Brass Quintet and later the City Orchestra of Barcelona. In his late twenties, while still performing, he returned to school, earning a BA through distance learning at Thomas Edison State College, and then an MA in economics from Florida Atlantic University. At 31, he left music and earned an MPhil and PhD in public policy analysis from the Rand Graduate School, during which time he worked as an analyst for the Rand Corporation’s Project Air Force.

Brooks then spent 10 years as a university professor, becoming a full professor at Syracuse University’s Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs in his seventh year out of graduate school and occupying the Louis A. Bantle Chair in Business and Government. During this decade, Brooks published 60 peer-reviewed articles and several books, including the textbook “Social Entrepreneurship” (2008).

In 2009, Brooks became the 11th president of AEI, also holding the Beth and Ravenel Curry Chair in Free Enterprise. Under his leadership, the Institute more than doubled its annual revenues, deepened its outreach to leaders across the ideological spectrum, and expanded its research portfolio to include work on poverty, happiness, and human potential. During this period, he was selected as one of Fortune Magazine’s “50 World’s Greatest Leaders” and was awarded six honorary doctorates.

Originally from Seattle, Brooks currently lives in Needham, Massachusetts, with his wife Ester Munt-Brooks, who is a native of Barcelona. They have three children, Joaquim, Carlos, and Marina.

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How to Get Happier in an Unhappy World

The evidence is clear: In almost every country, happiness is falling. It is easy to get dragged down when around us, loneliness is increasing, relationships are harder to form, and political polarization is on the rise. But we can beat this current by understanding the fundamentals of happiness science, practicing it each day, and sharing it with others.

Moving from Strength to Strength in Work, Life, & Happiness

Our skills and interests naturally change as we age—a fact that can be difficult and frightening for many “strivers.” How can we prepare for the changes that come later in life, and how can we structure our lives in a way that uncovers new strengths and leads to lasting happiness? Blending the latest in behavioral social science research, ancient wisdom, and historical analysis, Professor Arthur Brooks will reveal how effectiveness and well-being at all stages of life come not from holding on to past achievements, but from cultivating new habits and a different understanding of success and fulfillment.

Leadership and Happiness

Most people think success is the key to happiness, but they are wrong. Happiness is the key to success. According to research, to be successful in life, one should understand happiness and manage to it—our own and others’. Unfortunately, most people have to learn this fact by hard experience. Happiness expert Arthur C. Brooks shows that behind this problem lies an enormous opportunity for businesses to improve happiness practices internally, thus raising workplace engagement, facilitating recruitment, and increasing retention and productivity. Indeed, companies can establish a culture of meaning, purpose, and life satisfaction–and can thus prosper in highly-competitive labor markets where culture and quality of life are so critical.

Love Your Enemies

America is afflicted with a “culture of contempt,” says Brooks. It is increasingly common for people to view those who disagree with them as worthless, instead of just misguided or incorrect. This is fomented by an “outrage industrial complex” in media and politics. Through ancient wisdom and cutting-edge behavioral science, Brooks provides a roadmap to the prosperity that comes when we choose to love one another – gaining strength from our differences.

Your Happiness 401k

Well-being is like a retirement account: The sooner you invest, the greater your returns will be. Exploring the expanding science of happiness, Professor Brooks shares specific investments you can make based on the best research, trends in social science, positive psychology, neuroscience, and philosophy to help people live a more purposeful life, full of long-lasting enjoyment and satisfaction.

Testimonials

Arthur Brooks is a strange creature by Washington standards. Heck, he’s a strange creature by bipedal standards. A former French horn player who decided to be an egghead late in life, he is a unique mix of Catholic piety, data obsession, sartorial connoisseurism, physical fitness, old-soul wisdom, and basic decency.
– Jonah Goldberg, National Review
Brooks…has consistently struck me as the smartest figure on the American right—someone not given to bouts of provocation or hyperbole, but rather someone who speaks with equal authority on macroeconomics…cultural evolution and societal happiness… Brooks also conjures comparisons to ‘The Most Interesting Man in the World,’ the character in the Dos Equis beer commercials.
– Tim Alberta, Politico
Arthur Brooks is the only person to combine both science and our aspirations about our lives. His work confirms and surprises us about ourselves and how we are progressing. From Strength to Strength offers real answers to timeless questions about happiness and progress: How can I be happier? How can I have more meaning in my life? What is the most important thing to me right now and why? Everyone wants and needs the answers to the questions he tackles in this book.
– Eric Schmidt, Former Chairman and CEO, Google
To the overachievers, success addicts and tired strivers who are fairly confident you can’t keep it up forever but will try to anyway— this book is for you. Arthur Brooks shows you it’s possible to build a life that really does get better with age.
– Simon Sinek, Optimist and New York Times Bestselling Author
FROM STRENGTH TO STRENGTH is a wise and inspiring guide to reimagining the rest of your life. If you’re a striver tired of striving, this remarkable book is for you.
– Daniel H. Pink, #1 New York Times Bestselling Author

Booksby Arthur Brooks

Build the Life You Want

From Strength to Strength

The Conservative Heart

The Road to Freedom

Gross National Happiness

Who Really Cares

Love Your Enemies

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