fbpx
Customize Consent Preferences

We use cookies to help you navigate efficiently and perform certain functions. You will find detailed information about all cookies under each consent category below.

The cookies that are categorized as "Necessary" are stored on your browser as they are essential for enabling the basic functionalities of the site. ... 

Always Active

Necessary cookies are required to enable the basic features of this site, such as providing secure log-in or adjusting your consent preferences. These cookies do not store any personally identifiable data.

Functional cookies help perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collecting feedback, and other third-party features.

Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. These cookies help provide information on metrics such as the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc.

Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors.

Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with customized advertisements based on the pages you visited previously and to analyze the effectiveness of the ad campaigns.

Emily Esfahani Smith

In times of great challenge, search for meaning, not happiness.

Bestselling author of The Power of Meaning: Crafting a Life That Matters | Journalist

Emily Esfahani Smith | Journalist and Author of The Power of Meaning: Crafting a Life That Matters
Play VideoNow Playing

TED: The Power of Meaning: Making Your Life, Work, and Relationships Matter [12:18]

Play VideoNow Playing

Knowing the Difference Between a Happy and a Meaningful Life [11:16]

Play VideoNow Playing

Want Meaning? Seek Belonging, Purpose, Storytelling, and Transcendence [33:21]

Lavin Exclusive Speaker

In a world of increased anxiety and uncertainty, the best thing we can do for our wellness and mental health is search for meaning, not happiness. That’s the vital message at the core of Emily Esfahani Smith’s bestselling book, The Power of Meaning, which outlines four pillars essential to living a life that matters: belonging, purpose, transcendence, and storytelling. From her popular TED talk—viewed over 15 million times—to her viral Atlantic article “There’s More to Life Than Being Happy,” Smith helps us through difficult times, not by telling us to ignore our grief, but by setting us on the path to discover new meaning.

“Combining cutting-edge research with storytelling, The Power of Meaning inspires us to zero in on what really matters.”— Arianna Huffington

We’re all striving for happiness—but our culture’s obsession with instant gratification is only making us miserable. Drawing from over one hundred interviews, and years of research into positive psychology, neuroscience, and philosophy, Emily Esfahani Smith has discovered a more enriching way to live a good life: through the search for meaning. It’s the subject of her compelling and acclaimed book The Power of Meaning: Crafting a Life That Matters: called “persuasive” and “elegant” by the Wall Street Journal, and “a life-transforming experience” by Susan Cain, it’s now been published in 16 languages. In keynotes, Smith offers methods for individuals to let go of unreasonable, unattainable standards of happiness, and pursue goals that reward over the long haul. And for organizations, it means embedding a sense of purpose into corporate culture—making beliefs and values align for personal wellbeing as well as the bottom line.

“Beautifully written and rigorously researched, The Power of Meaning speaks to the yearning we all share for a life of depth and significance. In a culture constantly shouting about happiness, this warm and wise book leads us down the path to what truly matters. Reading it is a life-transforming experience.”— Susan Cain

With a TED main stage talk listed as one of the top ten most popular of 2017—and currently viewed over 15 million times—Smith is a keynote speaker who helps us think differently about the stories we tell ourselves and help us identify what makes life worth living.

The former managing editor of The New Criterion, Smith’s articles and essays have appeared in The New York TimesWall Street JournalThe Atlantic, and other publications. Her articles for The Atlantic “There’s More to Life Than Being Happy” (about the Holocaust survivor Viktor Frankl) and “Masters of Love” (about romance and marriage) have reached over 30 million readers. In 2017, The New York Times published her article about rethinking success called “You’ll Never Be Famous—And That’s OK.”

Smith is a reporter for the Aspen Institute’s Weave project, an initiative founded by The New York Times’ David Brooks to address the problems of isolation, alienation, and division. At Weave, Smith finds and tells the stories of people who are working to rebuild the social fabric. She served as an instructor in positive psychology at the University of Pennsylvania. Smith graduated from Dartmouth College and earned a masters of applied positive psychology from the University of Pennsylvania.

 

Testimonials

"Really super session with Emily! We appreciated her time, and the thoughtful talk on a topic that can be difficult/less-accessible for people. She made it easier with the stories she chose to tell—our feedback has already been over the moon!"

LinkedIn
Testimonials

Your time with us was brief but powerful for our community. Everyone I've spoken with has been deeply appreciative of the evening, and your wise, humble, warm presence. I hope you continue to pursue this, as we really do need to hear what you have to share. I hope we can welcome you back here again.

The Jung Center

Speech Topics

Happiness and Wellness
The Power of MeaningCrafting a Life That Matters

To Emily Esfahani Smith, there’s more to life than happiness. But we won’t find it through chasing esoteric secrets, reading the latest self-help book, or following some cultural standard for ‘the good life.’ In fact, our culture’s relentless pursuit of status, wealth, and ‘happiness’ can actually have the opposite effect: loneliness, dissatisfaction, regret. Instead, says Smith, the key to liv...

Read more
Psychology
The Hopefulness of Tragic OptimismFinding Resilience and Meaning During Difficult Times

How can we not only weather a crisis, but actually grow from it? For Emily Esfahani Smith, the secret to finding more to life is the discovery of tragic optimism. She says that even in the midst of difficulty, we must try to maintain hope and find meaning. We must adopt the spirit of tragic optimism to actually grow through adversity.

In this inspiring keynote, Smith presents the latest i...

Read more
Happiness & Wellness
Meaning at WorkCreating Fulfillment and Transcending Tasks

We already know it’s unhealthy to live for our jobs, no matter how passionate about them we may be. But it’s equally unhealthy to work somewhere you feel stagnant, stressed or unchallenged. Studies have shown that as much as 85% of employees are either not engaged or “actively disengaged” from the work they do, and only one third of workers see their work as a calling. Yet most people—especiall...

Read more
Workshops & Interactive
Making MeaningAn Interactive Workshop

We all need to find our tribe and forge relationships in which we feel understood, recognized, accepted, and valued—to know we matter to others. We can find belonging in our communities, in relationship to those we love, or with in micro-connections with strangers we encounter in daily life. Belonging lives in moments and is a choice: we can choose to cultivate belonging with others. In th...

Read more

Featured Books

Related Links & Articles

Interested? Read more news and articles about this fascinating keynote speaker

Other News