Most of us recognize that things like money, houses, cars and other “stuff” isn’t what really counts or makes us happy. What really makes us happy are the intangible things like caring, close relationships, meaning and a sense of purpose in our lives. But how do we measure these things? We don’t have bank accounts of relationships, meaning and purpose that we can glance at to tell us if we’re living a good life.
In this 18 minute video, Chip Conley discusses his search to find a way to measure these things so he can continue to build more and more of them into his hotel empire. Conley talks about his trip to Bhutan, a tiny country sandwiched between India and China. What’s remarkable about this tiny country is that it’s king, years ago upon taking the throne decided that he would not sacrifice his people’s happiness to further the wealth of the country. Most countries measure their success in GDP (gross domestic product, which is how much money the country “makes” in a year), the higher their GDP the better off they consider themselves. But the king of Bhutan realized that GNP was a really terrible way to measure the health and well-being of his country. So alongside GDP he created GNH (gross national happiness), and stated that he would not push to increase GDP if it decreased GNH.
Bhutan became a country not focused on relentlessly increasing its GDP but focused on creating conditions to increase GNH. I think we have a great deal to learn from this little country.
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