From Happiness to Super Happiness: Not a Tradeoff Anymore

The quest for happiness has rendered the homo sapiens of the last two centuries a quasi-money-making machine. The severe principles of capitalistic system, and the global economic propaganda speaking in the name of those principles, made human beings believe that money, as a medium of exchange, can buy everything. Studies have shown that happiness, as a spontaneous process of emotions and feelings, cannot be obsessively controlled and intentionally caused. In contrast, if such a behavior is attempted, then paradoxically will cause unhappiness. When it comes to the economic development, money helps to avoid some dissatisfaction in life but cannot guarantee the happiness. The quasi-realistic panorama of the classical capitalistic system unfolds a dichotomist reality where selfishness triumphs over selflessness. But business models have changed, directly impacting the pillars of capitalism. With the recent move of social business, attributed to the Nobel Peace Laureate prof. Muhammad Yunus, businesses are not only and simply seeking for profit maximization (differently from Adam Smith), but they see profit as an instrument for the business to survive and possibly making “others” happy as well. The “others” are the category of stakeholders or suprasystems that are in interaction with a defined organization. Following the principles of the social business, any business must search for profit in order to survive, but the profit stays with the business and not shared as a dividend. Additionally, social businesses are driven by social causes. Therefore, doing business by simultaneously making happy yourself and others is not “taboo” anymore; it is not even a tradeoff, as “making money is happiness, making other people happy is super happiness” (Muhammad Yunus).