Hap­pi­ness that includes peace – two con­ver­sa­tions in Thim­phu

In Thim­phu we had two con­ver­sa­tions that, look­ing back, feel like two sides of the same ques­tion: what is hap­pi­ness – and who will shape it in Bhutan in the future?

A vis­it to the GNH Cen­tre Bhutan

At the GNH Cen­tre Bhutan, Lhatu Lhatu takes an hour to talk with us. He heads the Cen­tre as Exec­u­tive Direc­tor and pre­vi­ous­ly served two terms as a Mem­ber of Bhutan’s Par­lia­ment. The Cen­tre sees itself as a voice for Gross Nation­al Hap­pi­ness – towards busi­ness, schools and civ­il soci­ety, and increas­ing­ly inter­na­tion­al­ly.

One thought has stayed with us ever since: in Dzongkha (Bhutan’s nation­al lan­guage), the term for Gross Nation­al Hap­pi­ness car­ries two mean­ings, hap­pi­ness and peace. Even the peo­ple the Fourth King asked, as he trav­elled the coun­try on foot, what they wished for gave the same answer: peace and hap­pi­ness, noth­ing else. As long as we have that, we are sat­is­fied.

Lhatu Lhatu also speaks open­ly about what wor­ries Bhutan. Many young peo­ple are leav­ing the coun­try, above all for Aus­tralia; the Prime Min­is­ter calls it an exis­ten­tial threat. Lhatu Lhatu hopes that most of them will return after study­ing abroad and bring back what Bhutan needs.

Two young Kar­mas at the helm

We see how Bhutan’s young gen­er­a­tion takes on respon­si­bil­i­ty at the Loden Foun­da­tion. Since 1999 the foun­da­tion has sup­port­ed edu­ca­tion, cul­ture and young entre­pre­neurs. It grew out of a sin­gle dona­tion of fifty pounds. Today it is run by two young men who are both called Kar­ma: Kar­ma Losel Yangnyen, 28, leads the foun­da­tion, and his col­league Kar­ma Tsher­ing, 29, is in charge of admin­is­tra­tion.

It is no coin­ci­dence that such young peo­ple lead. In many offices, peo­ple aged rough­ly 30 to 42 are miss­ing – they are in Aus­tralia. Those who stay take on respon­si­bil­i­ty ear­ly.

Titles are just titles, says Kar­ma Losel Yangnyen. In the flat organ­i­sa­tion, pro­gramme leads make their own deci­sions; his job is to help the oth­ers reach their goals. He holds one-on-ones every two weeks, and his key indi­ca­tor is not per­for­mance but sat­is­fac­tion. Peo­ple who join Loden are not look­ing for big salaries but for impact. If peo­ple like that are not sat­is­fied, the organ­i­sa­tion is doing some­thing wrong. He also speaks open­ly about his doubts, for instance whether new for­mats take time away from more expe­ri­enced col­leagues. Such doubts, he says, help him do bet­ter.

And the future? Both Kar­mas place their hopes in Gele­phu Mind­ful­ness City. The project is bet­ter than doing noth­ing, says Kar­ma Losel Yangnyen – before, young peo­ple sim­ply left. What con­vinced him is how the King pre­sent­ed the project him­self: first the vision, then the steps and the why, open­ly and acces­si­ble to every­one. And per­haps Gele­phu will show the world that GNH works not only in vil­lages and forests, but in a city as well. His col­league Kar­ma Tsher­ing sees it above all as a chance for young peo­ple to stay in the coun­try and work for Bhutan.

What con­nects the two con­ver­sa­tions

Read­ing our notes again, we noticed that one word comes up in both con­ver­sa­tions: sat­is­fac­tion. For the peo­ple the Fourth King asked, it meant peace and hap­pi­ness. At Loden, it is the key mea­sure of good lead­er­ship. And what Lhatu Lhatu hopes for Bhutan’s youth, we met in the two Kar­mas: young peo­ple who take on respon­si­bil­i­ty and believe in their country’s future.

GNH is not a the­o­ry

What impressed us most in both con­ver­sa­tions: in Bhutan, Gross Nation­al Hap­pi­ness is not a the­o­ry writ­ten down in strat­e­gy papers. It runs through every­day life – in the state, in soci­ety and in organ­i­sa­tions like these two.

At the GNH Cen­tre, GNH is explained, taught and car­ried out into the world. When we ask whether the min­istries still make their deci­sions by it, Lhatu Lhatu answers: it is DNA, because it came from the very top.

At Loden, by con­trast, the nine domains are rarely men­tioned explic­it­ly as a guide for the organ­i­sa­tion. Nobody has pinned them to the wall, says Kar­ma Losel Yangnyen. And yet we find them every­where: in the lend­ing cri­te­ria, which only sup­port busi­ness­es that are social­ly, envi­ron­men­tal­ly and cul­tur­al­ly respon­si­ble and that cre­ate jobs or keep their prof­its with­in the com­mu­ni­ty. In the “Pow­er Fri­days” the younger team mem­bers asked for. In the plan to extend pater­ni­ty leave beyond the ten days grant­ed in the civ­il ser­vice. And in the ques­tion about sat­is­fac­tion that Kar­ma Losel Yangnyen asks every two weeks. The val­ues are mod­elled – by the King, by the foundation’s founder – and car­ried on by the peo­ple.

What organ­i­sa­tions can learn

Bhutan is a spe­cial place, with its own his­to­ry and cul­ture. What can be trans­ferred is not the forms, but the ques­tions behind them – wher­ev­er an organ­i­sa­tion calls home. These are our first learn­ings:

Val­ues work when they are lived. No mis­sion state­ment replaces a role mod­el. In Bhutan, GNH comes from the top and becomes vis­i­ble in every­day life. Organ­i­sa­tions can ask them­selves: how would any­one recog­nise what mat­ters to us – with­out read­ing a sin­gle poster?

Sat­is­fac­tion is an ear­ly warn­ing sig­nal. When peo­ple who came for the impact become dis­sat­is­fied, some­thing is wrong. Ask­ing reg­u­lar­ly about sat­is­fac­tion, even before per­for­mance, shows ear­ly where dis­cord is grow­ing.

Impact is the mea­sure. GNH is not a rejec­tion of eco­nom­ic suc­cess, Lhatu Lhatu stress­es. Busi­ness­es need to be eco­nom­i­cal­ly viable, oth­er­wise they can nei­ther sur­vive nor give. The ques­tion is at what cost. Loden turns this into clear cri­te­ria: a busi­ness must be viable, but it is sup­port­ed for its impact.

Lead­er­ship is a ser­vice. At Loden, titles are just titles, and lead­ing means help­ing oth­ers suc­ceed. Lhatu Lhatu names humil­i­ty, empa­thy and integri­ty – rather than pride, prej­u­dice and ego – as the foun­da­tion of good lead­er­ship. Mak­ing room for doubt makes lead­er­ship more human, not weak­er.

Trust young peo­ple with respon­si­bil­i­ty ear­ly. In Bhutan this is a neces­si­ty, because a gen­er­a­tion is miss­ing. The two Kar­mas show what becomes pos­si­ble. In many coun­tries, organ­i­sa­tions face a gen­er­a­tional shift. How much respon­si­bil­i­ty do we entrust to younger peo­ple – and how do we sup­port them in it?

Small prac­tices change a lot. Lhatu Lhatu rec­om­mends occa­sion­al­ly giv­ing employ­ees a Fri­day off; their com­mit­ment, he says, ris­es notice­ably. At Loden there are the “Pow­er Fri­days”. Not every mea­sure has to be big to make a dif­fer­ence.

We are curi­ous which of these learn­ings will be con­firmed in our next con­ver­sa­tions – and which we will dis­card.

How much peace is there in the way we work togeth­er – and do we actu­al­ly ask whether peo­ple are sat­is­fied?