Embracing his unconventional path in academia and life, Sandro Formica, Ph.D. lives every day in full commitment to his Life Purpose, which is “To integrate the science of happiness in firms, educational institutions and governments.” For that reason, he created a holistic model in developing the self that unifies simple core concepts and methodologies from coaching, human needs, mind imagery, education, neuroscience, wellbeing, psychology, and mindfulness.
Sandro Formica, Ph.D.
HAPPINESS AND SELF-SCIENCE – WOHASU
Sandro Formica, Ph.D.
DOCUMENTARY TRAILER “HAPPINESS CONFESSIONS”
Formica suggests that the world will be a better place when a committed individual effort toward happiness is aligned with the goals and mission of any organization—school, firm, political institution, etc. He contributed to the development, analysis and testing of a strategic management model, named “Co-Alignment” and modified it to integrate needs, values, talents, imagination and purpose in the context of a conscious organization managed by self-aware executives.
Formica’s contribution to the 2018 World Happiness Summit offered a hands-on, scientific demonstration that happiness leads to an increase of individual and collective performance in schools, firms, institutions and organizations.
Sandro Formica, Ph.D.
WORLD HAPPINESS SUMMIT – THE POWER OF SELF-AWARENESS
A dynamic presenter and facilitator, Formica is regularly invited to speak to diverse audiences, from K- college students to parents, educators, business executives and media, both in the United States and Europe. In 2016 alone, he engaged over 5,000 students and teachers across Italy, empowering them with tools for self-development, deprogramming and reprogramming, and the conscious use of practices related to imagination, feelings, communication, values, life purpose and life planning.
Formica has been studying and teaching applied social sciences for 25 years. In his current appointment at Florida International University in Miami, he teaches Personal Empowerment, Managing Self & Others, and the Science of Happiness. Since its inception seven years ago, the Personal Empowerment course has become the most popular elective at the Biscayne Bay campus as a result of Formica’s highly experiential approach to content delivery and audience engagement.
Sandro Formica, Ph.D.
WORLD HAPPINESS SUMMIT 2018
As a manager, Formica has over 25 years of experience in the hospitality industry, including the formulation and development of destination tourism plans in three continents, the development of feasibility studies and marketing plans for hospitality facilities and conference centers, and the opening and general management of first class historical hotels. Sandro has provided consulting and executive education services to global and regional hotel corporations such as ACCOR and Intercontinental, coordinated transnational European Union projects in hospitality and tourism, and conducted “Think Tanks” with leading hospitality decision-makers in the Middle East, New Zealand, France, Spain, Italy, and the U.S.
As an academic, he published in international peer-reviewed journals on human motivational factors and behavioral decision-making in the context of travel, executive education needs, United States vs. Europe education system, and predictability of human preferences in future global travel. His research papers were presented at several international conferences, such as the World Business Congress and the Quality of Life World Conference. Formica’s first book, Personal Empowerment-Empower the Leader Within You, was published in November 2017.
Ep 4: Sandro Formica, directed by Marcelo Bukin
HAPPINESS CONFESSIONS
The Happiness Show: Episode 3 – We are NEED machines!
Sandro Formica, directed by Janet Kosowan
Content: Needs
Human needs are the first component of Self Science because every action is geared toward the satisfaction of one or more needs. Therefore, being self-aware of our be-havior as a result of the needs we intend to satisfy helps us surface alternative, more sustainable ways to satisfy our needs. By the same token, being more mindful of oth-ers’ needs will help us help them and the organization as a whole. As a result, the indi-vidual and collective wellbeing and performance grow. The ultimate goal of a full im-mersion activity focused on needs is the achievement of self-realization or your highest and collective potential.
The Happiness Show: Episode 4 – We are ALL Mozarts!
Sandro Formica, directed by Janet Kosowan
Content: Values and Talents & Skills
Values affect our choices, from the simplest ones, such as completing a routine task, to the most complex, such as determining the strategic, long term, direction of the firm. We often act under the influence of social conditioning, trained to re-spond in a manner that is approved by society and drop our true, personal and unique values. As we lean toward what is socially acceptable, we make it harder for the employee to emerge as a driving organizational force. Uncovering individ-ual values and aligning them to daily tasks and actions leads to employee and cus-tomer satisfaction, in addition to increased firm productivity.
Similarly to when we sacrificed our own values to embrace societal values, we dis-connected from our talents because considered not useful or appropriate. Often em-ployees let go their talent for the arts or sciences because it is not conducive to find-ing a job. Inversely, welcoming, encouraging and cultivating the expression of individ-ual talents is the foundation of business creativity and innovation. Employees spend thousands of hours building competencies that are not aligned with their talents. In this section, instead, competencies are built to support personal tal-ents and foster the development of unique selling propositions. When talents and competencies are not aligned, there is an inevitable disconnect between what is alive inside each employee and their contribution to the firm’s success.