Reignite purpose. Rebuild culture. Get better outcomes — starting now.
Real schools. Real results. Real transformation.
Watch how the Happiness Advantage │ Orange Frog Workshop™ is sparking change across school districts:
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“Happiness isn’t about ignoring challenges — it’s about giving people the tools to overcome them.” — Shawn Achor
Educators are overwhelmed. Culture can restore them.
Burnout, low morale, and staffing challenges are putting pressure on school communities. But culture is a powerful lever — and it can be rebuilt.
The Happiness Advantage │ Orange Frog Workshop™ equips staff with science-based tools to recharge, reconnect, and create ripple effects of engagement and performance.
Developed by Harvard researcher and bestselling author Shawn Achor, this interactive, research-based experience uses the parable of The Orange Frog to teach practical tools that stick.
“Happiness is not the belief that everything is great. It's the belief that change is possible.” — Shawn Achor
The Happiness Advantage │ Orange Frog Workshop™ is the largest and most successful positive psychology training in education and organizational life — helping schools, districts, and educators build thriving, resilient, and connected cultures.
Based on the seven actionable principles from The Happiness Advantage, the workshop brings Harvard research to life in a way that’s engaging, story-driven, and sustainable. It helps educators confront and rewrite negative social scripts, shift mindset and behavior, and create ripple effects of joy, connection, and performance.
“We thought we were signing up for professional development. What we got was a movement.”
— Superintendent, Midwest Public Schools
“Teachers are re-energized, showing up differently, and creating positive moments for one another and their students.”
— Principal, Texas
“This work helped us shift from crisis management to culture building. It gave our team language, tools, and hope.”
— Assistant Superintendent, North Carolina
“We’ve seen more people leading from every seat. Culture has become contagious — and intentional.”
— District Culture & Climate Director
“Instead of focusing on what’s broken, we’ve started celebrating what’s working — and it's spreading.”
— Teacher Leader, Florida
Across Hundreds of Schools
“This was the most impactful experience of my 29-year career in education.”
— Andy DuRoss, Superintendent, Schaumburg SD54
Backed by over a decade of research in schools across the U.S. and internationally, the Happiness Advantage │ Orange Frog Workshop™ is grounded in science — and designed for lasting impact.
Most PD fades. This doesn’t.
Our approach includes:
Not sure where to start? Let’s talk — we’ll listen to your goals and share how other districts are seeing results.
Call or email Donald Bargy at 919-434-6502 or DonaldB@ithoughtleader.com.
A dynamic, one-day virtual experience based on The Happiness Advantage. Through the story of The Orange Frog, you’ll discover research-backed strategies to shift mindset, boost resilience, and spark a more positive, high-performing culture—starting now.
“This was such an impactful and meaningful experience.”
— Michele Lambert, CFO, Vista Community Clinic
A two-day immersive experience that includes both the full Orange Frog Workshop and an additional day of Train-the-Trainer instruction. This event begins the certification process, equipping you to lead the workshop within your organization. Final certification is completed on-site. Build internal capacity for sustainable, positive culture change.
Shawn Achor is a leading expert on the science of happiness, bestselling author of The Happiness Advantage and Big Potential, and a former Harvard faculty member who spent 12years researching positive psychology.
He has worked with educators in 50+ countries and shared his research on Oprah’s Super Soul Sunday and in one of the most popular TED Talks of all time — that has over 25 million views: The Happy Secret to Better Work
“The Happy Secret to Better Work”
“If happiness is on the opposite side of success, your brain never gets there. But if you raise positivity in the present, your brain performs significantly better.” — Shawn Achor
Proud AASA Partner
MEET SHAWN
Considered one of the world’s leading experts on the connection between happiness and success, Shawn Achor is the New York Times bestselling author of The Happiness Advantage, Big Potential, and The Orange Frog.
His research on mindset made the cover of Harvard Business Review, his TED Talk is one of the most popular of all time with more than 28.4 million views, and he has lectured or worked with nearly half of the Fortune 100 companies as well as the NFL, the NBA, the Pentagon, and the White House.
Having spent over a decade living, researching, and lecturing at Harvard University (and during that time winning over a dozen distinguished teaching awards), Shawn draws on his own research — including one of the largest studies of happiness and potential at Harvard — and more recently on the effects of positivity in organizations facing crisis, to show how our potential can be unleashed, and our people re-energized when we focus on pursuing happiness now, especially during times of challenge and uncertainty.
He has now lectured in more than 50 countries speaking to CEOs in China, doctors in Dubai, schoolchildren in South Africa, and farmers in Zimbabwe. His Happiness Advantage training is one of the largest and most successful positive psychology corporate training programs in the world.
Check out Shawn's TED Talk here
