Lessons from Pursuit of Happiness or Happiness

Happiness is the primary objective of everyone and the reason behind doing to
any act. This process of pursuing happiness is described in the movie Pursuit of
Happiness in the best possible way because it is not just a story dropped out from
the mind of a human being, but it’s a real-life story of a person named Chris
Gardener who started with nothing and then went on to become one of the most
successful personality which the world has seen.

HR Lessons in Pursuit of Happiness

1. Do
not judge candidates on the basis of face value, give them a fair
chance to express themselves:
Despite his shabby appearance, Chris (Will Smith) was allowed to sit for the interview for
Dean Witter Reynolds' coveted internship program and although the interviewers could not
help but express shock at his untidy appearance, they selected him because he was able to
express his passion and abilities to perform.

2. Promote a culture of Meritocracy:

We often hear stories of companies that are biased against minority groups, and offer special
privileges to certain sections of the society, irrespective of individual performance. But in this
movie, Chris bags the Broker position at the company strictly because of his KSA
(knowledge, skills and attitude) and laudable performance.

3. Hire with an open mind:

Chris, despite being older than others applying for the internship program, got selected for the
internship. He also got selected for the broker position later. The hiring managers could have
simply rejected his candidature on account of his age or past experience in a different field,
yet they were receptive to him and helped him succeed.

4. Anger management:
In the pursuit of happiness clearly showed that how to control the angriness. In the movie he
was struggling a lot in life without money and he was a small salesman but he controlled the
angriness and he focussed on the work.

5. Balancing the personal & professional life:

In the beginning Chris cant balance the life, he cant succeed in profession and failed in
personal life, his wife leave him. At the end he concentrated on profession and he succeed in
life he balanced his life

6. Goal oriented:
The Chris is always focussed on goal in his life, he is fully did hard work and he finally
reached his goal

Other lessons Learned in Pursuit of Happiness

1. Don’t get discouraged
When Chris starts his pursuit of happiness, he will start facing a lot of obstacles
than he was facing before like he loses his home, his wife leaves him, he becomes
homeless at one point of time etc. but his desire is too strong and he doesn’t have
any other option than to pursue his goal.
2. Have the courage to speak for yourself
When Chris says, that he is going to become a stock broker. His wife will make
fun of him, but he confronts her that he can do it. The same happens when he
ends up in a very awkward attire at the interview panel, the panellists refuse to
give him the internship at an age of 30’s, but he speaks about himself from the
bottom of his heart.
3. Don’t leave your responsibility
Chris Gardener is compelled to leave his son when his wife Linda leaves him, but
he commands that his son (Christopher) has to stay with him though he doesn’t
have a job to feed him every day. Their great professional achievement is no more
a pleasure for them because they can’t share it with anyone else as they don’t
have any family or friends to share it with. A true leader should be able to balance
his life and work and the person who claims he can’t manage both of them can’t
be a successful person or a leader though he is holding the position of a leader
and successful person in the society.
4. Spread happiness
Though you are in a deep valley of sorrow you have to spread happiness with
others, one day in the life of Chris Gardener, he is flat broke with no money in
the hand and forcefully vacated by his house owner, he is homeless with a son
and with absolutely no money in his hands. He travels to the nearby local railway
station with his son. His son is very small to understand how difficult situation
was that, in spite of his difficult situation he doesn’t lose his temper on him
instead he will try to make him happy. This scene was picturised in a heart
touching way in the movie.