Hi, I’m Kaisa and I’m glad that you are here to get to know me better!
I am a doctoral researcher of positive education at the University of Helsinki, and the founder and CEO of Positive Learning Ltd.
Over the past few years I have had an opportunity to study extensively the strength-based approach to teaching and work, and to train the personnel of schools and enterprises. The key themes of my lectures include creating a work culture of compassion and co-passion and building teams through the recognition of strengths. One of the biggest acknowledgements of my career came in 2017, when the idea I developed for broader recognition of strengths and abilities among children and adolescents, ‘Positive CV’, was rewarded as the best innovation in a challenge competition organized by Sitra, the Finnish National Independence Fund. The victory brought the innovation a € 500,000 prize for scaling it globally, and ever since I have been touring the world, lecturing in 17 countries so far about themes related to positivity. By doing this, I hope I can contribute to each person’s true potential being identified, and to encouragement and positive feedback gaining more ground in the everyday life of day-care centers, schools and companies.

Essentially, our well-being and survival depend on belonging to a group. School children must learn to be with others and support others’ chances of success and well-being in life. The lives of children and youth today are stressful in many ways. Competition and social comparisons effectively reduce not only one’s own happiness, but also the chances of everyone benefiting positively from each other, and enjoying their lives. There are also more and more occasions where artificial intelligence and technology win us 6-0, so we need to focus on improving humanity in schools, and considering how to teach skills that artificial intelligence cannot replace. Socio-emotional skills and character strengths, such as kindness, compassion, self-regulation and creativity, are an inexhaustible resource that must be learned and taught at an early age. They are key pillars of growth that help us regulate our emotions, get along with each other and achieve our goals, and above all, work together to face future challenges. The learning of these skills is crucial for well-being and for a variety of school successes, not just for the individual, but for society as a whole.

What motivates me in particular is how small positive actions and encounters can bring joy and empowerment to our days. I hope that through my work I can increase my understanding of the true potential of positive psychology and education in schools, kindergartens and work communities. True positivity comes from within, it is not a forceful smile or a constant hunt for positive emotions. Rather, it is about appreciating all emotions, the ability to change perspectives, the capability to recognize one’s own and other people’s strengths, and the willingness to learn from adversity, without forgetting the areas for development. True happiness is a byproduct of a good life where you can experience that your own know-how benefits others, whereby everyone can, through their own actions, contribute to a common good and gain the experience of a meaningful life; a reason to wake up to a new day.

Happiness precedes many positive things, it doesn’t always come as an end product. I suggest that together we boldly mobilize a positive upward spiral, above all through respectful encounters, and focus on exploring everyone’s strengths and successes. This does not mean vague patting on the back or irrelevant continuous praise. With the discovery of one’s strengths and by receiving positive feedback for using them, more and more of us dare to take steps toward unknown areas of our lives. Conversely, without encouragement and a forward drive, we would lack much experience of the potential of our character and our ability to do good in each other’s lives.