Reframing how Happiness, Strategy and Innovation drive leadership, high performance and impact

Prof. Rajesh K Pillania is India's leading voice at the intersection of happiness, strategy, and innovation. Widely known as India’s Happiness Professor, he is a leading academic, author, researcher, and executive educator who helps CEOs, CXOs, CHROs, policymakers, and senior leaders turn human energy, strategic clarity, and innovation capability into high performance and meaningful impact.

His work is anchored in a simple and powerful philosophy: Happiness Nourishes. Strategy Guides. Innovation Transforms.

Over the last two decades, Prof. Pillania has taught thousands of students and executives in India and abroad. He is known for making powerful ideas simple, humorous, practical and actionable, and for taking them beyond classrooms into boardrooms, executive programmes, public platforms, media conversations and leadership practice. At a time when organisations are facing disruption, uncertainty, performance pressure and the need for future readiness, his integrated approach shows leaders how happiness strengthens people, strategy creates direction, and innovation enables transformation.

Prof. Pillania is India’s leading researcher and teacher in the field of happiness. His work positions happiness as a serious leadership and performance agenda, not a soft idea. He has taught Happiness Strategy to thousands of students and executives and has authored several books and reports, including The Indian Practice of Happiness: Secrets from Centenarians, Happiness Strategy, India Happiness Report 2020, India Cities Happiness Report 2020, India Happiness 2022 and World Happiness 2022.

As a recognised strategy scholar and educator, Prof. Pillania has been rated and awarded as a Top Professor of Strategy in India by ASSOCHAM and Education Post. His strategy work helps leaders move from complexity to clarity, from intent to execution and from performance pressure to strategic impact. He has taught Strategic Management, Advanced Strategic Management, Strategic Consultancy, Strategy in India, Global Strategy, Emerging Markets Strategy and Happiness Strategy, and has trained executives in Disruptive Strategy, Strategy for High Performance, Strategic Impact and Happiness Strategy.

His innovation work helps leaders and organisations build curiosity, creativity, adaptability and transformation capability. He positions innovation as useful, meaningful and impactful change, not merely novelty or technology. His first-of-their-kind courses and learning formats, such as Happiness Strategy, Strategic Intuition, Strategic Impact, Gandhi & Strategy and Strategic Humour, reflect his ability to create fresh, memorable and high-impact learning experiences.

A defining feature of Prof. Pillania’s work is his commitment to democratizing Happiness, Strategy and Innovation. Through research, books, executive education, public talks, media engagement and practical frameworks, he makes powerful ideas accessible to leaders, institutions and wider society. His approach combines academic rigour, executive relevance, humour, strategic insight, innovation thinking and application-oriented learning.

Prof. Pillania is a multiple award-winning and globally recognised researcher. He was ranked jointly number one in average research productivity among management faculty in India, including IIMs and IITs, for research output from 1968 to 2014, and globally number three for research publications on India in business management from 1960 to 2010 in the ISI Web of Science database. At MDI Gurgaon, he has received the Best Research Professor award multiple times.

His academic and research experience spans Asia, Europe and North America, including IIM Kozhikode, Smith School of Business at the University of Maryland, Harvard University and MCI Management Center Innsbruck, Austria.

 He has shared his insights with millions, including on television and radio in India and internationally, including in Canada, South Africa and Dubai. His ideas have been covered by international, national and regional media, including Travel + Leisure, Yahoo News, MSN, Perfil, LA NACION, Daily Financial Times, The Times of India, Hindustan Times, The Economic Times, Mint, Business Standard, India Today, NDTV, Moneycontrol, Dainik Jagran, Dainik Bhaskar, Manorama and Ananda Bazaar Patrika.  

Prof. Rajesh K Pillania is a go-to thought leader in India for leaders and institutions seeking to harness Happiness, Strategy and Innovation for leadership, high performance and impact.