Marilyn Tam is among the most singularly accomplished leaders in American business today. Her distinguished profile lists executive roles at international companies, including CEO of Aveda Corp., president of Reebok Apparel and Retail Group, and vice president of Nike. Her accomplishments have gained her a reputation as a keen business strategist and an effective leader.
She also has had success as an entrepreneur, founding a corporate training and consulting company, a web portal company, a health and wellness company and a software company.
The way Tam has achieved such remarkable success is as interesting as her roster of accomplishments. She has a reputation for building success by doing business fairly and ethically and for always giving back. According to Brand Channel, she is one of the four most prominent names in brand ethics globally.
She co-founded and serves as executive director of the Us Foundation that facilitates global action plans to address social, economic and environmental issues. She also serves as a director on the national board of SCORE, a partner of the U.S. Small Business Administration.
There’s more: Tam has worked tirelessly on behalf of human rights and has an extensive list of philanthropic achievements. She was award the Reebok Human Rights Award for her humanitarian work. Also presented with the Artemis Award by the Greek government for her business and humanitarian work, she was further honored with her likeness appearing on a Greek postage stamp.
Certainly part of her giving back extends to readers. She has written two previous books, How to Use What You’ve Got to Get What You Want, and Living the Life of Your Dreams. The latter was an eBook of the Year in 2011.
This month, her newest book, The Happiness Choice: The 5 Decisions That Will Take You From Where You Are To Where You Want To Be, is being released. In this new book, Tam shares insights not about her rise as an international business success, but how she did so without sacrificing personal health and happiness.
Tam overcame obstacles early in life on her journey to discover happiness and balance. She did not grow up happy. Born the second daughter in a traditional Chinese family, she was unwanted and neglected. Her mother left her at the hospital and had to be called and ordered to pick her up. Growing up, she was mistreated both physically and mentally.
Tam came to believe that she had a choice. She could live the life she dreamed of living. She could choose happiness.
And as she rose to international fame, she continued to choose happiness and determined that she would not only succeed at business but at happiness.
The Happiness Choice argues that despite your upbringing or your current circumstances, you can choose it as well.
“People want contentment, love and happiness derived from meaningful work. They want nourishing personal relationships, a healthy mind and body, a spiritual core, and a reason for living,” says Tam. “But with only 24 hours in a day and all of the competing demands of modern life, the question is — how? Is it even possible?”
Tam gently guides readers in defining and prioritizing their roles so they can accomplish goals and still feel balanced. She is well aware of the difficulties in such a task. While the United States ranks No. 1 in the world for productivity, it takes 11th place for happiness. As shown by the rankings of many other countries, the difference between these two numbers does not correlate into a positive workforce.
Tam relies not only on statistical analysis on happiness but also calls on a cadre of experts whom she has had the good fortune to know during her own journey.
Among the prominent figures are psychologists, business experts and self-help authors. In sharing the stage with these individuals, Tam shows a broader, more inclusive, picture of the search for balance in contemporary work life.
The book often focuses on women, though not to the exclusion of men. Women, Tam acknowledges, are culturally trained to do it all — although this is often true of business leaders of both genders. This translates into an inability to ask for help on what they consider to be their job.
By acknowledging the imbalance in our lives, we can find balance, Tam suggests.
Prioritizing roles focuses expectations less on how much is done and more on what is done. Tam’s accomplishments and remarkable achievements may have brought her recognition and acclaim. Happiness, she claims, came to her by overcoming daunting odds in making the choice to claim it as her own. It’s a choice anyone can make.