MIHALY CSIKSZENTMIHALYI
About Mike
Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi—Mike—is one of the most influential living psychologists (thebestschools.org) and recipient of Brain Channel’s Thinker of the Year Award.
He is the architect of flow theory, co-founder of the field of Positive Psychology, and a renowned creativity scholar. His landmark studies and his contribution of the Systems Model of Creativity are foundational to our understanding of the environment’s role in shaping creativity.
In addition to Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience, Creativity: The Psychology of Discovery and Invention, The Evolving Self: A Psychology for the Third Millennium, and Good Business: Leadership, Flow, and the Making of Meaning, he is the author of over 18 books and 250 scholarly articles on flow, creativity, optimal development, and well-being.
He holds a PhD from the University of Chicago and is former Chair of its Department of Psychology. He is Professor Emeritus of Psychology at Claremont Graduate University, where he founded and served as co-director of the Quality of Life Research Center (QLRC). His TED talk Flow: The Secret to Happiness has over 5 million views.
He has served on many boards such as the J.P. Getty Museum, Chicago Museum of Modern Art, Encyclopedia Britannica, and the California Educational Master Plan. He is the recipient of many national and international awards including the Gallup Prize for Positive Psychology, and the Don Clifton Prize (The Gallup Organization).
In collaboration with ALEAS Productions, Budapest, Mike co-produced FLIGBY—Flow is Good Business—a serious gaming simulation that teaches leaders how to ignite flow in organizational contexts. FLIGBY won the Gold Medal in the Corporate Games category at the 2012 International Serious Play Awards and the Global Champion Award for Innovation in Pedagogy, Prague 2018.