Caroline Adams Miller

For over three decades, Caroline has been a pioneer with her groundbreaking work in the areas of the science of goal setting, grit, happiness, and success. She is recognized as one of the world’s leading positive psychology experts on this research and how it can be applied to one’s life and work for maximum transformation.

Caroline helps people identify, come up with a plan for, and persist in, achieving their toughest goals while also inspiring those around them. Her groundbreaking book, Creating Your Best Life (2009/2021), the first mass-market book on goal accomplishment that included evidence-based research, connected the science of success with the science of happiness for the first time. Dr. Martin Seligman, the “father of Positive Psychology,” proclaimed the book as adding a “major missing piece” to goal literature in his book Flourish, and many websites have continued to rank CYBL as the #1 goal book of all time, leading to its reissue in 2021.

"Getting Grit" (SoundsTrue, 2017) is about how to cultivate the qualities of grit and why they matter in a flourishing life. The book was ranked #1 in Japan the day it came out as an ebook, and it has been translated into multiple languages. Angela Duckworth, author of "Grit" and winner of a MacArthur Genius Grant for her research on grit, said, "I don't know anybody who has thought more than Caroline Miller about how to apply the scientific research on grit and achievement to our own lives!" The book was named one of the 10 Books that Will Change Your Life by LiveHappy Magazine in 2017, and in 2023 it was named one of the "Top 25 Books to Help You Find Your Purpose in Life" by Editorialge.

Her latest book, "Big Goals" (Wiley 2024) has been praised by Dr. Gary Latham, the co-founder of Goal Setting Theory, to say Caroline Miller has done a superb job of translating Goal Setting Theory, which I developed with Edwin Locke, along with the empirical research upon which it is based, into everyday, meaningful, memorable language so that all of you can put our findings into practice immediately to bring about changes you desire on and off your jobs." Brian Johnson, co-founder and CEO of Heroic, and author of "Arete," says, "This is the best book on goal setting ever written. Period."

In her keynote presentations and workshops, Caroline blends her personal experience, real-life examples, and cutting-edge research in positive psychology to come up with practical applications that allow for maximum transformation and growth in people’s lives. Caroline leaves her audiences with tangible takeaways and actions they can use to create their own happiness, resilience, and success.

Caroline has worked with clients worldwide, including Morgan Stanley, lululemon, The Wharton School/UPENN, RE/MAX, Booz Allen, Young Presidents’ Organization, Harvard Law School, the New Zealand Bar Association, McKinsey, and Swisse Wellness.

Caroline has been a popular presenter in the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton Business School Executive Education program and has also taught in NYU’s School of Continuing and Professional Studies and the University of Texas-Dallas School of Management.

In addition to the books named above, Caroline is the author of "Positively Caroline" (Cogent 2013), and "My Name is Caroline" (Doubleday 1988/ Cogent 2014), which are the only two memoirs that cover the onset of bulimia through three decades of unbroken recovery. "My Name is Caroline" was the first book to give readers hope that recovery was possible, leading to her being featured on magazine covers and television shows worldwide for many years. She also wrote "Feeding the Soul" (1990), "Bright Words for Dark Days" (1994), and "#IHaveYourBack – Mastermind Success Groups for Women" (2021). She contributed chapters to "Full Lives" (1993) and "Thriving Women, Thriving World" (2019), and textbook chapters on topics from Positive Psychology to executive coaching.

Caroline’s work has been featured in hundreds of magazines, newspapers, and other media worldwide for decades, including BBC World News, The New York Times, The Washington Post, NBC, NPR, and CNN. She was the Washington, D.C. happiness expert on television for several years. She was the first person to bring Positive Psychology to satellite radio on Sirius XM in 2007 with her “Positive Tip of the Day.”

Caroline has one of the first Masters of Applied Positive Psychology degrees from the University of Pennsylvania (2006), and she graduated magna cum laude from Harvard University. She is a top-ranked Masters Swimmer and a black belt martial artist.