At the 2016 annual Strategic Enrollment Management Conference, Mark Hommerding presented a workshop entitled "Are You Happy?" Author Michael Hawkins concludes in this commentary that happiness not only creates a "better you" (as Hommerding convincingly argued) but that it also undergirds and sustains effective leadership. More than smiles and warm hugs, happiness is gratitude; it is passion, interaction, vibrancy, mercy--all these and more--that ultimately crown us in blessedness. Achieving happiness as a leader requires taking deliberate steps--steps that pick up speed and race toward service, the reason and essence of leadership. Service is not a byproduct; it is the goal. The race is exciting, but it requires change and a shift in paradigm from seeking the trophy to handing it to others.