34 MONTEREY COUNTY WEEKLY MAY 14-20, 2026 www.montereycountynow.com FACE TO FACE The people of the kingdom of Bhutan in the Himalayas believe that happiness is more important than gross domestic product (GDP). That’s what piqued the interest of Lailah Matrosova Khalil, who traveled there in January to learn about the GNH—that’s gross national happiness index—straight from the source. Khalil is a master’s student at Middlebury Institute of International Studies and owner of her own consultancy. Most of her academic career has focused on trauma studies, terrorism studies and the worst of humanity. Her burning question—and mission—is how to change that for the better. For Khalil, that means a career in security and AI. She is curious as to why other countries have not caught on. But through her own business, Intentional Growth Consulting, she guides government agencies, nonprofits and corporations on how to stay aligned with their mission. That, she says, has a ripple effect that positively impacts humanity on a social scale—something that she is also writing a book about. Weekly: How do people in Bhutan measure the happiness of others? Khalil: They would literally go and knock on people’s doors and ask questions—how much sleep do you get every night? Are you not getting enough sleep? If so, why? Is there something stressing you out? Are you working too much? Are you having family problems? They then take these answers back to the king and they use it to create policy. It’s how they inform their policy and decision-making. What is the underlying philosophy of this approach? They’re big on intention. They’re a Buddhist country—they have their own version of Buddhism in practice. And they’re so focused, being one with nature, one with the land to the point that no building can be higher than the trees, so it doesn’t take over the natural landscape. It’s so different from the day-to-day that we’re used to in any other place. What was your experience like when you were there researching? It was fascinating for me to go and see firsthand and in real time leadership that is not just stating they have the intention to take care of their people and they want what’s best for them, but actually doing it. It’s not perfect, but they’re doing it. Would you want to see something like this in the U.S.? I would love to bring this work to the U.S. When I went there and started learning about what they’re doing I was like, “Huh, this is pretty similar to my own philosophy.” What I’m working on now is connecting with them to bring that information here, to bring that ethos and model here and help develop it further. How does a measure of happiness help your clients and others? It helps them reconnect to themselves and feel safe. Once a person connects to who they are and what their purpose is, they’re able to accomplish any goals they want. It’s the same with a company. When an environment of safety and stability is created, people are going to be able to function, show up every day and work. They’re going to be happy, satisfied and fulfilled, and things are going to flow harmoniously in alignment with their mission, purpose and goals. Is there measurable data you’ve seen that speaks to that? Yeah. I saw the data in Bhutan. They ran us through the survey, questions and policy there, so it is doable. It’s not perfect—it’s a work in progress—but it’s very doable and very important. Why do you want to move into the security and AI industry with this knowledge? Because AI is the future, whether we want to believe it or not, or agree with it or not. It’s not going anywhere. So are we going to be on the good side or the bad side of it? I believe that AI is like a mirror of us as humans. What we’re developing is almost exactly how our internal process and cognition functions. Spiritually, it can help us further develop. Dario Amodei, the founder of Anthropic, was talking about how AI should be used as a partner. However, we also see the dangers of people becoming too over-reliant on it. That causes people to disconnect from themselves and their own thought processes. People no longer put themselves into what they’re doing. So the key to happiness is connection to other people? I personally think so. Connection to other people and more importantly connection to themselves. In Pursuit Lailah Matrosova Khalil is on a mission to help leaders consider the happiness of others. By Sloan Campi MIIS graduate student and consultant Lailah Matrosova Khalil was interested in learning more about Bhutan’s GNH (gross national happiness index) academically and as it could apply to her clients, so she traveled there to see it in action. DANIEL DREIFUSS
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