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- Author cites happiness as crucial to successful and profitable workplaceOctober 2
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I’m is quoted in this article as saying that:
a happy work environment is no longer a luxury – but essential to creating a successful and profitable workplace.
The concept is simple but challenging for many workplaces, which still buy into a “protestant work ethic,” according to Kjerulf, who is an international speaker and business consultant on the subject.
“There is a pervasive sense that work is tough, hard and unpleasant - and that’s why you get paid to work.”
The article is released in the run-up to the WorldBlu Live 2008 conference in New York on October 16+17 where I’ll be speaking. If you haven’t signed up yet, go do it now - it’s this year’s best and most inspiring business conference.
- Great job adSeptember 24
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I’ve often said that a company’s job ads are a great way of showing what kind of business you’re running and of attracting the right kind of people.
This ad does it brilliantly:
The “Mr. Stabby” line alone is priceless :o)
What do you think - do job ads with personality attract or repulse you?
- WorldBlu Live 2008: This year’s most exciting business conferenceSeptember 19
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I’ll be speaking at WorldBlu Live 2008 (October 16+17 in New York), the best and most exciting business conference I know. The theme is Democratic Organizations, i.e. organizations that believe in and practice freedom, openness, transparency and engagement instead of top-down, command-and-control management.
There will be some GREAT speakers there - I particularly look forward to hearing Bill Taylor, Tim Sanders and Cali Ressler and Jody Thompson, Co-authors of the best-selling Why Work Sucks and How to Fix It.
Another major treat is the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, who have won Grammy awards despite the fact (or because of it) that they have no conductor.
But the most interesting thing will be to hear from CEOs who practice organizational democracy on a day-to-day basis and learn from organizations who know how to do it and achieve success through it.
Check out this short video invitation from WorldBlu:
- Yet another happy company: Pret A MangerAugust 28
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Samantha Wood interviews Pret A Manger’s Head of Communications, Jay Chapman, and she is more than happy to divulge some of their secrets of success. I especially love the opening:
She tells me she’d love to have a scary sounding formula to impress people with, but in her mind it’s all pretty simple stuff:
“If you treat your employees well and involve them in the decisions that will affect them, they’re much more likely to be engaged in carrying out the effects of those decisions.”
There’s another gem when they talk recruitment:
“You can’t hire someone who can make sandwiches and teach them to be happy,” says Jay, “So we hire happy people and teach them to make sandwiches”.
If you don’t know Pret A Manger, they make coffee, sandwiches and other great food. It’s sort of like the British Starbucks - only better!
What I’ve always liked about them (apart from the outstanding quality of their products and the great service you get) is their passion. It’s obvious that this company cares deeply about what they do - and that’s huge to me.
- Change with a smileAugust 25
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Why must change in organizations be so hard?
No company can thrive and survive if it can’t adapt and innovate and yet there’s an almost universal cry going up today that “change is tough and takes too much time and energy!”
You’ll have upper management on one side pushing for innovation, employees on the other side clinging to the old ways and middle managers caught (where else?) in the middle trying to actually get stuff done. Sound familiar?
My work with organizations all over the world has shown me that there is one vital factor that is being overlooked practically everywhere. One factor that can not only help companies change more rapidly and effectively but which contributes massively to the bottom line. That factor is happiness at work.
Here are the top three reasons why happy companies change more effectively and painlessly.
1: Happy people get more ideas
In times of change, companies cannot rely on the old ways of doing business and thus need new ideas. Preferably lots of them. And a fascinating study by Teresa Amabile of Harvard Business School shows that creativity is positively associated with joy and love and negatively associated with anger, fear, and anxiety. In other words, happy e
