Three weeks ago I was in India to speak at the World HRD Congress in Mumbai and my speech was very well received – here’s some sample feedback:

“Your presentation was the best I’ve seen in 20 years in HR.”

“It was really great listening to your talk. I have implemented a lot of it in my life and I can already feel a huge difference.”

“Alexander Kjerulf was the rock star in the World HRD congress this year. He mesmerized participants from 79 countries with a simple yet powerful approach to create a happy work place.”

And India absolutely needs more happiness at work. Not that workplaces there are particularly bad, it’s just that the war for talent is still going strong. While the financial crisis has given many western workplaces an excuse to stop focusing on happiness at work, Indian workplaces are facing some stark realities:

• Employee turnover among specialists and middle managers is around 20-30%.
• Annual average pay rises are 12-13%.
• There is a huge fight to attract newly educated Gen Y employees.

In short, Indian workplaces are doing their best to attract the best people, keep them in the workplace and help them perform optimally. The problem is that they’re doing all the wrong things, ie. things like wellness initiatives, bonuses, pay raises, promotions, etc. While there’s nothing wring with any of this, it simply isn’t what makes employees happy at work – at most it makes them satisfied.

In my speech, I tried to focus on what really does make people happy at work – and therefore more likely to stay in the workplace, more likely to do their best work and more likely to try to convince acquaintances, friends and family to also work there. And it seemed to really ring a bell.

So thanks to everyone who attended my presentation and a great big thank you to all the cool inspiring people I met at

Here are some pics from my speech

I’m speaking in India again on Februay 10 at the World HRD Congress. I’m very excited to be going to India again – the last time I was there to speak at a conference and do some workshops for Tata, I had a blast and I found that the message of happiness at work was very well received.

I have some free time in Mumbai on Feb. 9 and Feb. 12, so if you’d like to meet and discuss happiness at work, maybe we can arrange something. Contact me, and we’ll see what’s possible.

My talk at TEDxCopenhagen went really, really well. I can’t count the number of people who came up after and told me they loved it.

But don’t take my word for how good it was – the talks from the conference are live on the internet already, so you can see for yourself. Click here to watch it.

In my speech, I talk about:

• The happiest bus driver I’ve ever met.
• The strange Danish word arbejdsglæde, and why the rest of the world needs to learn it.
• What makes us happy in life and at work.
• Why Denmark isn’t really the happiest country.
• What you can do to be happy at work.

What do you think?

Here are some reactions to my speech from the #tedxcph stream on twitter:

I highly recommend Alexander Kjerulfs talk about happiness at work.

Eye opener: Alexander Kjerulf on arbejdsglæde.

Great talk by Alexander Kjerulf on happiness at work.

IKEA ought to make an office chair called arbejdsglæde in honor of Alexander

And there were tons of great talks today – here are my three favorites:

• Mikael Colville-Andersen: Why We Shouldn’t Bike with a Helmet
• Kristian von Bengtson & Peter Madsen: Danes in Space
• Morten Sommer: What Bacteria Means for the Good Life

You can see all the talks here.

I’ve got good news, good news, more good news and bad news. What do you want first?

The good news: I’m speaking at TEDx Copenhagen on November 30.This year the talks will be held in English, so I’ll actually be able to share my TEDx talk with an international audience. Wooo-hooooooooo! The talk should be available right after the conference – stay tuned.

More good news: My speech in Bratislava last week went really well and was received very enthusiastically by a mixed audience of leaders, HR people and students. I was even on Slovakian TV news that night :o)

Still more good news: We’re entering the busiest time of the year. Over the next 20 days I and my fantastic co-workers are doing 27 client gigs (speeches, workshops and trainings) in 4 different countries. That’s a lotta workplace happiness right there :o)

And finally the bad news: This also means that there will probably won’t be a lot happening on this blog over then next few weeks. Follow me on twitter instead – I’ll still have time to tweet.

Next week (November 11) I’m speaking about happiness at work at an event in Bratislava. Click here to read more and sign up (in Slovakian).

I have never been to Bratislava before, so I’m also excited to see the city. Do you know Bratislava? Have any good tips for restaurants or sightseeing?

I’ve had to sit on this news for a while, but now I’m finally free to announce that I am one of the speakers at TEDx Copenhagen on November 30.

The theme of the event is “The good life”. As you know, Denmark is often called the happiest country on the planet. I’ll be examining if this is really true, what it takes to achieve the good life and look more at the good life at work. I also have a bone to pick with all the politicians and economists who want us to work more hours in the name of GDP growth. If you think that working longer is really the best path to success and growth, I’ll be showing you exactly why you’re wrong!

Sign up here – and you’d better do it fast. I hear the tickets are selling like hotcakes.

On Friday afternoon I had two presentations for two different groups of managers about 200 miles apart.

There was only one way I could possibly make both gigs. This is it:

Yep: A friggin’ helicopter.

I finished my presentation at a convention center in Odense at 4:45, took a taxi to a nearby field where the helicopter was waiting. I got on, and an hour later I was in Elsinore – just in time for my second gig.

Here I am on the chopper, just before takeoff:

In case you want to see more, here we are coming in to land in front of LO-Skolen in Elsinore:

I gotta tell ya – being dropped off at the second venue and the walking right in to start my presentation made me feel like a VIP. I could get used to this :o)

I took a class in stand-up comedy in New York a couple of weeks ago run by the American Comedy Institute who offer a 1-year version, a 3-week version and (the one I did) a 5-day intensive version for non-New York natives.

The concept for the intensive version is simple: The class starts on a Tuesday and runs daily until Saturday. You get to develop a five minute set and perform your material in front of the rest of the class AND you get private one on one writing sessions with Stephen Rosenfeld (who teaches the class) to go over and refine your material. For your graduation you perform live on stage at a New York comedy club in front of a paying audience.

I love to challenge myself to do activities that let me learn new skills and scare me silly, and few activities have accomplished this as thoroughly as this class :o)

So without further ado, here’s my stand-up comedy debut, filmed on June 21 2008 at The Gotham Comedy Club in New York. It may not be entirely safe to watch at work.

I’m thinking this was so scary and so much fun that I need to do it some more. There are open mike nights every Wednesday at The Comedy Zoo here in Copenhagen. I may have to create a set in Danish and try it out there.

I highly recommend the class that The American Comedy Institute offers – you can read all about it here.

This year’s WorldBlu Live conference has just opened for registration. It takes place on October 16-17 in New York.

This event is about democratic workplaces and you will:

• Learn best practices and leadership lessons from the CEOs of some cool democratic organizations.
• Discover how running a business democratically is a key to being happy at work AND making more money.

For me, this is THE conference event of the year and I really look forward to both speaking and participating.

The last WorldBlu conference in Washington DC was one of the most inspiring business conferences I have ever attended – I have never seen so many cool, fascinating and fun people gathered in one place.

Read more about the event here and register here. If you register before May 1st, you save a cool $300.

Here’s the deal: I’d love to speak at Google.

I admire the way they do business and I’d love to get a chance to speak at the happiest company in the US.

I know they have these Authors@Google talks all the time, and I’ve been told by my new pal Alan Gregerman who gave one recently, that the way you get to do one is by having a Google employee sponsor you.

I just happen to be an author myself so if you work at Google, or know someone who does, why not get me over there.

Hey – this approach got me to India. In May 2007 I wrote this post about how I’d love to go to India and speak. Regular reader S. Nand happened to know some of the right people and in December I spoke at a management conference in Indore and gave two workshops to leaders at Tata, India’s biggest corporation.

So… next stop Mountain View?