Category: Happy At Work

One of the most popular posts on this blog is still the one about how not to manage geeks, which lays out the top 1o mistakes managers make in leading tech people. The post has been translated into several other languages, and now you can also read it in German: Wie man Geeks NICHT führen sollte.

A great big thank you to Peter Köves for the translation!

Here are the other translations of the post:

• Portuguese: Como NÃO liderar geeks, translated by Cesar Cardoso.
• Spanish: Como NO liderar geeks, translated by Matías Agustín Bellone.
• Italian: Come NON dirigere i geek, translated by Marco Bertola.
• Persian translation by Nasser Ghanemzadeh: Part 1, Part 2.
• Danish: Hvordan man ikke leder nørder, translated by Flemming Laugaard.

The London Sunday Times had an article yesterday about happiness at work and why it’s great to like your job. They’re asking many different experts in the field, and I’m quoted as well:

The biggest single step that individuals can take is to choose to be happy, said Alex Kjerulf, chief happiness officer at the Happy at Work Consultancy and the author of Happy Hour is 9-5. “Rather than settling for a job that’s not too bad, say to yourself ‘I want to be happy at work’,” he said. “You can be happy as a bus driver, as a mortuary worker, as a doctor . . . but a lot of people don’t seem to want to be.”

There’s lots more – read the entire article here.

Speakers at Arbejdsglæde Live! 2009, our annual conference about happiness at work.

Last week has been the best week ever in the history of our company. It’s fun to be able to look back at and go “whoah – I’m glad we don’t rock that much every week :o)”

Here are a few highlights from the week:

We had our conference about happiness at work on Tuesday. 12 speakers from Denmark and USA and a great audience made this the happiest conference on Danish soil this year.

You can read more about the conference here (In Danish).

Here’s Steve Shapiro, our morning keynote speaker, giving his take on the day:

My new book (Hurra, der er krise / Hooray, there’s a crisis) debuted on the Danish non-fiction top-10 bestseller list. I was mostly edged out of the top spot by sudoku books and cook books:

The book was also reviewed in JyllandsPosten (a major Danish newspaper) and receieved 5 out of 6 stars for usability and 6 out of 6 for entertainment value. Some choice quotes:

Every time you finish a page, you just want to read another one. One of the most relevant books on the shelves right now. Read it and get happy.

You can see the review here (In Danish).

To cap off the week, I went to London to speak at London Business School. I was a guest speaker at Dr. Srikumar S. Rao’s class on Creativity and Personal Mastery and I had a blast with them. I also really enjoyed the previous day’s guest speaker Ben Zander, the conductor of the Boston Philharmonic.

So here’s to a great week – and here’s hoping that not every week has to be this intense :o)

As I previously blogged about (and some commenters took waaaay too seriously) it’s good to be a Dane, because Google likes us :o)

Here are two more reasons why Danes are really lucky:
If you’re getting tired of all this talk of recession and crisis, we have a new web site out in Danish called www.hurradererkrise.dk (which translates to “Hooray, there’s a crisis” – trust me, it sounds a lot better in Danish :o).

You can test yourself to see how the crisis affects you, you can test your workplace or you can join our Facebook group. Aaaaaand you can read all about my new book which comes out on May 14. In Danish. Check out www.hurradererkrise.dk.

And then there’s our fantastic conference about happiness at work on May 26 in Copenhagen. No less than 14 great speakers will inspire us about how to achieve happiness at work – even in a recession.

Read all about the conference and sign up here.

This year’s reboot conference promises to be the best ever – and that’s saying something. The theme this year is Action – something that is very close to my heart.

From the invitation:

it’s time to act, time to focus on the act of acting, time to figure out where to begin the reboot. reboot11 is two days away far from the status quo, two days with old and new friends trying to figure out how to reboot the world!

This is a once in our lifetime opportunity, and so it could be the single most important reboot ever – because this year we’re not in a world that thinks the status quo is working – it’s not only the freaks at reboot that feel the need to reboot things. we’re in times of change and systemic failure unlike anything we’ll probably experience again in our lifetime. we’ve had visionary insights and reflections the last couple of years at reboot (renaissance, human and free – great journeys into the deep insights). now it’s time to act on the insights.

It’s up to us edgelings and participatory folks to take charge and begin building a better future – insight comes with responsibility.

We’re not afraid. we know that we need to reinvent and reboot everything on new scales based on trust, networks and participation.

We are at the cusp of a new approach to sharing, consuming, banking, insurance, journalism, democracy – well almost everything – all the core infrastructure we’ve build our societal systems on. how do we move forward?

Inspiring words. I’ll be there!

As I’ve mentioned before, our HQ here in Copenhagen is in a fantastic place called La Oficina. This is a shared office space for small businesses – but a very different one. The metaphor for the place is not really an office, it’s a café.

When you step inside, the first thing you see is the bar and the grand piano. In fact, there are no desks, office chairs, cubicles or bulletin boards anywhere. You go in, you pick a table like you would at any café and you work, have your meeting, have coffee or whatever.

In short, it’s a beautiful and brilliant place and the café setting makes it really easy to meet and learn from all the other amazingly cool people who come here.

But a place in England has just upped the ante. When I saw this, I became instantly green with envy:

Yes, that is a slide going down three floors. I have not tried it but it looks fast.

It’s in the newly opened Electric Works office complex in Sheffield.

Related posts

• 10 seeeeeeeriously cool workplaces.
• 12 ways to pimp your office.

While I’m attending a conference at the LEGO HQ in Billund, Denmark please enjoy these great (and happy) links.

The Proper Use for Post-its.
Frode Heimen finds a great use for post-its and a great way to praise people.

A few days ago I wrote one post-it note to all my employees, they all started with these words: “I appreciate you because…” and I tried to write what I genuine appreciate about each one, all notes ended up differently, as all of them are appreciated for different reasons.

I thought this was a fun thing to do at the office and I hoped it would make them smile for a while. This evening I was walking around at the office and noticed that several notes where hanging at their partition wall. And I started to realize that this really meant a lot for some of them.

Pay Peanuts, Get Monkeys
Rowan Manahan goes to work on the bail-out mentality. Hilarious!

“And now, you want us to prop up your business.”
“Well clearly we can’t let the savings and deposits of millions of investors …”
“But while we’re propping up your business for all those unfortunate millions of investors, you expect ‘business as usual’ when it comes to your remuneration?”
“Of course!”
“Of course? Why of course?”
“Well if salaries or bonuses drop, we won’t be able to hold onto the brightest and best minds in the industry!”

“I see. And these would be the brightest and best minds who devised and implemented the strategies that have led to the collapse of all these institutions?”
“Ah yes, but as I said, conditions became very hostile …”
“Mmmmm, very hostile. Because someone had the temerity to ask how much the houses behind the Triple-A paper were actually worth?”
“Well when you put it like that, it just sounds stupid …”

And finally the coolest thing I’ve ever seen on a plane: A flight attendant who raps.

That’s happiness at work right there!

My new book is coming out on May 14 and I just got to see the front cover design for the first time:

Unlike my first book which came out in English first and then Danish this one is coming out in Denmark first. The title means “Hooray, there’s a crisis – use it as a springboard for more happiness, progress and profits at work.”

It sounds a LOT better in Danish :o)

The theme of the book is happiness at work in a crisis (duh!). This is of course inspired by the current financial crisis but the book is directed at any workplace in trouble.

The book has three central claims:
1: Most of what companies traditionally do in a crisis doesn’t work.
The way many organizations typically handle crises is by cutting back on all expenses and doing mass layoffs. While this can be necessary, studies actually show companies who choose this approach recover more slowly.

2: It is possible to be happy at work even in a workplace in trouble.
Of course it’s easier to be happy when everything is going swimmingly, but people can still be happy at work in a crisis. It takes determination and focus, but it can be done. Surprisingly, a crisis can make people happy at work, provided that it becomes a reason for people to focus and pull together – rather than an excuse to give up.

3: Happy workplaces get out of a crisis faster.
Especially in a crisis, an organization needs to get the best out of its people – and when we’re happy at work we are more motivated, creative and productive.

I’ve got plenty of real-life stories and case stories of people and companies who refused to just give in to tough times and instead used them to create even more happiness. My favorite story from the book is the one about Xilinx, a computer chip company in Silicon Valley whose revenues fell to about half during the dotcom implosion. Their CEO Wim Roelandts refused to do what everyone else in the IT industry did (ie. mass layoffs) and instead found a more creative way that brought the organization out of the crisis stronger and faster than their competitors.

We have a new partner in crime! Or rather in happiness :o)

We’ve been emailing with Karl Staib for a while now, and we finally got a chance to meet him at the WorldBlu conference in New York in October ’08.

Here’s a short piece that Karl wrote to introduce himself. If you need a US-based speaker on happiness at work, Karl’s your man! Karl will also be guest blogging here over the next couple of weeks while I’m om vacation snowboarding in Whistler!!.

Karl of Work Happy Now

Alex asked me to introduce myself because I’ve been helping spread the work happiness message. I’ve learned a lot from talking to Alex and reading his book and blog. He introduced me to the concept of happiness at work and the importance of creating an atmosphere that encourages great work and fun at the same time.

My Working Woes

I’ve struggled with working happy at most of my jobs. It’s why I started Work Happy Now. I knew there was a better way to work instead of enduring the torture I had been through. I researched books, websites, and online video (before YouTube kicked in).

I found Alex’s site and was floored by the content. I literally fell back in my chair. There was a likeminded person who was actually making a difference within organizations! I got up out of my seat and did a little happy dance. I found my passion. I wanted to help people work happier. It wasn’t that quick and easy to find my passion, but just know that Alex lit the fuse.

Work Happy Now

So after years of research (business books, personal development books, interviews and my own internal discoveries) I created “Work Happy Now” over a year ago and have been going strong ever since.

I’ve committed to going out and helping people who struggle at work like I had done. Work happiness should be available to all of us. There are so many tools at our disposal. We are living in a golden age of work. Managers can’t just tell us to shut up and do our work. Well they can, but most managers take our feelings into account.

There are companies like Google, Southwest airlines, and Starbucks that are leading the employee revolution. They know that a happy employee will produce better results, stay at their job longer, and care about the success of the company.

According to Alex, and I agree, we need to focus on two main themes when trying to improve our working environment:

• Results

• Relationships

When we have a chance to accomplish great work and do it with people we like, our work becomes more enjoyable.

Alex has a brilliant quote in is his presentation:

“Each individual should work for himself. No one wants to sacrifice himself for the company. People come to work in the company to enjoy themselves.”

– Soichiro Honda

Companies can truly thrive when they can start caring about their employees’ emotional needs, and stop the faulty thinking that as long as they pay their employees they will work hard.

Giving Work Happiness Presentations

I will be giving work happiness presentations using Alex’s time tested techniques. I’ve made his presentation my own, changing a few things here and there, but never veering off from the core concepts.

If you are interested in hiring me to come to your company, please visit my “Hire Me” page and let me help your company improve its happiness and productivity.

Thanks to Alex

Alex has been a huge help in guiding me through the beginning phases of getting my speaking career off the ground. So if you want to hire me while I’m still a bargain, you should act now. My rates won’t stay low for very long.

For those of you who are not quite ready to bring me in to your organization, you can always check out Work Happy Now and sign up for email updates. That way you can stay updated on the latest ideas (my blog has a different twist than Alex’s blog) and improve your work happiness from additional angles.