Category: Happy At Work

I got this in an email today:

You know, if we all lived in a comic book, your super power would be making people happy. You really do have a knack.

Thanks Greg, that would be my super power of choice :o)

Interestingly, though I am a comic book fan, I can’t think of a single superhero or -villain who has that particular power. There are plenty that can generate fear – but none that have happiness as their primary talent.

Maybe the time has come for… Happyman!

Another email came in from Rodney North from Equal Exchange who also spoke at the best business conference ever (WorldBlu Live in New York):

I just wanted you to know that one, good thing that I definitely got from the WorldBlu conference was your talk. More specifically it was the importance of making eye contact, and maybe a touch, and saying — and really meaning — “good morning” to my colleagues.

It has, of course, made a positive difference for me, and I think to others, too.

It’s like I always say: Happiness at work is not rocket science. It doesn’t come from reports, strategies, policies or white papers – it comes from the little things that you and I do here and now. Of course stuff like saying good morning and making eye contact is banal – that’s why it works!

Top Dog Live 2008

I spent Tuesday in London at Top Dog Live, an innovation conference arranged by WhatIf Innovation, the world’s largest independent innovation agency.

I’ve been a long-time fan of WhatIf, both for the cool way they do business and for the amazingly nice people who work there, and this event did not disappoint. It was interesting, different, fun, inspiring and worth every penny of the (fairly high) ticket price.

The theme of the event was innovation in tough times. With a recession looming, many businesses are cutting back on innovation and that’s precisely the wrong thing to do. Remember: A crisis is a terrible thing to waste.

The speakers were many and varied – my favorites included Rachel Mooney, head of HR at Google, Lars Gejrot, head of HR at IKEA, Mike Addison og Procter & Gamble and Wim Roelandts, chairman of the board of Xilinx.

And here’s my main take-away from the day: Though the conference was about innovation, 80% of the talk was about people – and more specifically about making employees happy at work. That’s what they do at Google and IKEA and that’s why they’re innovative.

Furthermore, there was very little talk about compensation schemes, bonuses and stock options and much more focus on praise, recognition, good leadership, openness, trust, freedom and fun in the workplace.

I’ve written about this before. According to research by Teresa Amabile of Harvard Business School, happy people are more creative:

If people are in a good mood on a given day, they’re more likely to have creative ideas that day, as well as the next day, even if we take into account their mood that next day.

There seems to be a cognitive process that gets set up when people are feeling good that leads to more flexible, fluent, and original thinking, and there’s actually a carryover, an incubation effect, to the next day.

So most of the speakers who could’ve been talking about innovation processes or creativity or brainstorming techniques or reward structures for new ideas were basically focuses on making people happy at work, knowing that that will make them more creative.

I like it :o)

Related posts

• Happy companies change more effectively.
• The Feel Factor – why no workplace can afford to ignore how people feel.
• Death to job titles.

This inspired the heck out of me:

According to Amy Wrzesniewski, an Associate Professor of Organizational Behavior at Yale School of Management, there are three ways you can approach your work.

• A job – You do it for the money.
• A career – You do it to advance and get ahead.
• A calling – You do it because it gives you a sense of fulfilment.

Want to take a guess how the young man in the video above sees his work?

This year’s WorldBlu Live 2008 conference was without any doubt the best business conference I have ever attended.

First of all, the topic itself is ground-breaking. The world needs democracy at work. We need workplaces that are more open, inclusive, democratic and positive.

Secondly, the content at this event was unique. You will not hear this stuff at any other conference.

Finally, the people were amazing. The place was overrun with smart, nice, passionate people.

Karl Staib (who I finally got to meet in person) has a great blow-by-blow write-up of the entire conference. Karl starts his piece with:

Would you love to meet the brightest minds in your industry?

Who wouldn’t?

Well, I just did.

I agree completely. But my favorite article from the event may be this one by David Russell, simply because it starts with these words:

Alexander Kjerulf, Chief Happiness Officer, as his title suggests – is happy..! As he bounds on to the stage he exudes energy, and with a twinkle in his eye – also a sense of mischief.

I had no idea I do that. But I’m going to do it even more now :o)

Today’s big news has nothing to do with happiness at work and everything to do with happiness in life: This weekend I proposed to my wonderful girlfriend Patricia and she said yes.

Here are some pictures. Yes, I’m wearing an Elvis costume – it was a Vegas party :o)

We will marry October 1st. 2009 – in Las Vegas. Woooo-hoooooooooooooooo :o)

Politics aside, last night the most positive of the two US presidential candidates won. This is no coincidence, as research by Martin Seligman shows:

Psychologists at the University of Pennsylvania have measured what they call the level of pessimism in the nomination acceptance speeches by candidates in 1948 and in every succeeding Presidential campaign. They found that, with one exception, the more optimistic candidate won.

It is not clear, however, whether a hopeful message alone leads to victory or if it is merely a powerful signal of factors that voters find appealing.

The candidate who offered the greater message of hope won 9 of the 10 elections studied, according to Harold Zullow and Martin Seligman, psychologists at the University of Pennsylvania. And even in the exception, the 1968 race, the ebullient Hubert H. Humphrey came from 14 points behind in the polls to within one percentage point of defeating Richard M. Nixon.

More here. Mind you, this study is from waaaay before Obama and his platform of hope. The study is also referenced in Seligman’s book Learned Optimism (read my review), which is one of my all-time favorite books about happiness.

“Yes we can” is not just a slogan for the ages, it’s the optimist’s fundamental creed. Optimists don’t deny that bad things happen, they just believe that they can cope with them which of course means that they cope much better than pessimists.

Today we’re launching yet another resource for happiness at work (in addition to our Facebook app and our Twitter account): The Happy at Work Link Collection.

It’s based on the popular link sharing site reddit (where I waste waaaaaay too much time), and this is where we’ll be posting all the cool, interesting and funny links we find about happiness at work.

You can of course read all those stories, but if you sign up as a user on reddit (which is free) you can also vote stories up or down and even submit links yourself.

Go check out the happy at work link collection on reddit.

More resources

• Our facebook application: Do you make others happy or unhappy at work.
• Our twitter account: Get quotes, thoughts and exercises about happiness at work.
• The Happy at Work Manifesto.

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.