The Chief Happiness Officer Blog

Category: Leadership

Leadership is an insanely important discipline. Here you’ll find the thought, tools and tricks of the trade of great leaders.

  • Simplicity – complexity – simplicity

    I posted an Oliver Wendell Holmes quote a while ago:

    I would not give a fig for the simplicity this side of complexity, but I would give my life for for the simplicity on the other side of complexity.

    Sandy Wilder of Communico used this quote in his presentation at the CEO round table, and that got me thinking. I’d say that the first simplicity comes from thinking you understand any given system. Yep, we’ve got it figured – we know how the system will react in most situations, and we can manage that.

    The complexity comes when you realize, that you don’t understand the system. An example: You give you salesforce bonuses to make them sell more. It works for a while, but suddenly sales drop. More bonuses help, but not as much as the first time. What’s going on? Apparently the system is more complex than we thought. The specific reasons, why additional bonuses don’t make much of an impact can vary. Maybe the first round of bonuses motivated the sales people to close a lot of easy sales, and now there are only the “hard” cases left. Maybt it has fostered strong internal competition, so they actually undercut each others work to get the bonus. The point is, that the system was apparently more complicated than we thought – and in truth, most systems are.

    The “simplicity on the other side of complexity” does not come, however, from understanding the system. Most systems in a business setting are so complex, that we won’t ever be able to predict them. Trying to understand the system is, in all probability, ultimately futile.

    However, trying to develop your values and principles, so that they align with your goals is certainly a worthwhile pursuit. And that is the simplicity on the other side of complexity. That simplicity comes from knowing yourself and your values, and living by them. It comes from the belief or faith that, as long as we work in the right way and stick to our principles, it will turn out right. And that’s a crucial distinction.

  • Democratic CEO round table, part 2

    The round table is now over, and it’s been an amazing ride. Some of the highlights were:
    * Hearing real-life stories of organizational democracy – the ups AND the downs
    * Meeting some wonderful, courageuos people
    * Exploring the link between political democracy and organizational democracy. Fredo Arias-King gave a fascinating presentation on the transition to democracy in eastern Europe and the ex-Soviet countries and why some succeeded and others didn’t. Key factor: People! The countries that completely got rid of the old guard (the Nomenklatura) succeeded.
    * Seeing Traci Fenton and her team in action. Relaxed, creative and on the ball
    * “Singing in the rain” with Victor Aspengren of Schafer Systems

    I’m jetting of to Seattle in a few hours, and I’m looking forward to just chilling on the flight. Then the Practice of Peace conference starts tonight.

  • Democratic CEO round table, part 1

    I’m now in Washington DC, and the first 24 hours of the World Dynamics round table for democratic CEO’s has been fantastic. There are some great people here, who can tell some amazing stories. There’s an incredible level of experience, openness and curiosity present – and it’s just plain fun.

    The conference started thursday evening Mart Laar, the first prime minister of Estonia. He talked about democracy and about values and principles he beliveves are necessary to practice democracy. And he should know: Under him, Estonia went from a hopeless ex-soviet backwater, to a modern, fast-developing economy. His speech was very inspiring and moving, and his down-to-earth authentic and slightly underplayed style was wonderful.

    Today several of the participants have had a chance to present, and I talked briefly about the principles behind Enterprise Systems (my old IT company). In the afternoon we did a short open space session, which seemed to go over really well with this crowd – as I’d hoped it would. If there’s one tool that can promote organizational democracy, I believe it’s Open Space meetings.

    The day ended with a wonderful dinner with everybody in really high spirits. My mind is still racing from all the input and all the incredible stories I’ve heard today, and I hope tomorrow will be just as interesting.

  • Incentives do not work

    If you want your employees to perform well, conventional wisdom says that you must give them lots of incentives. Stuff like free phone calls, company cars, gold stars, employee of the month awards are necessary, right? Wrong! Incentives, and the ensuing competition, actually make matters worse, and remove peoples attention from their work. This makes employees less motivated about their work.

    According to this article by Alfie Kohn, you should in stead:
    * Pay people well.
    * Pay people fairly.
    * Then do everything possible to take money off people’s minds.

    Notice that incentives, bonuses, pay-for-performance plans, and other reward systems violate the last principle by their very nature.

    I could not agree more. The whole notion that you can motivate anybody is wrong, and money is certainly not the way. People can motivate themselves, and businesses can create environments in which it is easy or hard for them to do so. Incentives make it harder!

  • Will your business fail if you take today off?

    Peter Carruthers ponders the entreprenurial drive and what it does to business leaders in this article. Teaser: Most of us are bogged down with a deep guilt about our businesses. We?re uncomfortable being away from the beast for too long. Maybe it?s the way we were taught ? that we have to work hard to prosper. Maybe it?s because we?re afraid it?s really going to stop breathing. [A little like the first months as a new parent when you check the baby every few hours.

  • Quote

    I’m a businessman, but I’m still going to do things on my own terms. I’m going to break a lot of rules, and we’re going to blur the distinction between work and play. So we have a policy here – it’s called “Let My People Go Surfing.” A policy which is, when the surf comes up, anybody can just go surfing. Any time of the day, you just take off and go surfing… That attitude changes your whole life. If your life is set up so that you can drop anything when the surf comes up, it changes the whole way you do your life. And it has changed this whole company here.

    – Yvon Chouinard, founder of Patagonia

    Yvon explains the surf boards lined up in the entrance hallway of the companys headquarters in Ventura, California. Quoted in “Good Business” by Mihaly Csikszentmihaly.

  • Going to DC and Seattle

    I’m going to 2 conferences in the US in november. First I’m going to World Dynamics conference for democratic CEOs in Washington DC arranged by Traci Fenton and her crew, and after that I’m going to Washington state to be a part of the Practice of Peace conference. While these two conferences look quite different on the surface, I actually believe there’s a huge overlap between them and with the happiness at work project.

    If you’re in DC or Seattle, and would like to meet and talk, drop me an email. I’m available om november 6 in DC and on november 13 and 14 in Seattle. Also if you know of a place I could stay in Seattle, I’d like to hear about it.

    A big thank you to Kasper of Culture Adventure for the excellent travel arrangements. If you’re travelling, I can definitely recommend him.

  • Want happiness at work? Control your own time!

    Giving employees something to smile about at the office may be as simple as offering them more control over their time, its recent survey suggests. One-third (33 percent) of workers polled said greater schedule flexibility would result in increased job satisfaction.

    From an article in the Sillicon Valley/San Jose Business Journal.

  • Control

    A financial analyst once asked me if I was afraid of losing control of our organization. I told him I’ve never had control and I never wanted it. If you create an environment where the people truly participate, you don’t need control. They know what needs to be done, and they do it. And the more that people will devote themselves to your cause on a voluntary basis, a willing basis, the fewer hierarchs and control mechanisms you need.
    – Herb Kelleher, ex-CEO of Southwest Airlines

    From this article. Read more about Southwests way of doing business in Nuts!.

  • Death and grief

    From an article in Fast Company:
    Philosopher and consultant Peter Koestenbaum spends his days exploring truly big questions that have never sounded more relevant. Here, he reflects on what the shock of death teaches us about leadership — and how to move forward without forgetting.

    For another way to view it, check out Harrison Owen’s concept of griefwork, which is the process that we as humans go through every time we encounter change. There’s a brief description here, and more in his book Expanding our now.