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.

  • We need more science in business

    Yesterday I participated in the Copenhagen March for Science – part of a global movement to celebrate science and the role it plays in our live.

    It was tremendously cool to march through the streets of Copenhagen along with hundreds of other science enthusiasts and it’s easy to see that it has never been more important to encourage the use of science in public policy given the challenges we’re facing (especially climate change) and the current unscientific and populist tendencies we’re seeing in some countries.

    And the same goes in business. Many of the most widespread practices in business and leadership have been repeatedly proven wrong in studies and yet they persist. Here are some of my favorite examples of scientific findings that are being soundly ignored by many companies:

    Don’t take my word for it – click each link above to see the research behind it.

    Leaders and businesses need to know the science AND apply it. Ignoring this research is hurting employees and the bottom line.

    Related posts

  • Another CHO is born

    Kristian Fischer, The Global VP of Professional Services at Tradeshift just changed his title to Chief Happiness Officer. Here’s how he announced it:

    Yes! Finally got a new a new title – and I’m loving it already…

    Strongly inspired by a great new book by Alexander Kjerulf I have taken a decision to change my title to (CHO) Chief Happiness Officer.

    And that basically means that my main objective will be to make my colleagues happy. And if they are happy, so are our customers.

    And if my customers are happy, I’m happy. And when I’m happy, so is my family.

    What’s not to love…

    How awesome :)

    Here’s  my article on why every company should have a Chief Happiness Officer.

  • Your job: Make someone smile!

    Danish CEO and entrepreneur Peer Krogh had one main message for his employees:

    ”The most important thing is really this:

    Have you made someone smile today?

    If you have, you’ve done a good job.”

    He passed away in 2013, but the company still has that message written in the office and on badges like the one you see above.

    What a great example of Leading With Happiness.

  • Good leaders put happiness first

    Good leaders put happiness first! Here’s a very short summary of my presentation on “Leading With Happiness” in The Netherlands last month.

  • Woohoo – we got to visit Ben and Jerry’s

    Woohoo – we got to visit Ben and Jerry’s

    We finally got a chance to visit Ben and Jerry’s global HQ in Vermont and it was AWESOME. Not only did we get to hear about the company’s mission to create a better world, see how the ice cream is made and visit the famous flavor graveyard – we even saw a man propose to his girlfriend in the middle of a tour. She said yes :)

    Here are some impressions from our visit.

    Proudly written on the walls: “Business has a responsibility to give back to the community.”

    “If it’s not fun, why do it?”

    The flavor graveyard is where Ben And Jerry’s celebrate their mistakes by honoring every ice cream flavor that failed. It looked very pretty in the snow. You can also find it online.

    This is brilliant – instead of hiding or punishing their mistakes, they celebrate them. Here are 5 reasons why every workplace should do that.

    All in all we got a very positive impression of the culture at Ben and Jerry’s. The employees we talked to clearly loved their jobs, they do their utmost to make great ice cream while protecting the environment and also have a mission to create “Linked prosperity” for their entire ecosystem, including suppliers, farmers and the local community. It’s inspiring to see a company so focused on creating a happier world, which is also why their mentioned in my latest book Leading With Happiness.

     

  • The CEO of WD-40 Company: People Must Come First

    In this video Ken Blanchard and Garry Ridge, the CEO of WD-40 Company, explain why employees must come first. What a wonderful, enlightened vision for corporate leadership.

    Garry will talk much more about that at our International Conference on Happiness at Work in Copenhagen in May.

  • CEO Rich Sheridan explains how he created a joyful workplace

    This is awesome: Rich Sheridan, the CEO of Menlo Innovations explains why he created a joyful workplace and how joy has business value.

    Rich will talk much more about this at our International Conference on Happiness at Work in Copenhagen in May. See the program and get your tickets here.

  • DHL’s CEO: Increasing revenues is meaningless. Motivate employees by creating a better world.

    Solar charging station in Taiwan

    Financial Times has a great interview with Frank Appel, the CEO of Deutsche Post DHL the clearly outlines his philosophy for motivating employees: Increasing revenue is a meaningless goal. When company goals are mainly financial, purpose is lost. The best companies are “driven by making the lives of customers easier by highly engaged employees.”

    Appel has set up three initiatives for his 522,000 staff:

    1. Go Teach, where DHL staff educate disadvantaged young people
    2. Go Help, where they work with the UN to use the company’s logistics expertise to respond co humanitarian crises
    3. Go Green, where they work to reduce emissions to zero

    Appel sums up his message like this:

    “We cannot say, listen, ‘Our strategy is to make money and if we have time left then we’ll do something which is good for the society’,” he says.

    “Our job is to do something good for the society, and to do that we have to make money, otherwise we can’t continue to invest.”

    This is AWESOME. It’s a clear articulation of a philosophy where a company aligns the quest for financial goals with a clear mission to create a better world.

  • Two of the funniest ways to create a happy workplace

    There are many ways to create a happier workplace but this short video has two of the funniest I’ve ever come across: “Sexy Powersuit Day” and “The Lift of Love.”

    This is from our International Conference on Happiness at Work where Tim Dorsett explained how he makes Innocent Drinks a happy workplace. You can see Tim’s full speech here.

    If you want more inspiration and tools to promote happiness at work, you should come to our next conference on May 17+18 2018 in Copenhagen – it’s going to be AWESOME.

  • WD-40 Company keeps growing – and their happy tribe is why

    One of our speakers at the 2018 International Conference on Happiness at Work is featured in an article called WD-40 Company Keeps Growing in This $1 Billion Market which lists the phenomenal results they’ve gotten recently:

    If you look at the numbers, though, this is a fantastic business with high rates of return well suited for long-term investors.

    This past quarter, the company continued to grow both the top and bottom lines and showed that it’s doing well at exploiting its most promising growth opportunity.

    WD-40 is in a relatively mature market, so it’s remarkable that management continues to find avenues to grow sales and earnings.

    At our conference, WD-40’s CEO Garry Ridge will explain the main reason behind this success: They’ve built a culture that is characterized by a sense of belonging, communication, having shared values, and continual learning between elder tribal leaders and younger tribe members.

    Yes – they don’t see themselves as a team but a tribe, where employees don’t just work – they belong.

    Garry is a truly inspiring speaker and what they’ve achieved at WD-40 is definitely worth learning from.

    See the full conference program and get your tickets here.