I am REALLY excited to announce that my next book “Leading With Happiness” comes out on November 21st. Read all about it here.
You are hereby cordially invited to read it completely FREE and before it goes on sale. The only thing we ask in return, is that you review it online when it is published. Click here to see how it works and sign up to The Early Reviewers Secret Club :) Access is limited to the first 500 people and you must sign up no later than November 2nd.
Sign up is closed.
At the World Happiness Summit in Miami I gave a 15-minute speech on Leading with Happiness – the same topic I’m covering in my next book.
In the video I share what’s wrong with traditional leadership and its relentless focus on business results and give some great examples of leader who create more happiness for themselves, their employees, their customers and the world.
This is the first draft I wrote for the back cover of my new book, Leading with Happiness. Do you like it? Would you read this book? Any suggestions?
Here it is:
What if there was more to leadership than maximizing business results, whatever it takes?
Drawing on fascinating research from psychology, brain science and philosophy, this book will show you why leaders are more successful when they put happiness first – for themselves, for their employees, for their customers and for the wider world.
Learn from some of the best and happiest leaders in business, arts, politics and the military, including:
Using these lessons, your leadership can become a force for good, creating better business results and a better world.
We have created a poster with inspiring quotes about leadership – you can download the pdf for free right here.
I need a great title for my next book on Leading with Happiness.
The book explains why and how leaders should lead in a way that improves happiness for themselves, employees, customers and the world. Read more about it here.
So far I’ve just been calling the book Leading with Happiness (and that kinda works) but maybe there’s a better, more eye catching and more fun title out there?
As you know, business books tend to to have a title and a subtitle. Here are some titles I really like:
The title itself is short and inspiring and the subtitle explains what the book is about.
So please give me your best ideas for a book title in a comment below.
I interviewed the legendary conductor Ben Zander for my next book on Leading with Happiness and here is one of my favorite quotes of his:
Doing well in the stock market, or satisfying the shareholders is a natural byproduct of an effective business. And what makes an effective business is the same thing that makes an effective orchestra: People who want to be there, who give everything they have, who are having a wonderful time doing it, whose eyes are shining, who are giving out energy to people around them.
I found this researching my next book, Leading with Happiness.
At the 2008 Southwest Airlines Shareholders’ Meeting, CEO Gary Kelly ended his presentation with this wonderful story.
February the 27th we had flight number 1218 preparing for departure from Dallas to Las Vegas via Austin and as the customers were taking their seats our Dallas flight attendant Robin Hopkins was approached by a customer who I’ll refer to as Janice.
Janice was asking for help with her cellphone and she didn’t know how to turn it off. Robin assisted Janice but asked if she was okay because Robin can tell that she had been crying. Janice answered that she was on her way to Las Vegas to identify her only son at the medical examiner’s office.
Upon hearing this Robin informed the two other flight attendants Melissa Smith and Lisa Christian as to what was going on and our flight attendants comforted Janice.
Melissa and Lisa handled the entire flight from Austin to Las Vegas while Robin sat with Janice and she learned about her son and she was there to provide comfort. They talked for the rest of the flight.
When they landed in Las Vegas Candace Robinson and Brandy Fuller who are Las Vegas in-flight supervisors met Janice at the gate and they took over. Brandy handled all of her immediate needs while Candace went on to get her own car to drive Janice. Candace was also able to secure a hotel room next to the funeral home.There was no one there for Janice except for Southwest Airlines people and this is just one powerful example of our people in action and it happens hundreds of times every single day and most of which we never hear about. But they don’t do it for the recognition, they don’t do it for the money. They do it because they care and at Southwest Airlines we are blessed to find and to hire and to keep people who care.
I don’t know if you can teach people how to care but you can’t encourage it you can support it and when you know about it you can certainly recognize it.
This is amazing story and I love the fact that the CEO told it at the shareholders’ meeting. This clearly shows investors where Southwest’s priorities are and that they can expect the company to continue to treat its employees and customers well.
As always, I do all my writing in a café.
I am now 6 chapters and 25,000 words into writing my next book titled “Leading with Happiness” and I would love to get feedback on what I’ve written.
Here are the 6 chapters I’ve finished so far:
1 – Introduction
2 – Why happiness
3 – The science of happiness
5 – What is happy leadership not
6 – Why don’t all leaders do it
7 – Get happy yourself
You’ll notice I’ve skipped chapter 4 (What is happy leadership) for now.
I would be really, really grateful if you would pick a chapter (or more than one), read it and tell me what you think in a comment on this post. No matter which chapter you pick, it may make sense to read the introduction – it’s pretty short and it explains what the whole book is about.
In your feedback, please do not focus on:
But please do give me your thoughts on the content, including:
Please share your feedback in a comment on this post!
If you’re curious, the remaining chapters are:
I have just started writing my fifth book, tentatively titled “Leading With Happiness.” I am of course writing it in my favorite café here in Copenhagen.
The process is exciting and scary in equal measure :) Wish me luck!
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