“Your work (I hate to even say that unpleasant word) should be fun. Pure, unadulterated FUN. Your work (Oh, God, I did it again) should produce happiness. And lots of it.”
– Fred Gratzon, author of The Lazy Way to Success.
Category: Quotes
Lots and lots of great quotes
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Kids today – they get it
A commenter on my friend Bjarne’s blog tells this story:Not long ago my youngest son told me “I’ll do anything for money!”
“OK, ” I said “I’ll give you 20 kroner ($4) to pick up the dog poo in the garden.”
“Yuck!!” the kid said, “there’s no way I’m taking a sh*t job like that!”
Kids today – there’s no way they’ll grow up and work jobs that don’t make them happy. That’s why companies today need to shape up and become great workplaces – or they’ll only ever be able to hire old, crotchety types who accept the idea of spending their days in unpleasant or just mediocre workplaces.
I’m telling ya – the future belongs to the happy!
In assorted news, I’m in the Danish media these days. I posted a link to this story at the fine Truthteller blog about a company that hired a happiness manager, and was interviewed for a couple of articles AND live on national radio. Cool :o) Article, article. The radio interview is not available on line yet, I’ll post a link later.
Also, I’m still here – I’ve just found myself very busy this week. There are some good posts coming (including one on the top 10 things managers do that makes employees unhappy) as soon as I get my blogging mojo back :o)
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“Any individual or business that wants great success must take the concept of play seriously. For that matter, play should be the only thing taken seriously.
Play in the workplace is not frivolous, as the hard work advocates would have you believe. Quite the contrary, play has enormous practical value…Play allows the mind to flow without restrictions – to explore, to experiment, to question, to take risks, to be adventurous, to create to innovate, and to accomplish – without fear of rejection or disapproval. Thus a business that regards fun as “unprofessional” or “improper” or “trivial” or “out of place” stifles the creative and progressive process. That’s like running a highly competitive race with one foot stuck in a bucket.”
– Fred Gratzon, author of The Lazy Way to Success.
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“There can be no happiness if the things we believe in are different from the things we do.”– Freya Stark (Thx Mike)
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“Work is either fun or drudgery. It depends on your attitude. I like fun.”– Colleen C. Barrett, President and Corporate Secretary for Southwest Airlines
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Really, getting to do what you love to do every day, that’s the ultimate luxury. And particularly when you can do it with terrific people around you.
– Warren BuffettFrom this interview which demonstrates very clearly, that the reason Warren Buffett has made so much money is that he doesn’t care much about money :o)
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Many of us are trying almost desperately to hold on to the belief that bringing more toys into the workplace will make things more fun. It seems to me, however, that bringing more toys into the workplace to make work more fun is like bringing more canaries into the mine to make the mine safer. If the environment is toxic, it’s time to get out of the mine.
– Bernie deKoven (source)
Right on, Bernie!
And may I add that if the environment is toxic, bringing in motivational speakers, inspirational posters or just about any other gimmick you can think of is useless. Or worse than useless, because it will be seen as an attempt to distract people from the real problems.
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Some famous leaders on happiness at work
Some of the world’s most successful business leaders believe strongly in having fun and being happy at work.
Check out these quotes:
“Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle.”
– Steve Jobs, co-founder of Apple
“Work should always be fun for all colleagues. We all only have one life. A third of life is work. Without desire and fun, work becomes hell.”
– Ingvar Kamprad, founder of IKEA
“Each individual should work for himself. People will not sacrifice themselves for the company. They come to work at the company to enjoy themselves.???
– Soichiro Honda, founder of (surprise!) Honda
“Fun is at the core of the way I like to do business and it has been the key to everything I’ve done from the outset. More than any other element, fun is the secret of Virgin’s success.???
– Richard Branson, founder of VirginSaaaaaay… maybe there’s something to this happiness at work thing after all :o)
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“I don’t want to wake up in the morning and dread going to work. The first time I feel that I can’t be myself in my job, I’m gone. Employers need to understand that.”– Leticia Gonzalez, a 23-year old San Diego restaurant employee (source)
Yes! Gen-X’ers and -Y’ers are much less likely to treat a job as just a job and to conform to standards and behaviors they don’t see the point of. This is a good thing, not something they need to grow out of or have beaten out of them.
If you ask me, being yourself is one of the most fundamental factors that make us happy at work.
