The Chief Happiness Officer Blog

Category: Speaking

My speaking gigs

  • Want to be more creative at work? Be happy!

    Yesterday I spoke at a huge media conference in Sweden – my talk was about the link between creativity and happiness at work.

    In short, research shows that when you’re happy, you are more creative and have more and better ideas.

    You can watch my entire talk here, it’s 15 minutes long:

    What do you think? Are you more creative when you enjoy yourself at work?

    The two other speakers in the same track were absolutely fascinating. There was Simon Kiyaga, a psychiatrist from Stockholm, who has studied the link between psychological disorders and creativity (and found one) and Anna Haupt, the inventor of the airbag for cyclists.

    Heidi Forbes Öste made this beautiful visualization of the whole track:


    (Click for full size)

    Awesome!

    Related posts

  • Speaking in Kuwait


    Kuwait Towers.

    We’ve been doing a lot of international speaking lately, including in the US, England and the Caribbean (I know, it’s tough to be us). In fact, when we speak in Prague in September, it will be country number 25 we’ve done work in.

    Number 26 will be Kuwait, where we’re doing 3 workshops on October 3rd and 4th. However, we’ve never spoken in the Middle East, so we could really use your help. Do you know the region? What are some dos and don’ts for business speaking in Kuwait? What would be something, the audience would really appreciate?

    Any other considerations or cultural norms/expectations we should be aware of?

    Thanks :o)

  • My most exciting gig in 2012

    I speak at a ton of companies and conferences all over the world, but this is one of the most exciting I have coming up in 2012.

    It’s put on by our good friends at Nixon McInnes and some of the themes are:

    • Organisational design & structure – Is top-down, command and control fit for the 21st century?
    • 21st century leadership – What kind of leaders do the challenges of our time demand, and what is leadership today?
    • Technology disruption – What technology themes are imminent and likely to disrupt business as usual?
    • The future of work – What do people want from work and what can they expect from progressive businesses?

    Check out the conference web site here and get your tickets today!

  • Happiness at work in Curacao

    We’re now back after our trip to Curacao in the Caribbean where we did several gigs about happiness at work.

    First we did a keynote and full-day workshop at a business masterclass arranged by JCI attended by employees and managers from both the private sector and government. We also did a half-day workshop at Banco di Caribe.

    And on top of that we also did interviews with two different national TV stations. First we were on TeleCuracao’s news show, where the guest immediately preceding me was the prime minister!

    Here I am on the set of CBA’s morning show, which was a blast to be on. Figuratively and literally, because something exploded on their kitchen set, moments before we went live :o)

    All in all our trip was a huge success and the feedback from the participants has been phenomenal. We enjoyed it immensely and made many new friends in the Caribbean and we look forward to going again soon.

  • I’m speaking in Curacao in April

    You may remember that I spoke in The Dominican Republic last October (where they forced me to wear a suit for the first time in years) and in April I’m going back to the Caribbean. MAN, I love my job :o)

    In fact, this time the whole company is going, to deliver the keynote and a full-day training at The X-Factor Experience Business Master Class in Curacao.

    From the web site:

    Designed to give implemental insights and hands on learning experiences by keynote speakers/trainers operating in Europe and the local market, the X-Factor Experience Business Masterclass will provide you with the ability to put classroom knowledge into real-world practice – immediately.

    So take your career to the next level and join us from April 2-4, 2012, where you will get the unique opportunity to gain practical tools and be able to network and share ideas with peers in a non-competitive environment.

    It’s going to rock!

  • Happiness at work in The Dominican Republic

    A month ago I had the pleasure of speaking for the first time in The Dominican Republic. I was invited by Proaccion, a local consulting company who did a fantastic job advertising and arranging the event.

    70 CEOs and top level managers came to hear me speak for 3 hours about felicidad en el trabajo para la rentabilidad organizacional. There’s an article about the event here (in Spanish).

    I want to thank everyone who came for their enthusiasm and all the great questions. People seemed really inspired and from what I can tell the people of The Dominican Republic have a great capacity for happiness in life and a massive potential for translating that into their workplaces.

    And I especially want to thank Zoraima, Salvador and everyone else at Proaccion for taking such good care of us. They made sure we had a wonderful time, met many great people and even found a suit for me, so I could attend the private tour of the government palace, since the palace is a no-jeans-zone.

    So here – for the first time in years – is yours truly in a suit and tie:

    My next international gig is in December in Greenland… so a slightly different culture and climate :o) Should still be very interesting.

  • See us speak in San Francisco on August 4

    Update: 106 sign-ups already – that’s fantastic. The venue holds 130 people, so if you want to be there, make your move :o)

    Do you ever feel like work has stopped being fun and become just a chore? When you wake up on a Monday morning, do you feel energized and excited about the work week ahead of you – or do you feel tired and dispirited?

    What would it mean to you if you LOVED your job? What would it do for your business success, for your work days and for your spouse, partner, friends, family or children?

    Come hear some of the world’s leading experts on happiness at work when Danish company Woohoo Inc. comes to San Francisco.

    We’ll be talking about these topics and more:

    • Why you should be happy at work and the cost of hating you job.
    • The business value of happiness.
    • What makes us happy or unhappy at work.
    • What you can do right now, to start enjoying work more.
    • What some of the world’s happiest workplaces do.

    The presentation is aimed both at people who would like to become happier at work themselves and at HR people and managers who want to make their employees happy.

    You will get:

    • A deeper knowledge about happiness at work
    • Specific tools that you can apply on the job right away
    • A boost of energy to get you started on improving your work life

    Here are the details:
    Time: Thursday August 4 7PM-9PM
    Place: The Hub, 925 Mission St, San Francisco
    Price: $0 – yep, it’s free!

    Sign up here to attend.

    Please help us out by spreading the word about this event any way you can (twitter, facebook, Google+, etc…)

  • Pics from my keynote at Umbraco CodeGarden

    Last week I had the pleasure of speaking at 5 very different events:

    • For 200 bankers on Tuesday
    • For 300 IT people at the Umbraco CodeGarden conference on Wednesday
    • For 60 IT people from Saab in Karlskoga, Sweden
    • For 120 people from the Danish Building Association on Friday
    • For 320 people from Estée Lauder at their Nordic Product Kick Off on Saturday in Copenhagn

    And to my great pride, 4 out of these 5 events ended with a standing ovation. That is not really any serious measure of success, but lemme tell ya – it feels great :o)

    Douglas Robar from Percipient Studios just sent me some great pics that he took from the Umbraco event, where I went a little out of my comfort zone and spoke not about happiness at work (I gave that speech at the same conference last year) but about how to create a great conference and a happy community. My awesome co-worker Arlette also came on stage and did a little dancing with the crowd. Yes, she made 300 IT people dance. She’s THAT good :o)

    Check these pictures out:

  • Two interesting conferences

    There are two great events coming up in my region that I’ll be keynoting at.

    The first one is WorldBlu Live Copenhagen, a local follow-up to last month’s Excellent WorldBlu Live conference in San Francisco.

    The theme is democratic workplaces. Research shows that engaged employees are more productive, more profitable and more customer-focused. In the best organisations, spreading freedom at work is more than a human resources initiative – it is a strategic foundation for the way they do business.

    WorldBlu LIVE Copenhagen showcases democratic innovation and radical thinking which will leave you inspired, full of fresh ideas, and connected with a world-class community of leaders!

    The WorldBlu LIVE Copenhagen experience will enable you to:

    • Connect with cutting edge speakers who are industry leaders and rule-breakers, rewriting the way we do business.
    • Learn about leading technologies and tools that help implement and reinforce democracy and full engagement in the workplace.
    • Engage in truly meaningful conversations in an intimate setting with some of the most remarkable and enlightened people from all over the world.
    • Leave with inspiration to “next” practices and tangible steps that you can immediately apply in your workplace.
    • Get inspired and energised by learning about how freedom and democracy can propel your organisation forward, attract top talent, and boost your bottomline.

    Even though it is a Copenhagen event, we’re having the whole day in Danish and bringing in some great international speakers, including:

    • Will McInness, the co-founder and Managing Director of NixonMcInnes, a leading social media consultancy in the UK.
    • Mark Dowds, the co-founder and CEO of Brainpark in San Francisco.
    • Traci Fenton, the Founder and CEO of WorldBlu, Inc.

    And of course yours truly :o)

    Read all about it and sign up here.

    The other conference I want to mention is 360 Entrepreneurship, a conference in Malmö, Sweden for female entrepreneurs. From the web site:

    Don’t miss this European conference for women entrepreneurs and business owners and make the most of your potential in business!

    You will have access to a Mastermind group of internationally renown, inspiring keynote and workshop presenters delivering leading edge strategies, tools and resources to strengthen your business results! Get the answers to your questions and walk away with the strategies and the tool kit you need to accelerate your business. Take advantage of the opportunities to build valuable international connections and promote your business in the 360 Business Expo.

    Whether you already run a successful company or just started out, give yourself and your business the boost you deserve. Join the 360Entrepreneurship Summit in Sweden as we celebrate the potential and success of women entrepreneurs!

    Read all about it and sign up here.

  • Highlights from our conference

    On May 26 we had our annual conference on happiness at work here in Copenhagen and it was our best event yet.

    Here’s a 3-minute video with some highlights from the day:

    Part of the video is in Danish, part of it in English.

    You can also find materials, slides and photos from the conference here.

    The day was absolutely fantastic and participant feedback has been phenomenal. The average rating for the day is 4,8 out of 5 – that is almost unheard of :o)