The Chief Happiness Officer Blog

  • My favorite books about happiness at work

    Alexander KjerulfOver the last 4 years, I must have read some 3-400 books related to happiness at work, and the ones listed here are the ones that have truly inspired me, moved me and made me think. They’re also all well written and a pleasure to read. Enjoy!

    Hal Rosenbluth: The customer comes second
    The story of a company that put its employees first and got amazing results from it.

    Timothy Gallwey: The inner game of work
    The most inspiring approach to learning at work I have ever seen.

    Harrison Owen: Open Space Technology
    Explains Open Space Meetings – the most insanely efficient and fun meeting form I have ever tried. For 10-1000 people. From 3 hours to 5 days.

    Peter Block : The answer to how is yes
    Whenever we start a new project, most of us go straight to “How?” But the right place to start is to ask “Why?” If you can’t find a reason that makes you go “Yes!” you probably shouldn’t do it.

    Kevin and Jackie Freiberg: Nuts!
    The story of Southwest Airlines, one of the happiest and most successful companies I know. A classic book!

    Paul Watzlawick: Change
    When do people change and when do they actively resist change? This book has some amazing knowledge on the paradoxical nature of personal change. One of my all-time favorites.

    Robert Wright: Non zero
    The world is becoming better and better. It pays to be nice. Those who cooperate are more efficient than those who compete. This book has many positive messages, all backed up by science. It’s also a great read.

    Ricardo Semler: The Seven-Day Weekend
    The story of Semco, the Brazilian company where workers choose their own salaries, work hours and managers. If you only read one book about happiness at work, make it this one.

    The Lazy Way to Success
    If work feels hard, you’re not doing it right. Fred Gratzon, entrepreneur and millionaire, explains why it always pays to be lazy.

    Martin Seligman: Learned Optimism
    Seligman explains Positive Psychology, why positive people lead better lives and how to learn to be positive.

    Richard Layard: Happiness, Lessons from a new Science
    How could you run a nation, based on making people as happy as possible? Interestingy, Layard is currently advising British politicians on this.

    David L. Cooperrider, Diana Whitney and Jacqueline M. Starvos: The Appreciative Inquiry Handbook
    Appreciative Inquiry is the most efficient tool I know for creating efficient, positive change in organizations and this book explains it simply.

    Tim Sanders: Love is the Killer App
    Explains why love, not greed or fear, is the most powerful force in business.

    Annette Simmons: The Story Factor
    The best book I know about applying storytelling in the business world.

    Richard Reeves: Happy Mondays
    You would never accept a romantic relationship that was “sort of OK??? or stay with a spouse who is “you know, nothing special, but I’m used to him/her???. So why should you accept anything less than true fulfillment on the job?

    Alfie Kohn: No contest
    Competition is everywhere in the business world, but contrary to popular belief, competition makes us less efficient and less happy.

    There are many more book reviews on the blog – more than a hundred in fact.

  • A Whole Lotta Thank-Yous

    Thank you!As the year wraps up, it’s a natural time to think back and be grateful. And I have more than ever to be grateful for.

    In fact, there is one thing I want to say.

    To the 500.000 people who have visited my blog this year for giving me impetus and a drive to blog more and better.

    To the thousands of people who have commented on posts for giving me feedback, ideas, questions and challenges.

    To the hundreds of people who have given me feedback on my book for helping me make it so good.

    To my wonderful girlfriend and my amazing family for loving me.

    To my clients for paying me to do what I love.

    To everyone who’s read and/or bought my book for giving the book a reason to exist.

    To my playmates all over the world for playing.

    To everyone who’s contributed, given me advice and helped me out for confirming what we all should know: That the world is a wonderful place and people are amazingly generous.

    To all of you, I want to say:

    A Million Thank-You’s.
    Click that link and count’em.

    I wish you an amazingly happy 2007!

  • Great stuff goin’ on

    LaunchSince I released my book a mere two weeks ago a crazy amount of great stuff has happened.

    Here are some of my favorites:

    All of this and more in just two weeks. Things are almost happening too quickly now. I LOVE it!

  • New feature: Subscribe by email

    EmailI’ve just added a “subscribe by email” feature to the blog, meaning you can get an email every time I write a new blogpost.

    The advantage is that you can read the post right in the email, and you can be among the first to read it. The disadvantage is that I usually post twice a day, so you will be getting quite a few emails from me – just though I’d warn ya :o)

    Anyway: If you want to subscribe by email, click this link and fill out the form.

    And of course, there’s always the rss feed if you’re into that kind of thing.

  • Christmas links

    I’m taking a short blogging break over Christmas and will be back at my browser on Wednesday the 28th. LinksIf you’re looking for some great reading about happiness at work over the holidays, here are some excellent blogposts.

    Bob Sutton has evidence that smiling makes you happy and likable as Gretchen Rubin of The Happiness Project claimed. It’s one of those “of course it’s true, but it’s still really nice to have studies backing it up” deals.

    David Maister tells the story of a truly courageous leader, “Jay Bertram, president of the TBWA office in Toronto, who asked his people to evaluate him and offered to resign if he did not improve how well he performed his role as their leader.”

    The Slacker Manager tells us how to write holiday cards to staff. “My ink-stained fingers are evidence of the labor of the last four hours. Only fifteen cards to show for it, but each is different and personal (no “Good job, Bob??? here).” It’s too late for this Christmas (unless you’re a really last-minute kind of person), but there are some great tips there.

    The Brazen Careerist thinks financial freedom is outdated and that we should go with optimism instead. “HELLO???? Can everyone standing in line to buy a Lear Jet please get a reality check? You do not need a plane to be happy, you need a plane to go visit the people who make you happy. A jet is not an expression of financial freedom. It’s an expression of your decision to not live near the people who mean the most to you.”

    Stephen Shapiro has a great post on allowing yourself to feel the pain in your life. “In college, I made this mix tape, aptly titled “The Depression Tape.??? It had the sappiest, saddest music you could imagine, containing nearly every song performed by Bread, Joe Cocker’s “You Are So Beautiful to Me,??? and Elton John’s sadder songs. You get the point.”

    Steve Roesler at All Things Workplace interviews some weirdo who calls himself The Chief Happiness Officer. Sheeeeesh, there are some strange people out there.

    And here are some great articles about happiness at work:
    Kenny Moore Held a Funeral to mark his company’s transition to a new organization. “When it was over, the CFO said to me, “You have some set of balls. Nobody but you could have gotten away with this.” But I didn’t feel like I had been very brave. People are dying to be connected, invited, involved. They don’t like having things shoved down their throats in a formulaic way. They show energy and commitment when they can be players and influence an initiative’s outcome.”

    Why we evolved altruism 12.000 years ago. “If an individual defended the group but was killed, any genes that the individual shared with the overall group would still be passed on.”

    How economists measure happiness. “Happiness is a big question both for researchers and for policy wonks these days, so it is slightly discomfiting to reflect that people may not even know the answer to the simple question, ‘Are you happy?’”

  • 5 things you probably don’t know about me

    Jodee Bock, author of the excellent book The 100% Factor, tagged me for a game of 5 things you don’t know about me. So here are five not commonly known factoids about me:

    1: 2-3 times a week, I teach aerobics in Scandinavia’s largest fitness chain. That’s right – I get paid to exercise :o)

    2: I’m half Greek, half Danish; was born in Tunisia; lived in Spain as a small child; grew up in Denmark.

    3: I may be the only person in the world who doesn’t like chocolate. Seriously – it tastes awful to me…

    4: I’m a certified laughter instructor. I took a course in laughter exercises with the Indian doctor who invented them, which means I know how to get groups of people to laugh at absolutely nothing.

    5: I’m a voracious reader. At any given time, I’m reading 3-5 different books. I can’t go to sleep at night, without something to read.

  • The great Christmas blogger book give-away

    Alexander KjerulfI will celebrate Christmas and the new year here on the blog by celebrating the blogging community.

    I’ve been blogging for almost four years and blogging has given me energy, inspiration, new friends, feedback and help.

    The spirit of blogging is, in my opinion, generosity. Therefore, it would give me great pleasure to give away 100 pdf-copies of my new book on happiness at work to the first 100 bloggers who ask for one.

    Happy Hour is 9 to 5Here are the rules:

    1. If you’re a blogger and would like a copy of the book in pdf, sign up by leaving a comment on this post. Make sure to enter both your email and the URL of your blog in the appropriate fields. I will (of course) not save or abuse your email in any way.

    There are no further rules!

    I wish you a spectacular Christmas!

    UPDATE: I’m flabbergasted!! In less than 24 hours 100 bloggers signed up to get a copy. Thanks to each and every one. I’ll mail the book out later today.

    UPDATE UPDATE: I mailed out the books at 6PM GMT Friday. If you signed up and the book doesn’t show up in your inbox soon there may be a problem with the email address in your comment. Send me a mail and I’ll re-send it to you.

  • Huh?

    This blog often gets trackbacks in languages I don’t speak but this one tickles me no end:

    Motivation

    It’s a summation/translation of this post. Woo-hoo!

  • The Economist cramps my style

    Here’s the author photo I had taken for my book about happiness at work:

    Alexander Kjerulf

    It was taken by Rune Heickendorf who takes some amazingly great pictures.

    And now my friend Lars alerts me to the cover of the new issue of The Economist:

    The Economist on happiness

    How much do you think I should sue them for?

    Seriously: It’s great to see how happiness is becoming a central theme in economics. There’s a growing realization that once your basic needs are covered, more money does not make you any happier. Therefore it makes sense for societies, politicians and economists to focus more on maximizing a nation’s happiness instead of its GDP. For a great book on that, read Richard Layard’s excellent book Happines – lessons from a new science.

  • I don’t mean to brag but…

    Happy Hour is 9 to 5David Maister, one of the world’s leading authorities on the management of professional service firms, read my book and says that:

    It’s very, very good. I learned a lot. It’s incredibly well written, full of insights, and there are exercises to improve your own happiness at work. You can’t ask for more than that!

    I’ve been smiling all morning at the thought of the words “Very, very good” and “Incredibly well written”. Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay!

    Read the book free on line or buy it on paper or pdf.

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