The Chief Happiness Officer Blog

  • Book review: An unused intelligence

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    There are many different theories about learning, but not a single one of them states, that the best way to learn, is to sit passively on a chair, while a teacher talks about the subject in question. No theory ever in the history of the world has claimed it, and yet this is how schools, colleges, universities, business training and countless other learning concepts operate.

    This book subtitled “Physical thinking for 21st century leadership” marks a departure from that school of thought and describes a way to ground learning in the body.
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  • Quote

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    I hear people everywhere saying that the trouble with our time is that we have no great leaders any more. If we look back, we always had them. But to me it seems that there is a very profound reason why there are no great leaders anymore. It is because they are no longer needed. The message is clear. We no longer want to be lead from the outside. Each of us must be our own leader. We know enough to follow the light that’s within ourselves, and through this light we will create a new community.

    – Laurens van der Post

  • Online comic: Red meat

    Red meat is weird, wacky, gruesome and black. Here are a few of my favourites: Ball bearings in the butter tub, the white-hot cure for sticky valves, drool string ukulele, apocalypso facto or the ebullient egg-sac of ennui.

  • Profit for nonprofits

    I read about Pioneer Human Services in a book, and it blew me away. They operate a succesful company that employs among others ex-convicts and drug addicts – the people who most need jobs, but usually can’t get them. They also provide housing, training, counselling and other services. And most of this is paid for through the revenue that the company generates, instead of by public or private grants. There’s an excellent article in Fast Company about them.

    And because they make their own money, they don’t need to spend much time or energy asking for grants – they can spend their time actually helping people who need it. I have the deepest respect for people who have the creativity to come up with such a vision and the determination to make it happen. Knowing that initiatives like this can succeed makes me feel good abour our common future.

  • Book review: The power of spirit

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    Harrison Owen is the inventor of Open Space Technology, the most exciting and productive way of meeting with other people that I know of. In The power of spirit, how organizations transfrom he describes what an organization might look like, if it lived by the open space principles. And let me say this right away: If they’re hiring, I want to work there!
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  • Pumpkinspiration

    Enterprise Systems had their 2nd. annual halloween pumpkin carving party yesterday. Kids and adults both had a great time, and you can see the results here. I did this one and I’m kinda proud of it, it’s only my third pumpkin ever.

  • Exercise: Journal of good things

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    I have a confession: A friend told me about this exercise, and I’m afraid that she heard about it on Oprah… But hey, It’s still good.

    Anyway, it’s about creating a daily positive space for reflection. Try it!
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  • Book review: The soul at work

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    Complexity science is appearing more and more often in business literature (and just about everywhere else). This book with the subtitle “unleashing the power of complexity science for business success” shows a better way to manage organizations than the old command-and-control way, and describes some of the tools needed to get there. It helped put me on to the “joy at work” project.
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  • TietoEnator buys Enterprise Systems

    It’s official, Enterprise Systems has been sold to TietoEnator.

    It’s a little ironic that this deal is finalized almost exactly 5 years after we started the company. It’s also a little sad, but I truly believe that this is the best option for Enterprise to develop. TE can give the company resources and strategic direction that we could never have found on our own.

    I can look back on a great time, building a great company. We (meaning not only the founders but every single ES employee) created a company where people had fun, were committed, learned and developed as people – all the while making lots of money.

    I already left the company a few months back, so I will not be a part of ES’ future in TE. I wish the guys (and the one gal) the best of luck, I know they’ll all do great. They’re the smartest, nicest, cleverest, most sympathetic people I’ve ever had the pleasure of working with, and I’m sure that exciting stuff is waiting for them!

  • Word of the day: Affluenza

    Af-flu-en-za n. 1. The bloated, sluggish and unfulfilled feeling that results from efforts to keep up with the Joneses. 2. An epidemic of stress, overwork, waste and indebtedness caused by dogged pursuit of the American Dream. 3. An unsustainable addiction to economic growth. 4. A television program that could change your life.

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