OK, my bags are packed and I’m headed to the airport. I have two speeches in Santiago, Chile on June 26 and 27 and that will officially make it 30 countries we’ve spoken in. That is a major, major milestone.
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Meet The PortaBoss
Meet Pawel, the CEO of IT company Lunar Logic in Poland. Unlike most CEOs he doesn’t have a fancy corner office. In fact, he has NO office. Here’s how it works:
A laptop desk, a bean bag and a recycled cardboard box – that’s all he needs to set up a flying office. He can usually be found in a few rooms in our office, shifting his spot couple of times a day. Or a week. The pattern changes. Not only because of a possible back pain – there are several reasons for him being in motion. Some of which have already changed our company.
I think it’s a great experiment. Does it work? Here’s what Pawel says:
I can grab my flying office in my hands and move it to the place where I’m needed or I feel like I can be helpful. I need just a bit of space in a corner or by the wall and done – a new office set up.
Surprisingly, sitting in the corner and almost on the floor has a few unexpected advantages . First, you need very little physical space, which means you will fit to almost any room (unless it is already packed beyond any healthy limits). Second, this way you become almost invisible, which definitely helps if your goal is to understand how the team functions, and not just scratch the surface.
Third, and arguably most importantly, you strip yourself from status symbols. Instead of a huge desk dubbed by your colleagues as the airstrip, a leather armchair and a locker just the simplest set that does the job.
All in all, you’re way more accessible and much less intimidating. Isn’t that something every single leader should strive for?
Read all about it here to find out what his employees honestly think about it.
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Our conference about happiness at work was a massive hit
On May 30 we held our 5th annual conference about happiness at work in Copenhagen and this one was the best one yet :-)
The event was completely sold out and 360 participants saw 11 different speakers share their ideas and tips about creating happy workplaces. The feedback has been stunningly positive – 80% give the day a top grade and 18% give it 4 out of 5.
As always we filmed all the speakers and will put them online for free. You can see the first speech here – it’s an insanely inspiring talk where David Marquet explains how he made a nuclear submarine a happy workplace.
You can see some pictures from the event below and there are a ton more pics here, courtesy of our fantastic photographer Gareth Garvey.
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How to scare a stewardess
When I give speeches about happiness at work, I often mention Southwest Airlines and how their cabin attendants make sure to have fun at work. One story I often share is how they’ll sometimes hide a shorter crew member in the overhead compartment and give one lucky passenger a little surprise
Well, I guess turnabout is fair play:
I’d say she was surprised :o)
Here’s an example with the flight attendant hidden in the overhead compartment:
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Want better work-life balance? Learn from Denmark!
3 of my fellow Danes, Camilla Kring, Vivi Bach Pedersen and Anders Raastrup Kristensen have written a report on how Danish businesses have become more productive by focusing on work-life balance.
This is how they open the report:
The future can be found in Denmark. In this report we show how some of the most successful companies in Denmark developed their business through an innovative, results-oriented focus on balancing employees’ work and private lives.
- Denmark has a unique position in the world when it comes to balancing work and private life:
- Denmark has one of the highest participation rates for women in the workforce. (75% of women are in the workforce).
- Among all EU countries, Danish employees have the highest degree of influence over their work.
- (85% of employees indicate that they have an influence on their work situation).
- Danish employees have some of the world’s most flexible work conditions. (43% of employees can regulate their work hours to meet their private needs).
- Danish employees have some of the best maternity/paternity leaves in the world (combined one year leave per child).
The crucial insight in the report is that work-life balance is not about sacrificing business goals for the employees’ well-being. In fact, a good work-life balance makes the company more successful and profitable.
Read the whole report here – it’s clearly very written and has many tips and ideas for workplaces all over the world who want to create a
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Check out our new-and-improved YouTube channel
We’ve recently updated and redesigned our YouTube channel and we’d love to know what you think.
Take a look at it – any feedback will be much appreciated.
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I quit my unhappy job too late
I got an awesome email from a reader of the blog, who found the courage to quit a well-paying job and move on to something else. Here’s his story:
I was very unhappy in my last job, and though I knew your work, I still quit too late. I feel like I should have quit half a year ago.
So, why did I stay too long in the old job?
There were two reasons: One was money. Not the amount they pay, but rather the security that it gave me. I had no savings but was in debt. Which scared me about changing my job. If the new job wouldn’t have been good, I would have had a problem. This is now different, when I finally applied I had enough savings to live for some months without a job.
The second reason was the memory of the good times in this company. It really started out nice. Most people there are really likeable. The problems started when a coworker quit and I got his position. This position is really shitty, because of bad management and a lot of organizational problems. Of course, I knew part of this beforehand and I made it a condition that these things change. My boss agreed to this, because otherwise I would have refused to take the position. But in nearly a year, next to nothing changed. Of course, a lot of things changed. But not the really important stuff. For a long time I thought they will change, I worked for them to change. I just wished to be as happy as in the beginning.
Over time, I developed most of your warning signs. (Physical symptoms, procrastination, I stopped to care, …) The unhappiness made me even more unhappy.
When I’m happy, I’m motivated and do my work well. When I started to grow unhappy, I saw that my work isn’t as half as good as it could be. And I even need more time to do it, because I didn’t want to do it in the first place. Knowing I do not nearly as good as I could increased the unhappiness and decreased motivation further. So it grew worse over time, with no way out. I even tried to get rid of this work, to get new assignments. But nobody else at the company had the necessary knowledge, so my boss wouldn’t let me change it, despite knowing that I am not happy with it.
At my new workplace, the manager talks about motivation and job satisfaction/happiness. (The German word used is Zufriedenheit, which can be translated both ways).
There is also a culture of respect. The managemant demands that people work together for a common goal, which is also very nice. All the people I know so far are nice and welcoming. I only work for two days at my new job, but I’m already confident that this will be a nice place to work.
I wrote this down, in case you want to use it for any future article. If you use it, please substitute my name with a pseudonym.
Kudos on finding the courage to quit an unhappy job and move on to something better!
Related posts
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David Marquet: Happiness at work on a nuclear submarine
When David Marquet took command of the nuclear submarine USS Santa Fe, he knew he needed to change a lot of things. It was the worst performing submarine, was never ready for its missions on time and was basically the laughing stock of the US navy.
David came in with a plan to improve the results on the submarine and thereby make its crew happier. By accident, he found that he had to do it the other way around: Make the submarine a happy workplace and results would follow.
The new plan worked, and the USS Santa Fe became the best performing submarine.
In this speech from the Arbejdsglaede Live! 2013 conference, David Marquet explains how he did it and how you can create a happier workplace too.
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Watch this awesome speech by Charlie Kim, CEO of Next Jump
I recently wrote about New York based company Next Jump and the world-leading things they’ve done to create a very happy workplace.
Here’s a fantastic speech from their founder and CEO Charlie Kim where he talks about the principles behind Next Jump:
It’s an hour long and I highly recommend watching the whole thing.
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Fighting cancer with happiness
The staff of Delete Blood Cancer with their brand new copies of Happy Hour is 9 to 5. WOOHOO!I recently spoke about happiness at work in New York and after the event, one attendee sent me this email:
Thanks for coming to speak to the group in New York last month. Glad I got the chance to finally meet you after reading your blog for so many years.
When I got back to work the next day, I told my department about your talk and showed them some of the videos on your site. My boss, inspired by the overall message of Arbejdsglaede and amused by the hand-drawn video, bought a copy of your book for everyone in our group. Here is a photo of us with our crisp new copies!
Most of us are quite new, as our company is growing fast. We’re hoping to build a happy, productive workplace and will be using your book as one of the prime resources. Hopefully, we’ll soon develop a reputation as a great place to work, in addition to being known for the word we do [matching bone marrow donors to Leukemia patients in need].
Thanks for all you do, keep up the good work.
And right back at ya, Prescott!
I recently did an interview about happiness at work in non-profits. Sadly I’ve found that while the work people do there is often very rewarding and meaningful, they are not always very happy workplaces.
You can read more about Delete Blood Cancer and the amazing work they do here. I highly urge you to check it out and to register as a donor today. You could save someone’s life.
