On Wednesday I gave a speech to 150 bank managers (it went great). The dress code there was typical Danish business style, including a lot of suits and ties. It was all very… blue.

On Thursday my audience was a lot… greener:

What you see in the picture is the Air Control Wing of the Danish Air Force. These are the people who monitor Danish air space. Some of them are also stationed around the world, including in Afghanistan. The presentation went really, really well and before I went on stage I got a great tour of the air base. They even taught me to field strip one of these:

Yep, that’s me with an M-96. It’s not every client I go to, that has these lying around the office :o)

I’ve just returned from a speaking gig in Guatemala – it was a fantastic experience.

I was the main keynote speaker at the 20th. annual conference of AGRH, the association of HR managers in Guatemala. In addition to the keynote I also spoke at a shorter VIP event and had a whole bunch of meetings with business people and interviews with various media.

I had a great time, but here are my top 5 things about my trip:

1: A conference about happiness at work – in Guatemala(!)
Here I am in stage for my presentation. Notice the Danish flag in the background with all the Latin American flags:

The conference was a day and a half and the theme for the whole event was happiness at work or Felicidad Laboral as you can see in the logo above. As far as we know, this was only the second conference about workplace happiness in the world – and ours was the first. That’s pretty good for a Latin American country, to focus not only on having jobs but on creating happy workplaces. The conference was opened with a speech by the Guatemalan Minister of Labor, who also spoke on the importance of having a job you like.

2: The fantastic people of Guatemala
Every single person I met at the conference and in Guatemala in general was friendly, open, curious and happy. Here I am with the conference arrangers at the closing party:

3: I was a rock star for 4 days :o)
All the other speakers were from the region (Guatemala, El Salvador, Mexico, Honduras) so I was the main international speaker. That meant that everyone wanted to talk to me, have their picture taken with me or even get autographs. I could get used to that :o)

Here’s a poster for the event:

Notice the part below my name that says “Experto Mundial #1”. I’m having a T-shirt made with those words on it :o)

4: The Guatemala Sink hole

I was fortunate enough to get a private tour of Guatemala City and when my guide asked me what I would like to see besides the usual sights, I immediately mentioned the Guatemala sink hole. I’m apparently the first tourist ever to ask to see that, so he didn’t even know exactly where it was. But we asked around and finally found it. It’s a bizarre sight to see a big round hole in the middle of a street in the middle of a big city.

5: Guatamala gets it
The 250 HR managers in attendance loved my presentation and I sold a lot of signed copies of my first book in its Spanish translation. But the best thing wa to talk to the participants afterwards and get the clear impression that they are committed to creating happy workplaces.

One of the other presentations at the conference was an survey done by PriceWaterhouseCoopers of HR managers in Guatemala, and according to their report, 95% agree that happiness is good for business results and 75% already have initiatives to create happiness or will soon begin.

All in all it was a fantastic trip, and we’re proud to be able to add Guatemala to the list of countries we’ve worked in. Here’s the complete list: Germany, England, Ireland, USA, Sweden, Turkey, Denmark, Ireland, France, Poland, Holland, Estonia, Slovenia, India, Croatia, Bahamas, Switzerland and Guatemala.

While I’m away on vacation (actually I’m spending most of it renovating our new apartment) could you please take a moment to read this question from a reader and give her your 2 cents? Thanks!

Hi I would appreciate some advice from anyone…really..PLEASE!

My company just got a new manager, my old manager was bad..he was verbally abusive but he had his good sides in his organizational skills and neatness. When I found out there would be a new manager I became excited as I wouldn’t get yelled at anymore.

When she got hired I became assistant manager. I became even more excited because I felt like I could finally exert my potential and really help out in the workplace.

Well that quickly became crap when a girl that hates me befriended my boss. My boss quickly began gossiping about me to my coworkers, asking them to not tell me anything, saying that I want her job, saying that I’m the one who gossips about her and…I give her attitude. Hearing about this was harsh because I tried to be as nicest and as helpful as possible. I tried backing off and letting her take the reigns so she wouldn’t feel threatened by me (I have more experience in the facility). .but nothing has worked, she seems to be gossiping MORE now.

The people that I have asked for advice tell me to let it go and that my hard work will shine through in the end and she will see that I”m not a bad person and all the rumors she hears will all be disproven.

I don’t know what to do, I don’t now if I should approach her or how to solve the problem. It’s become quite stressful. My company doesn’t really work closely with HR and its an “at will” company so she is pretty much able to “can” my ass if she wants to. I hate it when people talk about me and it’s been hard holding back.

Can anyone give me helpful advice. PLEASE??

It’s obvious that business culture is different in different countries – but different how? How much is myth and prejudice and how much is fact? Are Americans really brash and superficial? Are the Germans really punctual and humorless? Or as I heard one stand-up comic say once: “Laughter is a wonderful thing. Where would we be without laughter? [pause]. Germany!”

Gerd Hofstede to the rescue. Hofstede is a Dutch Sociologist who has been analyzing business culture in different countries for over 40 years.

He also quantifies the prevailing business culture in 4 dimensions:
Power Distance Index (PDI). This is the extent to which the less powerful members of organizations and institutions accept and expect that power is distributed unequally.

Individualism (IDV). The degree to which individuals are integrated into groups. On the individualist side we find societies in which the ties between individuals are loose: everyone is expected to look after him/herself and his/her immediate family. On the collectivist side, we find societies in which people from birth onwards are integrated into strong, cohesive in-groups, often extended families (with uncles, aunts and grandparents) which continue protecting them in exchange for unquestioning loyalty.

Masculinity (MAS). Masculine cultures are very assertive and competitive, feminine cultures are modest and caring.

Uncertainty Avoidance Index (UAI). This deals with a society’s tolerance for uncertainty and ambiguity. It indicates to what extent a culture programs its members to feel either uncomfortable or comfortable in unstructured situations.

Here, for example, is Denmark:

As you can see, Danish business culture has a very low power distance. This is typical for Danish workplaces, where employees will always call managers by their first names and you rarely see a manager giving a direct order. The Culture in Denmark tends towards the individualistic rather than collective and is very feminine. This means that even though Danes don’t see themselves as integral parts of a collective, there is still a huge focus on other people’s emotional state. Finally, uncertainty avoidance is very low, meaning Danish workplaces can take uncertainty. Indeed, a typical Danish attitude would be “Don’t tell me how to do my job, I’d rather figure it out for myself.”

Let’s compare that to the US:

Power Distance is higher and the culture is more masculine but what really sticks out is individualism. As you might expect, American workplaces are characterized by high levels of individualism and less of a sense of belonging to a collective.

Finally, the reason I’m writing this blog post: Guatemala. I’m writing this in my hotel room in Guatemala City, and tomorrow I’m keynoting at a conference for 200 HR managers. So of course I wanted to know what the business culture here is like. Take a look at this:

Check out that Power Distance! As Hofstede writes:

Guatemala has the highest Uncertainty Avoidance (UAI) Hofstede Dimension ranking of all Latin countries, indicating the society’s extremely low level of tolerance for uncertainty. In an effort to minimize or reduce this level of uncertainty, strict rules, laws, policies, and regulations are adopted and implemented.

Guatemala is tied with Panama for the highest Power Distance (PDI) ranking among Latin countries with a 95, compared to an average of 70. This is indicative of a high level of inequality of power and wealth within the society.

The question I have to ask is (of course) this:

What business culture is most conducive to happiness at work.

Unsurprisingly, my answer is: The Scandinavian (which is almost identical to the one shown above for Denmark). Indeed, when you look at studies comparing happiness at work in different countries, the Scandinavian nations are always at the top (and #1 is usually Denmark).

And I think that Hofstede’s work gives us part of the reason why this is so:

• Low power distance means employees typically have control and influence over their own work situation.
• A tendency towards the individualistic means that each individual is free to pursue their own happiness, but is still connected to the group.
• A feminine culture means that people care about each other.
• Low uncertainty avoidance is a must in an ever-changing world.

So I believe that companies who pursue a culture and a set of core principles that are in line with this will be happier workplaces – and, as studies show, happy companies make more money. On the other hand, companies that go for masculine cultures with high power distance will end up being very unhappy and will ultimately have their butts kicked by their happy competitors!

Your take

What’s the culture like in your country? You can look up your own country’s culture here. Let me know what you find and whether or not you agree :o)

This is it – today is the day that I can finally announce our international newsletter about happiness at work.

We’ve had a thriving and highly popular newsletter in Danish for years, but somehow never got around to doing one in English. Well, no more procrastination – here it is :o)

When you sign up for it you can expect:

• About one email a month.
• Tips, links, inspiration and ideas about happiness at work.
• Articles and videos about happiness at work.
• The occasional thinly veiled attempt to get you to buy some of our stuff :o)
• At least one belly laugh per newsletter.
• No spam what so ever – ever!

And you can sign up right here:

One of my most popular posts is still the one about The Cult of Overwork and it just got another great comment from Dee:

I work in retail, and it’s true, some enjoy spending all their time at work, and that’s fine. If you want to spend 60 hours at work, that’s your prerogative. What I don’t like is the judgmental attitudes surrounding work hours– the unsaid expectation that if you don’t work 9-9, you’re a failure, or letting your team down.

No, working 12 hours, five days in a row makes me miserable AND a failure– a failure at my job. I work to live, I don’t live to work, as the old saying goes and, when I first started and was eager to fit in, I bent over backwards keeping a similar schedule. I felt ashamed that my ‘meager’ 12 hour day contribution wasn’t enough, and I felt in ‘awe’ of the woman that habitually came in at 6am and leaving at 9pm. Then one day, about a year into the job, I remember wondering why I had gotten the flu yet AGAIN, (the fourth time in two months!) when it hit me. I was working way too much and almost killing myself. Life is going to get me in the end. I don’t need my job to speed up that process.

Now I work less, work better, and win more accolades, get more sales, and get sick less, all because I don’t conform to the cult of overwork. I’m in the minority, but I’m happy. And that lady? Well, she still works her heart out, and complains the whole way.

That’s the way to do it, Dee! Read the rest of the comment here.