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| Joachim De Posada |
By Joachim De Posada
Website • Follow Me on Twitter • Follow on Facebook
The
concept of happiness as applied to the business world
Don’t
you think that we all need to find happiness?
How
do we deliver happiness in business? We try to make it part of every
transaction.
When
people buy what we sell, they want to feel happy with their transaction. They
want to buy an I-Pad and they want happiness. They want a refrigerator and they
want to feel happy. They fix their homes and paint their walls because it will
make them happy. They want to go to their physician or dentist and they want to
be healthy because being healthy brings people happiness.
Think
of the people that you do business with and I bet that those that give you
happiness when you deal with them get most or all of your business. I immediately think of the employees of a
neighborhood restaurant that cares about their customers. They go out of their
way to say hello to every client that visits the restaurant. They are
efficient, enthusiastic and they quickly ask you for a drink to make you feel
comfortable. If you are a regular client, they ask you how you are doing, how
is your family how is your business. They demonstrate interest in you, their
client.
Let’s
take a closer look at happiness in your life.
#1: First
off, happiness begins with you. You should be the source of happiness, joy and
energy in your company, business or in your professional life. If the lights
are out in your heart, it’s highly unlikely that you’ll brighten somebody
else’s heart.
Do
the people who work for you get up every day and look forward to going to work
because they will find a happy and challenging environment? Do they feel happy because they are treated
fairly and their intellect is challenged on a daily basis? Do they greet
clients by name? Do they look people in the eye? Leadership is a person’s
ability to influence others to accomplish his or her objectives and it is much
easier to do this if people are happy at their place of work.
#2: Next,
hire happy people. I am always asked if you can turn unhappy employees into
happy ones. I must admit that it is possible but I bet that it is a whole lot
easier to hire people that are happy by nature. Horz Schultze former Chairman
of the highly successful hotel chain the Ritz Carlton, once told me that their
policy was to hire happy people, people that loved the hotel business. They
would rather hire attitude and then train than hire trained people and try to
change their attitude.
#3: Create
rituals of happiness. Encourage happiness. Create festivities, fun contests,
special days, events and activities throughout the year that excite, perk up,
stimulate. Go to your planner and right now mark on it a few days where you
have the opportunity to surprise your employees with some off the wall activity
or event.
What
are you willing to do to make your business a happier place for your employees
and your clients to do business with?
Happiness
has a lot to do with love. To end this article on a happy note, I want to share
with you some wisdom sent to me by my friend Don Cooper.
When asked what love is, a group of 4 to 8
year olds came up with these brilliant answers:
a) "When
my grandmother got arthritis and couldn't bend over and paint her toenails
anymore, my grandfather does it for her all the time, even when his hands got
arthritis too. That's love."
Rebecca - age 8
b) “When
someone loves you, the way they say your name is different. You just know that
your name is safe in their mouth." Billy - age 4
c) "Love
is when a girl puts on perfume and a boy puts on shaving cologne and they go out
and smell each other." Karl - age 5
d) "Love
is when you go out to eat and give somebody most of your French fries without
making them give you any of theirs." Chrissie - age 6
e) "Love
is when you tell a guy you like his shirt, and then he wears it every
day." Noelle - age 7
f) "My
mommy loves me more than anybody. You don't see anyone else kissing me to sleep
at night."
Clare - age 6
g) "Love
is when your puppy licks your face even after you left him alone all day."
Mary Ann - age 4
h) "You
really shouldn't say 'I love you' unless you mean it. But if you mean it, you
should say it a lot because people forget." Jessica - age 8
i) "Love
is what's in the room with you at Christmas if you stop opening presents and
listen."
Bobby- age 7
Go and find a happy place to work on.
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