The Delivering Happiness Podcast

It's one thing to survive a life-threatening illness, it's another to thrive thereafter. Tom Nash had both his legs and arms amputated at the age of 19, the result of contracting the deadly Meningococcal Septicemia. Not that he let that stop him from achieving his goals for life. Today, he is a successful Australian DJ, a business entrepreneur, and an in demand speaker who has engaged audiences worldwide including nearly 3 million people who have viewed his TEDx Talk: The Perks of Being a Pirate. In this episode, Tom shares his story of perseverance and how he learned to manufacture his own state of wellbeing and happiness as he relearned how to walk, play music, and pursue his dreams. Tom tells us why breaking his rehabilitation into steps and celebrating those small wins along the way was key to maintaining a sense of progress and control. He also shares humorous stories about differences between how young boys, girls, and adults interact with him in public.  Ultimately, Tom doesn't wish to be pitied or solely provide fleeting inspiration, but rather strategies others can use to enhance their own wellbeing.  For more information about Tom Nash, go to tomnash.com or check out his Life Under the Lens video education series. 

On this episode we talk to David Nour, one of the world's leading experts on strategic business relationships. David introduces us to the concept of "Curve Benders" which are business relationships that dramatically influence our growth and development from a linear path to an accelerated "J" curve.David discusses a 7 step process on how to meet your own "curve benders" as well as how to cultivate those relationships. We discuss the future of work and how adaptability and strategic business relationships are key to maintaining relevancy. David also helps us identify ways to quantify our current relationships in order measure how beneficial they are in taking our next best step as well as how to politely decline invitations to collaborate or meet. Born in Iran, David Nour immigrated to the U.S. as a teenager with $100, limited family ties and no fluency in English. He found that in Iran, as well as in other parts of the world, it's customary to build relationships before doing business, but in the U.S., the opposite is true. This led him to become fascinated with building strategic business relationships, and became the foundation of his first book. Nour is internationally recognized as the leading expert on strategic business relationships. The author of ten books, including best-sellers CO-CREATE (St. Martin's Press) and Relationship Economics® (Wiley), as well as his newest book, Curve Benders (Wiley, April 27, 2021), Nour serves as a trusted advisor to global clients and coaches corporate leaders and rising entrepreneurs. He is an adjunct professor at the Goizueta Business School at Emory University, was named to the Thinkers50 Radar Class 2021, and Global Gurus Top 30 Leadership Professionals lists.To connect with David Nour, check out his Nour Forum!

In this episode we talk with Peter Bregman and Howie Jacobson, Ph.D. about their new book "You Can Change Other People: The Four Steps to Help Your Colleagues, Employees - Even Family - Up their Game".  Peter and Howie discuss how to disarm others' defensiveness and increase their confidence to act, how to shift people from complaining to problem solving, and what to do when there are slip ups in the change process.Peter and Howie take us through their four steps to helping others change: Shifting from Critic to AllyIdentifying an Energizing OutcomeFinding the Hidden OpportunitiesCreating a PlanWe also discussed how to help people move on from feelings of shame or being demoralized by their inability to change.Peter Bregman is the CEO of Bregman Partners. He coaches, writes, teaches, and speaks, mostly about leadership and about life. His sweet spot is as a strategic thought partner to successful people who care about being exceptional leaders and stellar human beings. Peter is recognized as the #1 executive coach in the world by Leading Global Coaches. He coaches C-level executives in many of the world's premier organizations, including Citi, CBS, Mars, Showtime, AMC Networks, Allianz, Electronic Arts, Pearson, and Twilio, to name a few. He is also a ski coach on the weekends in the winter (but not the #1 ski coach in the world). Peter is the bestselling author of five books including Leading with Emotional Courage and 18 Minutes. His work appears frequently in Harvard Business Review, BusinessWeek, Fast Company, Psychology Today, Forbes, CNN, and NPR. Peter created and leads the #1 leadership development program in the world, the Bregman Leadership Intensive, and trains leaders and managers on the Four Steps through the Bregman Leadership Coach Training program. Peter is the host of the Bregman Leadership Podcast, with over 1.5 million downloads. He has given four TEDx talks and regularly delivers keynotes for associations like SHRM and companies, including Coca-Cola, the Discovery Network, L'Oréal, Deloitte, and Fidelity, among others. Peter earned his M.B.A. from Columbia University and his B.A. from Princeton University. Peter lives in New York City with his wife, three kids, and new puppy, Maeve (his first dog ever). He reads, runs, skis, bikes, hikes, and tries to follow his own advice. More information can be found here: www.bregmanpartners.com. Howie Jacobson, PhD, is an executive coach to clients ranging from startup founders to established and rising Fortune 100 leaders. He is Director of Coaching at Bregman Partners, and Head Coach at the Healthy Minds Initiative. Howie is the author of AdWords For Dummies; co-author of Sick to Fit and Use the Weight to Lose the Weight, with Josh LaJaunie; contributing author to Whole: Rethinking the Science of Nutrition and The Low Carb Fraud, both by T. Colin Campbell, Ph.D.; and Proteinaholic by Garth Davis, M.D. Howie's writings have also appeared in Fast Company and Harvard Business Review. He hosts the Plant Yourself Podcast, where he interviews remarkable people engaged in healing at the individual, institutional, and planetary level. Howie earned his M.P.H. and Ph.D. in Health Studies from Temple University and his B.A. from Princeton University. He lives in rural North Carolina with his wife, where he writes, gardens, plays Ultimate Frisbee, runs, fiddles, and loads the dishwasher correctly.

In this episode,  we  talk to Juliet Funt, author of the new  book "A Minute to Think: Reclaim Creativity, Conquer Business, and Do  Your Best Work." After learning about Juliet's hilarious obsession with befriending a neighborhood cow, we get right into the good stuff! Juliet talks about what "whitespace" is in our day and  how it differs from  mindfulness, meditation, or zoning out. She also shares tips on learning how to train ourselves to use whitespace effectively to enhance creativity and performance. Juliet also describes 4 thieves of our time which are  actually assets run amuck:  drive, excellence, information, activity. These assets when in overdrive  can  lead to burnout and  a major lack of productivity so she shares strategic questions we can ask ourselves to redirect our efforts depending on the thief of time in order to get to the crux of the work day.Juliet Funt is the author of A Minute to Think, nominated for the Next Big Idea Club curated by Malcolm Gladwell, Adam Grant, Susan Cain, and Dan Pink. She is an evangelist for freeing the potential of companies by unburdening their talent from busywork, and she has brought her powerful concepts to Spotify, National Geographic, Anthem, Vans, Abbott, Costco, Pepsi, Nike, Wells Fargo, Sephora, Sysco, and ESPN.Also, don't forget about our new book "Beyond Happiness: How Authentic Leaders Prioritize Purpose and People for Growth and Impact" by Jenn Lim

Since the beginning of the pandemic, 89% of people said their work life was getting worse and only 2% rated their own well-being as “excellent”. In this episode Jennifer Moss takes us through her new book "The Burnout Epidemic" and shares what leaders can do to remedy chronic stress and burnout Spoiler alert: it's the responsibility of the organization, not just the individual! Jennifer explains the six root causes of burnout and what employers can do to address them. She also emphasizes that while self-care (like yoga, meditation, etc) are important to help individuals optimize performance, those things are not the solution to burnout. Moss tells us why burnout isn't a problem that should be left for the individual to solve, but rather most of the causes and solutions are the responsibility of organizations.  Interested in  reading "The Burnout Epidemic?" Order here! Jennifer Moss is an award-winning journalist, author, and international public speaker. She is a nationally syndicated radio columnist, reporting on topics related to happiness and workplace well-being. She is also a freelance writer whose articles have appeared in HuffPost, Forbes, the Society of Human Resource Management (SHRM), Fortune, and Harvard Business Review. Her book, Unlocking Happiness at Work, received the distinguished UK Business Book of the Year Award. Moss also sits on the Global Happiness Council. To acknowledge her contributions to business and public service, Moss was named a Canadian Innovator of the Year, an International Female Entrepreneur of the Year, and recipient of the Public Service Award from the Office of President Obama.Also, don't forget about our new book "Beyond Happiness: How Authentic Leaders Prioritize Purpose and People for Growth and Impact" by Jenn Lim

It's fitting that Shep Hyken came back to our podcast since the name of his new book is "I'll Be Back. How to Get Customers to Return Again and Again." In this episode, Shep talks about the relationship between a good customer experience and a good employee experience and cites the golden rule as "Do unto employees as you would want them to do unto customers." Shep also gives reasons why he believes we should be measuring behaviors above happiness and examples of ways in which managers were able to fit employee customer services training into small windows of time. We also discuss how both nothing and a lot of things have changed in the area of customer service and how companies can provide the best service by training customers to navigate the experience themselves while being there to solve problems if they exist.  Shep also gives his reasons why you would want to terminate a customer if the relationship is not working out. Shep Hyken is a customer service and experience expert and the Chief Amazement Officer of Shepard Presentations. He is a New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestselling author and has been inducted into the National Speakers Association Hall of Fame for lifetime achievement in the speaking profession. Shep works with companies and organizations who want to build loyal relationships with their customers and employees.

In this episode, DH co-founder and CEO Jenn Lim joins us to discuss her new book "Beyond Happiness".  Jenn shares insights from the new book which picks up where Delivering Happiness left off and provides examples and models of how we can go beyond our own internal happiness and have a greater "ROI" (Ripple of Impact). Jenn recalls the process of writing the book and how the death of Tony Hsieh impacted that process and the book. She also shares why it's important to not only highlight our strengths and high points in life but also our lows and our shadow sides so we can learn from the difficult moments. Jenn also discusses the difference between companies that view people as an expense vs. an investment and provides examples of companies who invested in their people during the pandemic. We talk about some of the activities provided in her book, specifically one where she compares living a life where you're writing a resume vs. writing a eulogy. Finally, Jenn explains the "Greenhouse" model and what elements are necessary for leaders to effectively tend to their own greenhouses while growing others. Click to pre-order "Beyond Happiness: How Authentic Leaders Prioritize Purpose and People for Growth and Impact"Jenn Lim is the CEO and co-founder of Delivering Happiness, a company she and Tony Hsieh (the late CEO of Zappos.com) co-founded to create happier company cultures for a more profitable and sustainable approach to business. She successfully launched Delivering Happiness as a book (New York Times and WSJ Bestseller) that sold over a million copies, then evolved it into a business consultancy and global movement that has impacted and inspired over 400 companies and organizations around the world. Jenn's mission is both simple and profound: to teach businesses how to create workplaces that generate profit, prioritize people and growth at every level of the organization, and make an impact by being true to the core of ourselves.

Pre-order the follow-up book to Delivering Happiness by DH Co-Founder/CEO Jenn Lim!  Beyond Happiness: How Authentic Leaders Prioritize Purpose and People for Growth and Impact   ..................................In this episode we talk with Dr. Acacia Parks who's the Chief Science Officer at Happify Health which is a digital therapeutics company that brings the cutting edge in research based behavior change strategies to businesses, health plans, and consumers.Dr. Parks talks about beginning her pursuit of happiness by first being concerned about unhappiness & focusing on the prevention of depression. She also provides us with a scientific definition of happiness and ways we can we learn to deliberately promote positive emotional states because the brain remembers the negative parts of our day 2-5x more than the positive! Dr. Parks also shares a six part framework of happiness habits based on the common themes & research from positive psychology, cognitive behavioral therapy, and mindfulness. As Chief Scientist at Happify Health, Dr. Park's research focuses on digital methods for managing and treating depression and anxiety, as well as chronic health conditions.Her passion lies at the intersection of research and regulatory strategy for digital therapeutics. She received her B.A. in Psychology from Reed College, and her Ph.D. in Psychology from the University of Pennsylvania, where her graduate research helped build the foundation for research on bringing mental health interventions to the general public. Prior to joining Happify Health, Acacia was an Associate Professor of Psychology at Hiram College. Dr. Parks was also instrumental in launching Happify Health's newest Rx digital therapeutic product for depression & anxiety called Ensemble. 

In this episode we spoke with Michelle Wax, Founder of the American Happiness Project. In 2019, entrepreneur Michelle Wax left Boston and crossed the country in her Jeep, visiting all 50 states and talking to more than 500 people in the (literal) pursuit of happiness. She chronicled her journey in American Happiness, an independent documentary film.We talked with Michelle about what she learned from her interviews with people from across the U.S. Michelle shared some of the things that surprised her as well as common themes that emerged from talking with a diverse array of "Happy People." Michelle also shared some best practices and habits on how to rewire our brains from the negativity bias we're born with to being able to notice and appreciate the positive aspects of our day to day lives. Michelle Wax is the founder of American Happiness Project, a movement across 50 states focused on creating more joy, energy, and connection in the everyday. Wax works with top companies, organizations, and schools across the USA to help teams move beyond burnout, create more calm and focus, and build positive mindsets through workshops + accountability programs. In 2019, she produced the 50 state American Happiness documentary, and leads the American Happiness CONNECTION community. Prior to founding American Happiness Project — Wax founded two companies in the food industry, which she sold in 2019. She has been praised to be "incredibly knowledgeable, relate-able, and approachable" and she "brings great energy that very few are able to bring to the online world".

In this episode, we talk with DH Culture Chief, Sunny Grosso who shares her updated list of the Top 10 People F#%! Ups in Organizational Change. Sunny describes the need for change in a post pandemic world, as many people have now seen what is most important to them. With an opportunity for a big reset, organizations are scrambling to meet the changing needs of their teams.Before beginning the list, Sunny explains that the overall #1 reason for F#%! ups in organizational change is that the people fail to commit. Since "not committing" is so broad, she expands on that idea giving 10 examples of how that happens.Some of her list includes leaders not starting with intrinsic motivation for change, people failing to celebrate small accomplishments along the way, leader misalignment, and the need for people to live the behaviors of change by being consistent, insistent, and persistent.If you'd like to read Grosso's article on the same topic, click here. Sunny Grosso is a founding member of the DH coach|sulting® team, a master coach, and a global speaker. For over a decade, she's been inspiring and impacting organizations around the world, bringing her expertise to 20 countries and hundreds of teams. She is leading the charge for more purposeful organizations that create better human experiences, leading to greater business results.

In this episode we talk with CEO of National Business Capital, Joe Camberato. Joe discusses his decision to take time to shut the business down for two full days, five years ago to go through a culture masterclass. He recalls that at the time he and his team were thriving, the business was growing and succeeding at it's pinnacle, and the culture actually felt great. Joe was hesitant to pause momentum when things were going so well, but his concern was keeping the great culture they had while the business continued to grow and they added more team members.  We talk to Joe about what his hesitancies were in going through a culture renovation and how National Business Capital's culture is doing today.Joe recounts the difficulty in laying off and furloughing staff during the pandemic and how the culture foundation they laid five years ago has helped them navigate this tumultuous time and bounce back stronger. Joe Camberato has a passion: Helping small businesses grow – really helping them grow.His passion has defined an entrepreneurial journey that began in his spare bedroom in 2007 where, after discovering a world of private lending that few small business owners knew existed, Joe turned his fascination into a business. Its mission: understand a client's needs, match them to the right lender, do it fast & with integrity.Today, as the nation's unrivaled FinTech Marketplace, National Business Capital & Services has secured over $1 Billion in business financing and embraced a visionary focus: Innovating the Way Entrepreneurs Grow.® As Joe was helping businesses finance their growth, he grew his to 100+ employees without private equity. Along the way he learned a lot about how to architect a business to scale.Now, in addition to providing access to funding, he helps clients learn how to build businesses that run themselves, by working “on them” not in them. His passion has also inspired him to build “GrowByJoe” on YouTube to share his insights, along with his seat on Forbes Finance Council and he is also an active member of YPO. In 2020 Joe's vision has new meaning as National is helping small businesses weather the COVID crisis and adapt to thrive in the post-pandemic ‘new normal'.Don't forget to check out the Delivering Happiness website for all of our workshops, courses, and keynotes!

In this episode you'll get to hear our podcast host, Paul Osincup try a virtual reality experience for the first time. He'll be guided by the episode guest Brett A. McCall, Founder and Chief Visionary Officer of Better Than Unicorns. After Brett guides Paul through his first VR experience, they discuss how companies are using virtual reality to build culture, especially for remote workers.Paul and Brett discuss the universal language of gesture and how VR allows us to use our bodies and experience genuine empathy and emotion with others in any setting. Can VR be used to create more empathy and understanding by giving people access to attend past historical events or experience the world in a different identity? How can teams use VR to build trust and connection with one another or create more innovative solutions? These are the questions we tackle in this episode! Brett A. McCall is the Founder and Chief Visionary Officer of Better Than Unicorns, a uniquely magical company manifested in Asheville, NC that pairs virtual reality with facilitation specifically for personal growth, team building, leadership development, and connection. Join their interactive community at: dazzle.betterthanunicorns.com Don't forget to check out the Delivering Happiness website for all of our workshops, courses, and keynotes!

Some DH podcast listeners have wondered "What happened to the Cohost Kelly Lei?"  Let's just say one of our DH coaches was too good at his job, lol. After some one on one coaching conversations Kelly realized that her purpose/dream/mission was really to find a way to provide people from traditionally underrepresented groups new opportunities to create capital. Born in Macau, Kelly immigrated to the U.S. when she was 12 and her parents were a waitress and chef who did not speak any English. Kelly realized that because her parents had family members who believed in them and helped them invest, they were able to build capital and create financially stability for her family. Now, Kelly is taking that same type of family support global. She founded a successful new VC firm, Finclusive Ventures who's goal is to elevate diverse founders and investors in early stages by creating new opportunities for all. In this episode, Kelly shares how a coaching call led to her following her dream, as well as the process of using values to form the foundation of a new start up. In discussing the meaning behind her work, Kelly shares that about 87% of VC funding goes to all male founding teams, about 2% goes to all women and less than .5% goes to women of color founders and that there are huge gaps in the marketplace for ideas from some of these underrepresented groups.  

We talk with Jeannine Carter, Founder & CEO of Incluvations about what leaders can do during these times of racial injustice and pain to create safe, inclusive, and diverse work cultures.  Jeannine shares some of the basic frameworks for understanding the differences between diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI)  along with ideas for how leaders can begin this complex work. Jeannine and Paul discuss why diversity by itself is not enough to sustain an organization and how a diverse team who does  not  feel included or that things are equitable may lead to burnout and turnover.  Jeannine also shares examples of how to become a more inclusive leader, steps to new awareness, and some of the most common issues around DEI that her clients are facing. Jeannine Carter is Founder, CEO & Chief Innovator, of Incluvations a Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) consulting firm. With over 20 years experience in the global Diversity and Inclusion (D&I) field., Jeannine has worked on complex efforts, across many dimensions of diversity, in multiple industries having assisted many Fortune 500 companies, small organizations, and institutions in achieving their goals.Jeannine has held internal senior leadership positions at companies, such as Facebook, Deloitte & Touche, Denver Public Schools, and Newmont Mining Corporation. Additionally, while at The Kaleidoscope Group, a firm she co-founded, Jeannine also served as an external diversity and inclusion consultant serving multiple industries. She received her B.A. from Stanford University in International Relations and MBA from Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management. Philanthropically, Jeannine serves as a board member and advisor of organizations such as Black Star Fund, Summer Search and The Moxie Exchange.Contact Jeannine at: jeannine@incluvations.com

Did you know that according to the Harvard Business Review,  leaders with any sense of humor are seen as 27% more motivating & admired than those who don't joke around? What about that according to the Journal of Business Psychology,  people who watched funny videos on their break were twice as productive when returning to work  than those who took a break with no humor? In this  episode, our host Paul Osincup has switched seats as Kelly Lei returns to interview him about how we can intentionally use our sense of humor as a mindfulness tool to enhance health, well-being, and performance! Paul shares a couple of "Humor Habits" that will help you laugh more often and start rewiring your brain to look for & savor the funny moments in life.When we're stressed out, burned out, or checked out, people often say, "You need to laugh it off" or "Have a sense of humor about it". That's great, but nobody ever tells us HOW to do that. In the new DH online course "The Humor Advantage" , you'll learn techniques  for developing your sense of humor into an intentional mindfulness tool to reduce stress and boost your well-being and productivity. Using a combination of proven strategies & research from positive psychology, neuroscience, improv, and stand-up comedy, you'll leave with numerous actionable ways to start using your own sense of humor as a mindfulness tool!Along with hosting the Delivering Happiness Podcast, Paul Osincup is an international Speaker and Culture Coach|Sultant.  Paul's global mission for workplace happiness has provided him the opportunity to work with hundreds of organizations including Cisco, Nasdaq, The U.S. AirForce, and the Harvard Kennedy School of Leadership. What you may not know about Paul is that he's one of only 60 "Certified Humor Professionals" in the world, and is a leading expert in the field of applied humor. Paul's TEDx Talk “Leading with Laughter, the Power of Humor in Leadership” has been viewed nearly a half a million times and he's the President of the Association for Applied and Therapeutic Humor, an international organization dedicated to the study and application of humor to enhance health and human performance. Paul's work has been highlighted in The New York Times, Forbes, and on his mom's refrigerator.

In this episode we talk with Abby Guthkelch,  Head of Global Executive Solutions for Workplace From Facebook. Abby shares from her experience working with executives from around the world about how leaders can create a more connected employee experience. We discuss how to distinguish between employee engagement and employee experience, and why it's an important difference. Abby also shares how connecting employees who have similar roles in other parts of the world can lead to quick innovation as well as a sense of ownership & connectedness among employees. We also discuss the crucial need for high achieving executives to be vulnerable and showcase their authentic selves to their team, which Abby models perfectly as we discuss what makes her weird!Abby Guthkelch is Head of Global Executive Solutions for Workplace from Facebook. She was  ranked amongst the Top 25 marketing innovators in EMEA (Holmes Report Innovator 25 2017) as well as #21 in the Top 100 most influential individuals in UK digital marketing (The Drum Digerati 2014).  

In 2009, a St. Louis glassblowing artist and recovering computer scientist named Jim McKelvey lost a sale because he couldn't accept American Express cards. Frustrated by the high costs and difficulty of accepting credit card payments, McKelvey joined his friend Jack Dorsey (the cofounder of Twitter) to launch Square, a startup that would enable small merchants to accept credit card payments on their mobile phones. After finding out that major credit card companies were profiting off small businesses at a rate of forty-five times higher than big billion-dollar corporations, McKelvey realized that his problem was a big issue for a lot of people, and a good reason to start a company. In this episode, Jim McKelvey recounts the startup's against-the-odds survival of a direct attack from the most dangerous company on the planet—Amazon — and reveals the business strategy that made Square impenetrable: —what he calls the Innovation Stack. Drawing on his firsthand experience as the cofounder of Square, McKelvey shares how they approached the problem of credit cards with a new perspective, questioning the industry's assumptions, experimenting and innovating their way through early challenges, and ultimately achieving widespread adoption from merchants small and large—with no expertise in the world of payments. Check out Jim's new book “THE INNOVATION STACK: Building an Unbeatable Business One Crazy Idea at a Time” here: https://www.jimmckelvey.com/books/

As a ninth grader, Elizabeth Yin's best friend asked if she wanted to help out her cousin Tony with a project over winter break. With nothing else going on, she agreed and found herself putting up tables and chairs in an office for recent college graduate Tony Hsieh as he began his startup Link Exchange. Elizabeth tells us about her professional journey and the ripple of impact that brief, random encounter had on her life. Using Elizabeth's relationship with Tony as an example, we discuss the how small actions of leaders can leave a lasting ripple of impact. Elizabeth is now a co-founder and General Partner at Hustle Fund, a pre-seed fund for software entrepreneurs. Previously, Elizabeth was a partner at 500 Startups where she invested in seed stage companies and ran the Mountain View accelerator. Elizabeth has reviewed over 20k startup pitches from around the world in the last few years and has helped numerous portfolio founders raise hundreds of millions of dollars. Her work and writing on startup fundraising has been featured in numerous publications including TechCrunch, Forbes, Huffington Post, BetaKit, and more. Check her out at elizabethyin.com

In this episode, I'm talking with Kevin Oakes, the head of the world's leading HR research firm, the Institute for Corporate Productivity,  or I4CP about his new book Culture Renovation: 18 Leadership Actions to Build an Unshakeable Company. It's a combination of reliable research, relatable examples, and actionable strategies. This episode (and Kevin's book) is packed with information on what it takes to begin to renovate your culture to unlock performance & create a dynamic and happy work environment. Kevin Oakes is the author of Culture Renovation: 18 Leadership Actions to Build an Unshakeable Company. He is also CEO and co-founder of i4cp, the world's leading HR research firm, the Institute for Corporate Productivity. Oakes has been a pioneer in the human capital field for the last 25 years, and is an international keynote speaker on culture, talent management, leadership, innovation, diversity, metrics, and strategic learning in organizations. After serving as CEO of the first company created by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, he created and served as President of SumTotal Systems, one of the largest providers of talent and learning solutions in the world.Culture Renovation: 18 Leadership Actions to Build an Unshakeable Company, by Kevin Oakes identifies 18 proven leadership actions for turning any culture into an agile, resilient, and innovative high-performance organization. Learn how to best understand the culture in place today and set a new cultural path for decades to come; develop a co-creation mindset; identify influencers and blockers; ferret out skeptics and non-believers; measure, monitor, and report progress; and implement “next practices” in talent strategies to sustain the renovation.

We're taking a trip around the world to chat with a few of our Delivering Happiness Global Partners. In three brief conversations with our friends at DH Spain, DH Egypt, and DH Mexico, we asked what they learned from 2020, how they plan to spread happiness In 2021, and to share a happiness habit that helps them maintain perspective when life gets difficult.  For more Information about Delivering Happiness Spain, Mexico, and Egypt: https://www.deliveringhappiness.com/dh-global-partnership

All of us at Delivering Happiness were shocked and heartbroken at the passing of our Co-Founder, friend, and catalyst of the Delivering Happiness movement, Tony Hsieh. Tony was all about community and connectedness, so what better way to honor him than to talk about his ripple of impact with two of his best friends, Alfred Lin and Fred Mossler? Along with our  CEO Jenn Lim, Alfred and Fred discuss Tony's legacy including what they learned from him, what made him unique, funny, and human. Alfred Lin is a venture capitalist & partner at sequoia capital. He & Tony met as undergraduates at Harvard & went on to work together at Link Exchange and then Zappos where Alfred served as COO and CFOFred Mossler met Tony when he left Nordstrom's to join Zappos in 1999 where he was initially the senior vice president of merchandising and eventually moved up to take the official title of “No Title” at Zappos for the next 15 years. Since then, Fred has been an entrepreneur focusing on the Las Vegas Downtown revitalization project he & tony started, The Life is good Music Festival, and numerous  non-profit philanthropies. One of the most important elements of Delivering Happiness, first and foremost, is to be true to your (weird) authentic self.Tony was so many things to so many people, as it shows in every tribute and memory that have been shared across the media. but the one thing consistent throughout all that was he was fiercely true to himself, while architecting greenhouses for everyone to be true to themselves too. From tears to laughter, we've reminisced about Tony, where DH started and where it is today. From launching the book to evolving it into a company, everyone was feeling his impact within themselves and the gratitude that we get to share this ripple of impact from our authentic selves out to the world. Messages have been pouring in from around the world, from people living all different facets of life. Tony treated everyone equally and will also be remembered for living our core value of “change the world more than you ever thought possible.” He has irreversibly changed it.Rest in peace & happiness, Tony.

Kristen Hadeed is the founder of Student Maid, a successful cleaning company that has employed thousands of students over the last decade that is known for building the next generation of leaders. In this episode, Kristen, an optimist of Simon Sinek's community, discussed how our co-founder Tony Hsieh had changed the way she viewed culture as a young entrepreneur. Listen in to hear what “strong” and “good” leadership looks like for our time. Learn from her how to be more human as a leader, how to create organizations that are more human, and all her ups and downs in her business building and leadership development journey.**This episode was recorded in late October 2019. When Kristen started her journey, she had no idea what she was in for: The average turnover rate in the cleaning industry is 75%, and profit margins hover around just 15%. But even with the odds stacked against her, she built a company that blew the industry benchmarks out of the water. Her people love coming to work, they stick around for years, and some have even turned down dream jobs to join the executive team and build careers at Student Maid.Kristen believes Student Maid's success boils down to one thing and one thing only: creating a place with humanity at its core. A place where people feel accepted for who they are, where they are encouraged to fail and embrace their imperfections, and where they are empowered to reach their potential. Now she spends most of her time helping leaders and organizations around the world create similar environments for their people.In 2017, she published her first book, Permission To Screw Up, in which she offers an unapologetic account of her biggest mistakes in leadership. She hopes that her vulnerability will give others the courage to open up about their own “perfectly imperfect” moments and proudly embrace them as the tremendous learning opportunities they are.Kristen and Student Maid have been featured in news outlets including PBS, FOX, Inc., NBC, TIME, and Forbes. Her first TED Talk has more than three million views on YouTube.

Join our CEO Jenn Lim and  #1 NYT best-selling author and coach, Keith Ferrazzi, the leading expert in executive team transformation, to discover how teams can collaborate to “go higher together.” Learn distinct “Co-Elevation®” practices that you can use to connect people more deeply with your mission, and to their fellow team members. In this time of disruption, anyone can be a change agent in their career and life. Let's not go back to work; let's go forward.Learn more about Co-Elevation® in Keith's new book, Leading Without Authority. Visit us at GoForwardToWork to learn more about a community of business leaders who are dedicated to gathering and sharing the best ideas in the new world of work. Keith Ferrazzi is a #1 NYT bestselling author, who wrote Never Eat Alone, Who's Got Your Back, and most recently published Leading Without Authority. He's an entrepreneur, Founder & Chairman of Ferrazzi Greenlight and an executive team coach to some of the most prominent organizations in the world. He's a thought leader and frequent contributor at publications such as Forbes, Entrepreneur, WSJ, and Fast Company. Recently, Keith has been at the forefront of remote team transitions since his published research in 2012-2015 appeared in Harvard Business Review. 

It is always so inspiring to hear from a powerful female leader. Jenn Lim was interviewed by Molly Fletcher in her Game Changers Podcast. We love her podcast, so we are so happy to now have Molly to be on our DH Podcast! She was called the female Jerry Maguire. Let's hear from her the similarities between training fearless leaders vs game changing athletes.In this episode, we talk about:How her parents raised her to be comfortable being uncomfortableHow she navigated her career move from a famous sports agent to a performance coachHow a clear purpose can benefit you during challenging timesHow to align your energy with your prioritiesHow to avoid burnout in the face of life's demandsHow to stop draining your energy and wasting time on the unimportantHow she manages her energy vs time and how that's different for everyoneHow she  pivoted her career by listening to your heart and closing a gap in the marketIf you want to learn more about what we discussed, you can read her new book The Energy Clock and her Energy Leader training program. Molly Fletcher is a CEO, motivational speaker and business author. Hailed as the “female Jerry Maguire” by CNN, she built a successful career as one of the first female sports agents. Molly represented hundreds of sports biggest names and negotiated hundreds of millions of dollars in contracts. A trailblazer in every sense of the word, she has been featured in ESPN, Fast Company, Forbes and Sports Illustrated.  She is the author of five books, most recently The Energy Clock. A graduate of Michigan State University, Molly resides in Atlanta with her husband Fred and their three daughters.  

While AI/ML and robotic automation are going to displace lots of jobs in the world, they are also creating lots of jobs. A Korn Ferry study found that there will be 85 million jobs unfilled and 8.5 trillion unrealized revenue by 2030 if we don't do something. The biggest challenge of the future of work is not that robots will take over all our jobs, but we won't have enough people with the skillsets to take these jobs.  Upskilling or reskilling is no longer just a good thing to do for your career, but a requirement to stay relevant in the fluid future of work. We are excited to have Jeff Henriod from Lambda School, an education startup that just raised 74M in Series C, to talk to us about the future of work in relation to education, upskilling and hiring . Jeff Henriod is the head of Partnership and Senior Manager of Hiring Solutions at Lambda School, the live, skills-based online school that removes barriers typically in the way of pursuing higher education and a better career.  In this role, Jeff focuses on building and scaling Lambda's hiring network. As an early member of the Lambda team, Jeff has been an integral part of building Lambda's partnership program from the beginning. Previously, Jeff worked in Product and Marketing roles at Amazon. Jeff currently lives in Utah with his family. You can find him on Twitter @jlhenriod. Lambda is a skills-based, online school that gives people a path to a better career and higher income at no cost until they're hired. Lambda's mission is to eliminate underemployment – through incentive-aligned education, where access to better incomes and career mobility are expanded. Lambda School doesn't succeed unless our students do. 

Lual Mayen is a gaming developer and a former refugee from South Sudan who was born in the midst of his family's search journey for safety. His mother saved $300 for 3 years to buy his first laptop and he walked 3 hrs daily to teach himself how to play and then build video games. Salaam, the game Mayen originally developed so children in the camp could understand the concept of peace, became a worldwide sensation. Fast forward 3 years, He's now the CEO of Junub Games at DC, creating the next version of Salaam to teach people empathy. In October 2020 [as we record this!], he founded Lual Mayen Foundation to empower refugees through technology, restore hope, and shine a light on the hardships for refugees worldwide through education and employment. He was honored with the Global Citizen Gaming Award 2018, South Sudan Diaspora Award 2019, appeared on ABC New, World Economic Forum,  C-SPAN and many more media If you just google his name. We felt incredibly honored to interview such an inspiring entrepreneur and philanthropist.  We talked about how life is different in the US vs the refugee camp, how his passion and purpose took him to the US and what he's planning to do to give back through his company and his foundation. Talking to him reaffirms that happiness principles are the same everywhere and how far purpose and passions can take us. More details on Lual's Journey prior to coming to the US: During the Second Sudanese Civil War, the Bor Massacre occurred, killing about 2000 civilians in Bor. His parents were displaced and alone. By foot, they fled from violence. Lual was born on the road finding their final settlement. Other camps were opened in Nimule and Mungali where they finally settled. Life wasn't easy because the LRA (Lord's Resistance Army) started to attack and killed massive amounts of people. His family was constantly fearful for their lives and it was common to see neighbors and friends in the camp beaten to death. Hi family finally moved to the refugee camp in Northern Uganda in Arua District, where he lives until 22 years old. Salaam, his video game, was initially developed so children in the camp could understand the concept of peace. Because the Internet was not reliable at the camp, his team would distribute it to other refugees via Bluetooth and WiFi sharing. One day, his friends had a crazy idea to upload it to a Facebook page. He uploaded it on his page, and that was when the world took notice. 

“Culture eats strategy for breakfast”, a phrase originated by Peter Drucker, but our Global Happiness Navigator, Carlos Piera Serra, says that "Strategy and Culture should eat together"! And we of course agree! He is here to share that culture needs to be embedded in the organization and business strategy. If not, your values or culture are just plaques on the wall (or your company website).To ensure that the strategic plan works with your culture, it's not enough to only include the obvious human departments (CSR or Budget for HR department). Companies need to align the culture in all things you do (M&A operations, new product launches, manufacturing processes, vendor relationships, internal communication and external marketing, etc).Most importantly, to embed the desired culture, we need to ensure that we review and align the following levers:LeadershipCommunicationOperating ModelCarlos Piera Serra is the CEO of DH Spain and our DH Global Happiness Navigator. Happiness, passion, purpose, and company culture have been a part of Carlos' journey from DH's beginning. In 2011, he joined the DH team and co-created our foundational Make Happy Work™ model. Just a year later, Carlos launched Delivering Happiness Spain as a vehicle to focus more on serving Europe, Latin America, the Middle East, and other Spanish-speaking organizations.Carlos ventured into the consulting space after a mission trip to India, where he learned that he could bring happiness into the world and organizations through volunteer work and HR consulting. Carlos' consulting experience began at Grupo CMR, one of the first HR consulting firms in Spain. As a Sales Consultant Innovator, he created and implemented several customer service, sales, and leadership development projects. Driven by his joint passions for personal and organizational happiness and success, Carlos began collaborating with Delivering Happiness, quickly becoming a vital member of the DH movement and soon after launched DH Spain. Today he is the CEO of DH Spain, a Lead Coachsultant™ and keynote speaker.

Shola is one of the happiest man we talked to on the DH Podcast! It's crazy to think that this positive man was actually in such a toxic work environment that made him attempt to commit suicide. As a highly sensitive person (HSP), he now uses this experience and the philosophy of Ubuntu to dismantle toxic work culture and enhance people's every day lives. In the podcast, he shares his entire journey on how he used this tragic experience for good and became a workplace civility expert, practical takeaways that will positively change how you live and lead, and we drew similarities of the work he does and DH does as well. We feel like maybe he should be on our DH team!Shola Richards is a best-selling author, TEDx and keynote speaker, and workplace civility expert with a passionate worldwide following. His articles and wildly-popular Monday morning “Positivity Solution” email series have been read by readers in over 160 countries, and his work has been featured on the Today Show, CBS This Morning, Forbes, Black Enterprise, Complete Wellbeing India, Business Insider Australia, and in numerous other publications all over the world who recognize him as an authority on workplace happiness and engagement.

Continuing with our Customer Service theme, we will explore the future trends for Customer Service. Tethr, an AI-powered conversation Intelligence platform, did a research analyzing roughly 1 Million customer service calls with cross-section of industries with a proprietary 250-variable algorithm that measure customer experience. Matt Dixon, Tethr's Chief Product & Research Officer, also shared with us the new practices that help CS employees to improve customer's and their own call experience. Here is the link to download the Employee ToolKit that Paul mentioned on the callAs Chief Product & Research officer, Matt has responsibility for product strategy, product management, research and IP development at Tethr. Prior to joining Tethr, Matt was Senior Partner and Global Head of Sales Force Effectiveness Solutions at Korn Ferry Hay Group and, before that, was Group Leader of the sales, customer service and customer experience research and advisory practice at CEB, now Gartner. In addition to his responsibilities at Tethr, Matt is a noted business writer and speaker. His books include The Challenger Sale: Taking Control of the Customer Conversation, The Effortless Experience: Conquering the New Battleground for Customer Loyalty and The Challenger Customer: Selling to the Hidden Influencer Who Can Multiply Your Results. Matt is also a frequent contributor to Harvard Business Review, having been published more than twenty times in both HBR's print and online editions. Matt holds a Ph.D. from the Graduate School of Public and International Affairs at the University of Pittsburgh as well as a B.A. in International Studies from Mount Saint Mary's University in Emmitsburg, Maryland.About Tethr: Tethr's vision is a world where every company listens, and every customer is heard. Tethr is an Austin Texas-based maker of cloud-based conversation intelligence software that combines powerful AI, machine learning and over a decade of customer experience and sales research to surface contextual insights from phone calls and other customer service interactions. Organizations are using Tethr to quickly, easily and accurately turn large amounts of unstructured voice of customer conversation data into insights that fuel smarter decisions and improved business performance, enabling them to become Listening Enterprises. 

We invited Shep Hyken, an international customer service and experience expert, to join us to talk about how to create amazing customer experience. While we at Delivering Happiness talk about WOW customer service a lot, Shep thinks that we should change our wording to amazing customer experience. Learn from him what the difference is! Here are some of the topics In this episode:You can now hear yourself on the DH Podcast!Fun Dept Activity Answers Revealed!The "secret" behind happy customers--(actually we agree that it's happy employees) How to develop a trusted brand [like Ritz Carlton] through amazing customer serviceHow to maintain and even create a higher level of trust with your customer even through crisis [he shared 5 point framework with us]What you can't cut in budget even during a pandemicHere is the link to download the Employee ToolKit that Paul mentioned on the callShep Hyken is a customer service and experience expert and the Chief Amazement Officer of Shepard Presentations. He is a New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestselling author and has been inducted into the National Speakers Association Hall of Fame for lifetime achievement in the speaking profession. Shep works with companies and organizations who want to build loyal relationships with their customers and employees.

In this episode, we are talking, laughing and giving with our friend Nick Gianoulis, the Godfather of Fun from The Fun Dept. We talk about how to infuse fun in work to increase productivity, because no one needs to get motivated to have fun. We talk about how Fun is something you can use to make your good company GREAT, the different types of fun, how to make virtual work fun, and how to (or is it okay to) have fun during difficult times.  Nick also shared resources on how to have fun at work and even introduced activities you can play with your team virtually. *****Play to Get a gift*****Delivering Happiness and the fun dept are both giving out books If you answer the questions right. How to play:1. In the podcast, listen In for our questions about Kelly & Paul. 2. Tell us your answer by calling 707.79-happy, or Write an email to Kelly@deliveringhappiness.com or paul@deliveringhappiness.com to tell us your answers by our next episode on September 1st. 3. We'll email you back If you got the questions right to get your address & send you either the book Delivering Happiness or Playing It Forward [while supplies last!]. Nick Gianoulis is the founder of The Fun Dept., a consulting and training company that has been featured on CNN, BBC News, Washington Post, TEDx and numerous other media outlets. Its clients range from Fortune 100 companies to those with as few as 10 employees. Known as “The Godfather of Fun," he began his company after experiencing firsthand the enhanced culture and business results of fun during his 20-year corporate management tenure with a company that embraced a “work hard, play hard" culture. The model he believes so passionately in is fully outlined in the book he co-authored, Playing It Forward (Fun Dept. 2015). About The Fun Dept.: Outpacing the competition begins with workplace culture that keeps your team feeling happy and supported, even when you're not all under the same roof. the fun dept. Redefined fun in the workplace. Since 2006, we've empowered hundreds of companies around the world to become happier, healthier, and more connected. our innovative solutions are proven to improve culture, enhance employee engagement and generate real, measurable impact on your bottom line.

In this episode, we are "traveling" to the Netherlands to interview a company called 2DAYSMOOD that measures companies' moods. We are interviewing two of their leaders from North America and the Netherlands. We talk about the difference between the trends they see In Europe vs. North America, what they are seeing pre and post COVID, the benefits of measuring moods, why they saw the needs of starting this unique company and more. About 2DAYSMOOD: People and work happiness are the foundation of 2DAYSMOOD, but that does not mean that smart technology cannot contribute to that. That is why the company motivates (HR) directors, team leaders and employees, to take responsibility for the atmosphere at their workplace, by listening to each other and to data.2DAYSMOOD is offering a remote experience program for a limited time during COVID. You can also request for a free customized trial. Connect with us to find out more: bit.ly/ConnectWithDHMartin Meulenkamp is the co-founder and International Managing Partner of 2DAYSMOOD. With 22 years of working experience in the information technology and services industry, he now applies all his expertise in HR Consulting, Operations Management, Coaching, HR Policies, and Management into 2DAYSMOOD. In 2016, Martin joined 2DAYSMOOD as a Co-Founder because he believes that organizations should measure the engagement of their employees in a different way. An organization is an organic entity that is constantly on the move, and where employees play the leading role when it comes to success. It is therefore crucial to know what is going on. Not once a year, but putting people first the whole year around (without wanting to be a Big Brother). As a world-renowned expert on Customer Centricity, Dr. Marvin Deitz has held marketing leadership positions in multi-billion-dollar companies; and has been recognized internationally for his contributions to innovation, leadership mentoring and business results.  An international professor of master-level classes in the Service Leadership Innovation program at the Rochester Institute of Technology, Dr. Deitz teaches Customer Centricity at its United States campus as well as its international campuses in Dubai, Croatia and the Dominican Republic. He also serves as director of the UAE's only Corporate/Customer Happiness Certification program in the Emirates—created upon request of the Prime Minister to help the Emirates become the happiest region in the world. 

Meet our Happiness Orchestrator Shereen H. Eltobgy [SheShe], a founding member of DH's coach|sulting® team who has guided organizations along their culture journey through our DH Coach|sulting® Services (masterclasses, tailored workshops, leading-edge programs, and executive coaching). She's passionate about creating leaders, teams and engaging work cultures that are purpose-driven, values-based and fueled with the energy to be sustainably high-performing.In this Interview, we talked about:Today's leaders need to cultivate IQ, EQ and HQ (Happiness Quotient)How to deepen resilience for your team and yourselfCreate a safe container at workIs It okay to be happy right now?Expanding our basket of emotionsHabits we can take for self-care and caring for othersWhat Inspires herRead articles written by Shereen. 

Who better to open up our Podcast than Jenn Lim, our fearless, innovative CEO and co-founder of Delivering Happiness. From her 20+ years of lessons learned in culture and consulting, the proven results from transforming company cultures come back to her simple mission: to inspire science-based happiness, passion, and purpose at work, home, and in everyday life.We are all going through a forced reset with the world right now. It feels to many of our team members like the self-imposed reset that Delivering Happiness actually went through a few years ago. Why did DH go through a reorganization to become a self-managed company? How do you lead when you are not okay? In this episode, Jenn shares how she is leading DH now and her lessons learned from helping hundreds of other organizations. She is also going to share a tool called DH Matrix that our Coach|sultants™ created for you to check in with your higher purpose, values, and culture.  Jenn has helped over 350 organizations and has devoted her career to cultivate meaningful happiness in companies, communities, and cities around the world. In 2017, Jenn was selected to be on the Global Happiness Council of Work and Wellbeing with the charter to scale the impact she's made in even more sustainable ways. You can find Jenn speaking at events around the globe, working with organizations to create more change in the world, or starting spontaneous dance parties with her friends and family.