Podcasts about joy inc

Carmen Jurado: The Power of Being Heard, Turning Critics Into Agile Advocates Read the full Show Notes and search through the world's largest audio library on Agile and Scrum directly on the Scrum Master Toolbox Podcast website: http://bit.ly/SMTP_ShowNotes. Carmen shares how she was asked to step in as a Scrum Master for a struggling team that had a particularly vocal and critical lead developer. This developer had experienced multiple transitions and transformations, leading to significant resistance that was affecting the entire team's morale and creating unresolved conflicts. Carmen focused on building individual relationships with each team member and setting clear expectations. She discovered that the lead developer simply didn't feel heard. By listening and addressing these concerns, Carmen was able to transform her biggest critic into one of her strongest advocates. She emphasizes that resistance is often a sign of loyalty to something else and that understanding this can help transform a dysfunctional team into a high-performing one. Self-reflection Question: How might you address resistance in your team by focusing on individual relationships and understanding what team members feel loyal to? Featured Book of the Week: Joy Inc. by Richard Sheridan Carmen recommends Joy Inc. by Richard Sheridan, highlighting its practical insights for creating a motivating and enjoyable workplace. The book covers everything from hiring practices to team collaboration and experimentation, yet never explicitly mentions "Agile." Carmen appreciates the inspiring stories about understanding users in their environment and how these principles can be applied to create better working environments. [Scrum Master Toolbox Podcast Recommends]

Today's guest is a big deal. He's the CEO of software company Menlo Innovations and the author of two highly recommended books—Joy Inc., and Chief Joy Officer, and he joins us today to share some of the incredible insights he has gained during his impressive career. From his definition of joy at work and how he has built a very unique professional environment and culture at Menlo to the unusual interview experience at Menlo, our conversation is expansive and detailed, giving you the tools you need to adopt some of the same principles in your own leadership journey. Richard shares how he has cultivated an environment where feedback is welcomed, why he has chosen a transparent remuneration structure at Menlo, how he has set this up, and much more. Don't miss this inspiring conversation with today's deeply intentional and revolutionary guest. Thanks for tuning in! Guest Bio:Rich Sheridan is on a mission to end human suffering in technology. As CEO and Co-Founder of Menlo Innovations, he built a workplace driven by collaboration, experimentation, and joy.Once a fear-driven leader who micromanaged every detail, he discovered that joy at work isn't a luxury—it's a necessity. With a background in software and engineering (U-M BS '80, MS '82), his true passion is process, teamwork, and organizational design.Through his books, Joy, Inc. and Chief Joy Officer, Sheridan shares Menlo's story to help others create intentional cultures of joy. Because when joy leads, success follows.Key Points From This Episode: [00:00] Welcome and introduction to this episode and a catch up with your hosts.[06:40] Richard Sheridan from Menlo Innovations.[10:31] What Menlo Innovations does.[15:05] Richard's definition of bringing joy into work and how he measures it. [24:59] Why the work environment that he has built at Menlo would not be suited to everyone.[28:24] How Menlo approaches interviews differently.[34:47] The rewarding, promotion, and progress process at Menlo.[42:25] A story of how Richard realized that Menlo has excellent gender equity.[47:07] Navigating hesitation around salary transparency.[54:20] Why Richard is not transparent about his own compensation.[47:07] Managing the feedback process and making it easy for others to communicate how they feel.[01:03:58] How to book a tour at Menlo.  Quotes: “We launched Menlo in June of 2001 with a crazy mission: we wanted to end human suffering in the world as it relates to technology. We've been doing that now for almost 24 years. It worked!” — @menloprez [0:09:33] “I don't think unjoyful people can make joyful results.” — @menloprez [0:16:44] “We have an interview process where we're actually trying to weed you in, not weed you out.” — @menloprez [0:31:06] “Humans are incredibly adaptable when they are given clear expectations.” — @menloprez [0:33:21]RESOURCES: [01:03:58]Menlo Innovations Tours and Workshops FOLLOW: Follow Richard Sheridan:LinkedInXMenlo InnovationsJoy, Inc.Chief Joy Officer  FOLLOW:Follow Laura Eich:LinkedInFacebookInstagram Follow Mike McFall:WebsiteLinkedInFacebookXInstagram Follow BIGGBY® COFFEE & LifeLabTM:WebsiteFacebookXInstagramLinkedInAbout LifeLabTM ABOUT LOVE IN LEADERSHIP:At the Life You Love LaboratoryTM and BIGGBY® COFFEE, we're out to prove that financial success and healthy workplace culture aren't two separate goals. BIGGBY® COFFEE's own cultural transformation is proof that not only is it possible to have a successful company where people aren't miserable at work, but that the happier your people are, the more your business will grow. Each week, join host Laura Eich, Chief Purpose Officer at BIGGBY® COFFEE, and her co-host and BIGGBY® COFFEE co-CEO Mike McFall as they're joined by guests from around the world to learn how they are fostering a culture of love and growth in the world's most innovative and people-centric companies. Get inspired. Get real. Get ready to transform workplace culture in America with us. This is the Love in Leadership podcast.Learn more at: loveinleadershippodcast.com ABOUT THE HOSTS:Mike McFall began his journey with BIGGBY® COFFEE as a minimum-wage barista at the original store in East Lansing in 1996. Over the span of 23 years, alongside business partner Bob Fish, he has helped create one of the great specialty coffee brands in America. Today Mike is co-CEO with Bob, and BIGGBY® COFFEE has over 250 stores open throughout the Midwest that sell tens of thousands of cups of coffee each day. But more importantly to Mike and BIGGBY® COFFEE, the company is a profoundly people-first organization.Mike is also the author of Grind, a book which focuses on early-stage businesses and how to establish positive cash flow. Laura Eich is BIGGBY® COFFEE's Chief People Officer, having worked in a variety of roles at BIGGBY® COFFEE for the last 11+ years. She helped launch BOOST, the department at BIGGBY® COFFEE which ultimately became LifeLabTM — BIGGBY® COFFEE's in-house culture cultivation team designed to help people be the best versions of themselves and help companies support them along the way. In her role, Laura helps people build lives that they love through the process of building profitable businesses and robust, growth-filled careers.

very boring renunciates Part 2 on Patreon where you can access our discord community, bonus podcasts, documentaries, Boys Club and our music show Church of Chill. https://www.patreon.com/churchofchill **NEW**Church of Chill hoodies, shirts, and stickers available on Etsy. https://www.churchofchill.etsy.com

Rich Sheridan, CEO and Chief Storyteller at Menlo Innovations (and author of Joy Inc. and Chief Joy Officer) joins us for a meandering chat. We talk about building a culture free from fear, the power of storytelling in the office, and the benefits of making two people share one computer.

Joe has a book “Agile Kata” in the making, if you like to be the first to know when it launches, please visit www.agilekatabook.com.Transcript: Agile F M radio for the agile community. [00:00:09] Joe Krebs: All right, thank you for tuning into another episode of Agile FM in the Agile Kata series. Today I have two guests with me, actually three guests with me. I have Dan Roman and Richard Sheridan from Menlo Innovations. We have Dexter with us in the background. He might or might not. Contribute to this recording as he's a dog, Dan is a frontline worker at Menlo.He's a a lead, but he's also primarily a software developer. We're going to talk a little bit about Kata in development and obviously Richard Sheridan, author of the books, The Chief Joy Officer and Joy Inc. Is it fair to say you're the Chief Joy Officer of Menlo. [00:00:54] Rich Sheridan: A chief storyteller is the more typical title they give me here.[00:00:59] Joe Krebs: Awesome. All right. The chief storyteller, Richard and Dan, welcome to the podcast.[00:01:04] Dan Roman: Thank you for having [00:01:05] Rich Sheridan: us. Thanks Joe. Good to see you. [00:01:08] Joe Krebs: Yeah. Good to connect. And this episode we're going to focus a little bit on development. We want to talk about how do teams build agile teams? How do they build a product?Here in particular software development products. Now, Dan you are, as far as I know from a website, your keynoting together with Richard there is, you have a focus on software for manufacturers of medical instruments and software for space researchers. So this is. This is I would say complicated, complex stuff you're working on and as far as I can tell and we talked about that during our visit in in Ann Arbor, where you guys are located, that there is no formal process like Scrum or Kanban or like to the book extreme programming deployed at Menlo Innovation.Is that correct? [00:02:01] Dan Roman: 100%. We have plenty of people who come and visit and we'll see what we're doing and find that what we're doing matches with one of their models. So we didn't set out to be agile, but agilists who come in say, Oh, Menlo is agile, or we have lean practitioners come in and they say, Oh, Menlo is lean.But our processes, we never started from a place of. We want to be agile. Let's do it this way or we want to be lean. Let's do it that way. [00:02:27] Joe Krebs: As you're obviously working with different kinds of companies and clients. And obviously also with different kinds of products you guys are creating. Now, I would be interesting because.There is a term that's being used, I was told, on the floor at Menlo, this is run the experiment. That seems to be a frequent term. Can you just specify, either one of you, what that means, or maybe both, right? And how that comes into play, working in agile ways. [00:02:55] Rich Sheridan: I would say, Joe, that phrase is born out of a background philosophy at Menlo that says, let probably pump fear out of the room.We think that fear is a culture killer. Filler fear is a mind killer. I think there's a line in doom that says something like that. And so if someone has a new idea here, rather than. Hey, let's form a committee to write a policy on that. I do. Let's take a meeting. Our inclination is to take action with that simple phrase.If somebody has an idea, somebody else might see. Great. Let's run the experiment. See what happens. And that can typically the things we try are on fairly small scale. We don't upend the whole place every week to try some new, crazy new way of working. But usually it is some small incremental change to an existing process or an enhancement to the way we do things here.Because somebody believed that there was a problem to solve and this experiment may help us address that problem. Again, trying it and see how it works. And the experiments that succeed are the ones that last a long time and others might just thritter away because they didn't actually solve an actual problem.Probably more often than not an experiment. Morphs over time. We had the original idea, we tried it, it didn't work the way we hoped. We try something a little different. [00:04:23] Joe Krebs: So it could go into either direction. So when we talked about this a little bit about the experimental part and obviously I'm very public about my my work and my interest in Kata and scientific thinking through Michael Rother and Jeffrey Liker.We, we met in Ann Arbor. And obviously when you hear the word experiment in connection with Kata , then it becomes, obviously the question is, how does this whole setup look like in Menlo? How do you guys operate? How does this all work? Do you guys have a product owner within Menlo? Do you guys have scrum masters?Do you guys have project managers, agile coaches? What do people listening to us right now have to imagine when they just picture Menlo and cannot visit you guys in person? [00:05:10] Rich Sheridan: It's probably valuable to know, just for your listeners, a little bit of background on what Menlo does for a living, where we make our money.We are doing custom software development on behalf of our clients. So Dan has done a lot of projects for us over the years that he's been here. He will work in with manufacturing companies who are trying to enhance their ERP systems. He'll work with furniture retailers who are trying to improve how things happen on the sales floor.So all these companies are coming to us because as Joe, everybody in the world needs software to run their businesses these days. And so we are bringing in clients from every industry imaginable to come in and work with us. We have a fairly simple structure to our team. The teams that Dan is a part of that are working on those various projects will consist of a project manager who is typically paired with we'll call it a product owner on the customer side of the equation.And for us, the customers are the people who are paying us to do this work. They aren't necessarily be going to be the end users, almost never the end users. Software building. We have a set of people on our team that have a very fun and unusual title and a great role called high tech anthropologists, and their job is to understand the humans that will one day use the software, the end users in software.Then we have our software development team, which comprises the biggest part of our company. And then Formal quality assurance role that works alongside the software development team. So every project at Menlo has some component of each of those four pieces. And and we work on a weekly iterative basis here.essentially right sizing every project for exactly the workload, right sizing it with the types of people it needs. We're more in the discovery phase. There'll be more high tech anthropology. If we're more in the software development phase, there will be more people like Dan on the project. The project manager and the QA teams are shared amongst variety projects, and they are they are constant throughout the course of each of the projects.In any given moment in time, we're a team of about 50 people. We have, probably right now, I'm going to guess about 15 different projects. at various stages. Some of the projects are large. They'll have 8 to 10 people on them. Some of the projects are small. They only have a couple. And it's probably worth noting that we pair.That pairing is a big construct here. That was an early experiment that took hold in the 23 years ago when we founded Menlo. And it has never let up since. [00:07:44] Joe Krebs: So running the experiment seems to be something like a, for testing and verifying the process in place, like programming, right? Is this an interesting, is this you have read about it, you, the teams might try it and find Found it useful, like many teams found their programming useful, right?So it's an interesting thing. So you're using that kind of experimentation approach for the process you're using, but you're also using experimentation for building the products for your clients. And that's where I want to go a little closer here. So you have your how do you protect your end user, your users?Your clients or your customers that are the product owner or acting out that role. If you want to say it this way. But then how do these requests come in? There's a ton of teams that are there that are using user stories product backlogs, ordering activities, refinement activities planning, sprint planning activities, and so on.How does this all look like at Menlo? How do you guys incorporate that if you work in different ways? I would be curious to hear. [00:08:42] Rich Sheridan: Yeah, the biggest starting point and starting is always hard for every project is starts with our high tech anthropology team and really attempt to answer three questions and use a lot of experiments to get to the answers to these questions.What problem are we actually trying to solve different than perhaps the one even the customer presented to us? Who exactly are we trying to solve this problem for? What types of people? And we'll use personas and persona maps for that exercise. But a lot of that discovery work is done out in the field.And so a lot of the early experiments are to be able to find these typical end users of the products we're working on out in the world. And that is often where some of the key experiments start early on. I'll give you a fun example, way back in our earliest days, long before anybody had iPhones or any kind of GPS devices, we were working with a company that wanted to create lanyard type devices that people who were on cruise ships would use to navigate the cities they would arrive in as the cruise ships pulled into port.And so imagine they had around their necks, they had these GPS driven devices with moving map displays and that sort of thing. So we had to figure out simple questions like do people know how to read maps? Because, if you ask a group of people, do you know how to read maps? Everybody would say, absolutely, I know how to read a map.If you ask people to read maps, you find that hardly 50 percent of people know how to read maps. And so it would be very expensive to try and do this on a cruise ship. We did get one cruise ship ride throughout the course of this project. But before that, we went to a local theme park here, locally here, just to watch people try and use maps.So we would run into that. with them. We would walk up to them with a map in our hand and say, Hey, can you show me where the Edison exhibit is? And we obviously have the map in our hand and we would see if that people would grab the map and what they would do with it and how they would orient it. And 50 percent of the people said, Oh, I can never read these things.See that circle I over there, the information booth, you should go ask them. So we found out right away that about 50 percent of people self report they don't know how to read maps. But this was really early experimental data that we could collect very inexpensively around what kind of challenges would people get to if they don't know how to read maps and we're creating a device that's supposed to allow them to navigate a city.And we get very creative. We try and do things inexpensively. And then ultimately we experiment with the potential designs, often with paper based prototypes to see what will actually work for people. Once we get into the actual software development, once we've secured that we understand what design and work for them, then there's a lot of other experiments that Dan and his fellow developers here at Memo will use.Sometimes those experiments are technical ones, technological ones. Sometimes it's most of the time, I would say they're often human ones because we were often working with developers. And our client sites, we have to figure out how to work with them, given the way we work. [00:11:55] Joe Krebs: Dan I'm curious, like just to take it to the software development side and take advantage of you being here on on this podcast as well, right?So it's a great insight to see business and the leadership of the organization, but also to see the actual implementation of these products, right? So let's say we're doing these visioning techniques and obviously as a. As Richard pointed out, there's a lot of cost savings finding out early on that people can read a map, right?Could you imagine you were building something assuming they can read a map? That would be a very costly detour later on. But I want to go a little bit deeper because there's so many teams, agile teams out there that are preparing for sprint planning activities or iteration planning. And they're using user stories or and then they're basically have planned everything and laid it out and implemented.You guys have through that experimental process, a different thing in place. I think it's much more lightweight, if I'm not mistaken. Can you walk the listeners maybe through once these requests come in and you're actually in the software development part of how you're still using experiments for that?[00:13:00] Dan Roman: Sure. So to as Rich was telling us about those experiments, it reminded me a little bit that every development iteration at Menlo, I would argue, is itself an experiment. So the beginning of the iteration happens after a show and tell, where the software development team will actually have the client or customer demo back to the development team the work that was accomplished for the previous iteration.And then based on that demo we'll authorize the next week's worth of work which comes out to some 40 planned hours worth of work. And when I think about Kata, I think about declaring a desired future state. And that's ultimately what we're doing. When we set out a plan for the iteration, we're saying the plan is we will end up in a state where these cards have been completed and there'll be completed in this effort.And then the rest of the iteration is the steps that we as a development team take to try and realize that. Future state. And then by the time we get to the end we'll basically start the cycle over again, which will again reminds me a little bit of Kata where we'll compare. All right, we started with a plan to get to this future state.We've run the iteration for a week. Let's compare where we are compared to where we want to be. And ultimately, all of that happens through obviously the software developers doing the work, but that all happens through . The story cards, which are our fundamental unit of work and these are three by five index cards on which are written the work items that the developers will go and implement and our quality advocates will go and test.And typically our high tech anthropologists are part of writing in the first place. .[00:14:28] Joe Krebs: Is there still like, are you pulling from an organized formal product backlog as so many scrum teams? are doing, or is this process a little bit more ad hoc and fluid based on the work you did in previous iterations where you're getting instant feedback from your customers and how does that all look like?The show and tell, that's where this comes together, I would assume. [00:14:50] Dan Roman: Yep. That's a very good question. So it's a little bit of all of the above. So what Rich was alluding to at the beginning of our engagements, the high tech anthropologists will do a lot of the Upfront work of describing here's based on our research and our observational data, what we believe the application needs to do.And that sets as a starting off point for the engagement itself. But over the course of every engagement, we are also discovering new work. So over the course of a given iteration, as the developers are doing work, they might write. They may write other story cards or the quality advocates may write some story cards or even at show and tell the client might may say, Oh, we didn't think about the fact that the user might need to do this certain thing.One of the fundamental rules that Menlo is that everyone can write a story card. Now just because you've written a story card doesn't mean that it'll get authorized or that'll get put on a weekly iteration. But we are certainly collecting the scope that's being executed nonstop over the course of the engagement.[00:15:49] Joe Krebs: How does maybe I love this story cards, right? Obviously, there is a story to be told and collaborated on as a team. How detailed are you? As teams now within Menlo, how detailed are you with the planning activities? Are you planning very ad hoc? Is this like in subgroups or pairs or how let's say, this, these requests are coming in.You have these stories and you're experimenting, I would assume also on those. How detailed are those or all the questions? [00:16:22] Rich Sheridan: Yeah. The important element of our planning that I think probably differs from many development teams is how collaborative it is with our customers. Number one, we're putting together at a high level a story mapped version that might map out a year or two worth of key milestones for this client broken down into achievable goals that might run.Okay. A month, two, three, four months. And then we start laying out the story cards for that very first goal. And the customer is standing alongside of us choosing these story cards that should go into that plan. Obviously we're giving them some advice from a technical standpoint as to if there's a more appropriate sequence of things that makes more sense, but we really want the business feeling like they're driving this we often find it When we hear of other teams challenges in planning and estimating and that sort of thing, you often find that it's an adversarial relationship with the business sponsors, where somebody is I can't believe it's going to take that long, or you need to get this done in a shorter amount of time.Our approach isn't to try and argue against the importance of a date or features within that date, but to simply argue with the data of here's what fits, given your budget, given your burn rate, given the team size we have. And then it's a question of, can we make responsible trade off decisions with our client to get to that particular goal?And then, as Dan said, on a weekly iterative basis, we're going to review the progress against our original plan. Because, no plan actually holds up once it hits reality. So we're going to get, sometimes we get more done than we expected, sometimes we get less done. But that weekly visit into what exactly do we get done in the weekly opportunity to now look ahead in that longer plan and say, okay, what we've learned now, should we make adjustments to the plan?Have we discovered new things that need to be done? Should we write story cards and estimate those story cards? Should we take some things off that we originally thought should be part of the plan in favor of newer, more important things? Collaborative planning happens on a week by week basis on all of our projects.I think the most fun thing I see happen is that often we use paper based planning techniques, which is again, unusual for software teams to use paper. Typically in the earliest part of our planning, all of our story cards are on white paper. But as time goes on, and as customers start to get nervous that we don't seem to be making as much progress, we often switch to, say, hot pink paper for things that were newly discovered or that somebody raised their hand in a meeting and said, hey we didn't think of this when we talked to you about it originally.And so we'll write that story card up, we'll estimate it, but when we put it in the paper based planning process, we make it hot pink. And over time, what you can see is The actual physical real estate of our planning sheets being taken up by more and more hot pink work Which essentially says hey, there was a lot of stuff for some reason we didn't discover early on Yes wrong with that, but let's at least acknowledge With this, these colorful pieces of paper that we are now three months into this project and 25 percent of the things we're working on are things neither one of us thought of at the beginning of the project.That can be really helpful to maintaining executive sponsorship of a project because. Now we can have explicit discussions about new things that came in. It isn't some theoretical wave your hands in the air. There were a few new things that came along. No, it is clear what the new things are that came along because it's on this different color.[00:20:18] Joe Krebs: Yeah. Creating truly a partnership, right? With with the business the clients in this case do to showcase this, right? And obviously as a client, I would assume they're all very happy with us to see that. They are late changes are being incorporated some way or the other, and [00:20:34] Rich Sheridan: happiness is an interesting word in this.So it would be fun to believe that the people on the other side of the planning table at Menlo have all of the power and all of the authority to make these changes. But typically they're reporting up to an executive somewhere that has some other budgetary constraints. . We're not so much trying to make happy customers out of this process.We're trying to make informed customers so they can have intelligent conversations when they go back to their offices to say, Hey, I thought you were going to have all of this. What happened? And what you really want to do is give them the physical artifacts they need to be able to create a story. scale all the way up, perhaps to the CEO of the company to figure out why is this project where it's at right now.[00:21:27] Joe Krebs: . That's a good point. And thanks for clarifying. I think makes makes perfect sense. Dan Richard's mentioned the word a few times. I want to go a little bit deeper. That's the word estimates. Are you guys estimating there's a lot of different kind of estimation techniques out there.Agile teams are using, I'm just curious with this approach where you're going into more experimental activities, if estimation is actually still a thing here, or if it's an, if so, how lightweight it is. [00:21:58] Dan Roman: Sure. So to start right off the bat, yes, we do estimate it's part of that weekly iteration cycle.So every development team is sitting down and looking at the cards in play, as well as cards likely to be played in the future and estimating those story cards. That takes about an hour of time for regardless of the size of the dev team and we estimate in hours and in powers of two. So a given story card at Menlo would sit between two hours and 32 hours again on that power of two spectrum which can feel pretty radical for some organizations where things like velocity.I know that's a very popular way to, Fibonacci numbers as a means of calculating velocity or t shirt sizes, another sort of abstraction. I think that there are a couple of things that necessitate, or at least why we as Menlonians prefer that method. One is because estimating in hours is a universal language that when we get to that planning game after the show and tell with our stakeholders.There's no need to do any translation between 13 Fibonacci points or a medium t shirt size. We can say we've got 40 hours of effort for a given pair to plan for. And this card is 16, and that's 16 hours worth of work. And that's something that is instantly understandable by our stakeholders.I think part of the reason that we as a team are able to do that and Not in all cases, but in some cases, why other teams choose those kinds of abstractions at Menlo. We have a very healthy relationship between the technical folks who are doing the work and the project managers and stakeholders who are authorizing and planning the work.And that's manifest in this sort of contract. That's very explicit and part of, as I understand it, our project management training. There's a dual responsibility for maintaining our estimates. So any software developer pair that's doing work on a card. As soon as they know they're going to miss the estimate.So if Rich and I were pairing on a story card and we were on an eight hour card and we started to realize, Oh, wait, this is bigger. This is going to be at least double that. This is a 16 hour card. Now we have a obligation to go out to our project manager, for example, Lisa, she's one of our PMs and telling her, Hey, Lisa, we are working on this card.It was originally estimated as an 8, but because of these reasons, we see it as a 16. That's our half of the sort of contract. The other half of that is the one that lives on Lisa's side, or the PM's side, which is to say, Thank you for your estimate, and smile. And that sounds like a really simple little strategy, but it's That kind of strategy that sucks the fear out of the room that would otherwise inhibit Rich and I from volunteering that information or giving an honest, updated estimate on the card.And that's why a lot of other teams can run into those abstractions is because it's scary or painful when you let some set of stakeholders know, oh, this thing we originally estimated will take a day is now going to take more than that. Yeah, [00:24:59] Joe Krebs: well, there's definitely a lot of controversy out there about.Estimation and the techniques and in communicated and sometimes they're so like inflated to o just to be safe, depending on what organization and teams you work for. So that's, does not seem to be the approach at Menlo and obviously you guys. I've taken an expert estimate on the work at that time and see what, what comes out of it.Once you start working on it very interesting thing. Now you just mentioned that I want to follow up on that word too, because I think the listeners out there who are. Used to agile coaches scrum masters, et cetera, et cetera. They are probably not saying did he just say the word project manager?Did he just use that term? And because that sometimes that is a term that has been removed and replaced and you guys are using it actively, as far as I understand what's the role of a project manager at? Menlo, if you're working so in so agile ways and in experiments and et cetera what would be the role of a project manager other than nodding and saying, thanks for your estimate and smiling.[00:26:09] Rich Sheridan: So the primary role of a project manager at Menlo is to be the voice of the customer, people who pay us to do the work when the customer isn't in the room. And so their job is to answer questions from the development team about the general direction of the project, where it's going, how we're going to get there, what what the overall overarching goals for the project are if the cause, if the project manager doesn't know they will reach out to the client who isn't imminently available every time we want to reach out to them.That's why we need somebody who's advocating on their behalf when the client isn't around or not available by phone and that sort of thing. The the other role important role project manager does is to help the team remove obstacles. Dan and his pair partner will be rolling along and a card gets stuck.Have a question, need to reach out to somebody, you can just let Lisa know and say, Hey, Lisa, I just want to let you know we're stuck here. We wrote to the client. We're waiting for an answer. We're going to red dot that card, which means they're going to stop it. We're going to move on to the next card in the lane.And if there's anything you can do to help remove that obstacle, that would be awesome. Project managers also keeping close track. Our customers are spending a lot of money with us, so keeping close track on the budget relative to the total budget relative to the burndown for that budget, all those kinds of things.I guess there's a tremendous amount of, financial oversight that comes with every one of our projects, we're often working on projects that run into the millions of dollars. And so project managers are helping manage that part of the process with us. And you're also making a lot of decisions alongside people like Dan is to what should the composition of the team be this week.So it's a very collaborative role for the people doing the work I mentioned before we pair, we switch the pairs every five business days and. over time, systematically rotate people in and out of the projects to avoid burnout, to avoid towers of knowledge issues, all that kind of stuff. And the project managers will work very closely with the team to figure out what would be the best composition of people who should pair with whom who who would be good candidates for these story cards, that sort of thing.[00:28:27] Dan Roman: I think there's one element that's important too for Menlo, but I would also argue this is true of other organizations. But the roles and the titles that we have for the work that each of us as Menlonians do does describe a primary role. But that is not to say that the team is not responsible for also doing some of the other responsibilities of the other roles.For example, I am primarily a software developer at Menlo. But on a day to day basis, I am contributing to the conversations Rich is talking about where it's planning the resources for the project, making sure that the customer is appraised of any changes to the plan or keeping in mind the decisions that we're making today and what impact that has on the end user, the way that our high tech anthropologists might be considering.So I think it's one of those things where it's like we, we have those titles and those roles to an easy heuristic to generally describe what we do within Menlo, but at the end of the day, there's actually a lot of blending or blurring of the lines that exist between our individual roles.[00:29:30] Joe Krebs: Yeah. I think that's also it speaks to the self managing aspect of agility in general. Now I'm so thrilled to have you both on this podcast episode, because we had in this Kata series so far, we had different topics. We talked about transformational cultural things. I, this is a and I think that's a really great, wonderful episode.I believe it's a wonderful episode that really focused on Developing in agile ways, but in a non prescriptive or existing frameworks. That are out there and you can almost say like, when I listen to your conversation. It's almost it's almost sounds like cherry picking, right? Of how we're using this concept, or we are estimating, but a little bit different, or we have paper, but some of them are pink.And and so what I and working in pairs and we're shifting pairs and the way of how you operate with clients rather than the product owner being in house, the product owner is the actual client. So there's a lot of things. So there are some terminologies or project manager, just to name another one versus a scrum master.And what's really fascinating, I think, is for one of the goals of this episode is to show existing Agile teams if something's not working with an existing framework or with the process they have chosen, as you guys said, run the experiment, right? Try something new. Adjust your process. That's one element.And maybe you find ways of changing the way of how you currently work with breaking something. Obviously, that is recommended, but you're saying it's not working for us. That's not us. And that would be whatever you shared about. Menlo and the culture, but there's also the way of using this way of working to build the product itself, right?So there's two aspects to it, shape the process, how you want to work, but also the way of how you build a product for your clients. So I want to thank you guys for that. That is really nice. Thank you. [00:31:22] Rich Sheridan: You bet. Yeah. I think our general philosophy is all of these tools, methodologies, ways of thinking have value to offer and why would we constrain ourselves to simply one of them?Why don't we borrow pieces and parts? And put, I think for us, we do refer to our general system of work here as the Menlo way of working. . And but if you probed, you would see we borrowed all these pieces from this so we don't find ourselves resisting any of them. We find ourselves embracing them, looking at them deciding, oh, that might work here.And every project has its own unique, qualities to it as well. I [00:32:02] Dan Roman: think one of the pieces that reminds me of is the notion that when we're designing our process, we're setting out to solve a problem and our problem isn't that we're not doing agile. It's not that we're not doing scrum and we need to start doing scrum.We're trying to provide value to a customer on a frequent and consistent basis such that they can respond to feedback and make planning decisions. There are times when that desire or attempt to solve that problem will line up pretty closely with what Agile might seem like or Lean. But at the end of the day, it all starts from let's solve a problem and the absence of some predetermined process is not itself a problem.. [00:32:42] Joe Krebs: Yeah. This is, that's wonderful. And then maybe a good word to end the the podcast episode here together. And obviously there is. An opportunity to take a tour with Menlo and see that all in action. So I invite the listeners to go and reach out to you. There's a, there's tons of tours you guys are doing on a yearly basis.Ann Arbor is the place to visit in Michigan. And and then they can see all what we just talked about in action.[00:33:08] Rich Sheridan: And one of our experiments during the pandemic were virtual tours that we continue to this day, even though. The in person tours have resumed. , [00:33:17] Joe Krebs: even cooler. So this could be done just from your couch.Thank you so much. [00:33:22] Dan Roman: Thank you.​

In this episode, Rich Sheridan and I discuss the impacts of implementing a culture of storytelling. What You'll Learn: 1. Why are you called the Chief Storyteller at Menlo? 2. Why is storytelling such an important part of your company's culture? 3. What kinds of stories are relevant to tell? 4. How do you curate stories? 5. How do you build a storytelling culture? About the Guest:  Rich Sheridan, CEO and Chief Storyteller at Menlo Innovations, is a successful entrepreneur and author of two best-selling books—Joy Inc.: How We Built Workplace People Love and Chief Joy Officer: How Great Leaders Elevate Human Energy and Eliminate Fear. Rich's passion for inspiring organizations to create their own joy-filled cultures has led him to address audiences across the world—through four continents and 18 countries (and counting) as well as throughout the United States. Links: Click here to learn more about Rich Sheridan Click Here to learn more about Menlo Innovations Click here for more information on Rich Sheridan's books Click here for The Lean Solutions Summit  --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/leansolutions/support

Wow, it is that time of year again and both of your hosts (Just Nate and DK) are both on vacation again at the same time and they could not find the time record a new episode this week.  So they did what they do best and had a conversation about one of their favorite guests from this year.   Listen in as your hosts "Just Nate", Dennis K along with guest speaker Chris E talk to the CEO and Chief Story Teller of Menlo Innovations, Richard Sheridan.  The Smalls team is a huge fan of Rich and everything that Menlo stands for.  The team talks through all the ups and downs that Menlo Innovations have had in order to break the mold and how they created a joyful place to work.  Menlo's mission is:  "End human suffering in the world as it relates to technology.®"  Rich tells stories throughout this nearly hour long podcast as he talks about how they were all focused on delighting others with the work of our hears, our hands and our minds.  Rich states the key to success and how they have been so successful is they set out to make a culture where your more likely to take action than to take a meeting. A key to Rich's success is he had a different goal than most.  His goal was to try to succeed, where others goal is to try not to fail.  Don't let failure get in your way, run the experiment and if it don't work, try something else and learn from the mistake. It sounds simple, Create a Intentional Culture! We can't suggest Rich's books enough, you can find them at nearly any books store or online, see links to both books below from Amazon. Joy Inc. - https://www.amazon.com/Joy-Inc-Built-Workplace-People/dp/1591845874/ref=sxts_sxwds-bia-wc-rsf1_0?cv_ct_cx=joy+inc.&dchild=1&keywords=joy+inc.&pd_rd_i=1591845874&pd_rd_r=d686b69d-d465-4f2e-a0fb-6e8c751ccfed&pd_rd_w=pNf5t&pd_rd_wg=S9ISd&pf_rd_p=e0f994a8-a359-40a9-8917-dadca71c7184&pf_rd_r=QSASTN1ZB45FCMCXDMAK&psc=1&qid=1610928792&sr=1-1-526ea17f-3f73-4b50-8cd8-6acff948fa5a Chief Joy Officer - https://www.amazon.com/Chief-Joy-Officer-Leaders-Eliminate-ebook/dp/B07B2KHQCS/ref=sr_1_4?dchild=1&keywords=joy+inc.&qid=1610928832&sr=8-4 Listen in to the other podcast that Rich mentions the Bossless Office by Tom Ashbrook.  -  https://www.wbur.org/onpoint/2013/06/20/bossless-office Read the article that Rich mentions from New York Magazine by Matthew Shaer, The Boss Stops Here  -  https://nymag.com/news/features/bossless-jobs-2013-6/ To find out more about Rich and his team at Menlo Innovations check them out on the web.  https://menloinnovations.com/ To hire Rich to come speak at your event you can book him here:  https://richardsheridan.com/ From the team here at "The SmallsCast Podcast", thank you Rich, it truly was an honor and pleasure having you on the show! To find out more about the Smalls or become a member, please check us out at www.thesmalls.org To contact Just Nate:  justnate@thesmalls.org  — Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/thesmalls/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/thesmalls/support www.patreon.com/thesmalls --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/thesmalls/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/thesmalls/support

Menlo Innovations is a software development company that has been around for 21 years. As the CEO and Co-Founder, Richard Sheridan travels the world telling people about what his company does. They are not an ordinary tech company, their mission is to bring joy to the tech world and end suffering as it relates to technology. They have discovered and built an amazing culture that grasps human energy because they believe in 'running the experiment'. Rich has authored two excellent books, Joy Inc. and Cheif Joy Officer, wherein he tells the story of Menlo innovations. You will want to hear the stories Rich shares and learn from what he has done with his company over the past two decades. This is a must-listen!

All season long we are continuing our conversation around busyness and self-worth. We've covered a lot of ground already though I suspect we could spend an entire year talking about this subject. Today we are thrilled to continue our interview series with a wonderful colleague and all around fascinating human, Michaela Birdyshaw.Michaela Birdyshaw is the founder of Joy Enterprises where her coaching business, Joy Inc, is on a mission to help you find joy and to give joy amidst the chaos and confusion of life. Joy is not the absence of suffering, nor is it merely the experience of happiness: Joy is the journey we create within. Michaela graduated twice from UNC Wilmington with a Bachelors in Social Work, Minor in Psychology, and Certificate to teach High School English (essentially an English Degree and teaching certification). After running the family manufacturing business for 10 years with a focus on business organization and marketing, she established her place in the business world. She is ordained through the Universal Life Church, and she has found her calling as a Certified Personal Life coach through the World Coaching Institute. As a mother of two and a social butterfly, Michaela is very active in her community, local schools, church, Girl Scouts, recreation sports, and so much more.As a life coach and facilitator, her mission is to work with you to find joy and to give joy while navigating this bumpy road we individually and collectively travel. She aims to empower others to shine their brightest light so that we all may glow a little brighter - which is the only way she knows to change the world. The world is going mad trying to divide us from one another and from ourselves, Michaela offers you an invitation back to who you are truly meant to be. Join us today to learn about Michaela!You can learn more about Michaela Birdyshaw by following her on Instagram @myjoycoachRESOURCES MENTIONED IN THE SHOWDid you enjoy this episode? We would love to hear your thoughts. Head to Apple Podcasts and then rate, review, and subscribe. This way you will get notified once a new episode goes live.CONNECT WITH RIELLY AND TOVAHInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/goboldlytogether/Website: goboldlythepodcast.comFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/Go-Boldly-Together-105942584706928LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/company/go-boldly-initiativeYouTube: http://bit.ly/boldlyyoutubePinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/GoBoldlyTogether/_saved/Twitter: https://twitter.com/goboldlypodcastPatreon: https://www.patreon.com/wegoboldly

On this THL Refresher, we bring you the first interview we did with Richard Sheridan, the CEO and Chief Storyteller of Menlo Innovations. Menlo is a company that builds custom software, whose mission is to “end human suffering in the world as it relates to technology.” Like Barry-Wehmiller, Menlo has a unique culture which they want to share with the world.  We call it Truly Human Leadership, they call it “the business value of joy.” Rich talks with us about leadership, Menlo and his book, "Joy Inc."

"When the work of your heart, your hands, and your mind is done to serve others with delight, that is joy."  That is the mantra of Rich Sheridan, Co-Founder of Menlo Innovations, a software development company that is known the world over for its intentionally joyful culture.   In this episode, your host, Andy Goram talks to the international speaker and best-selling author of Joy Inc., and Chief Joy Officer about what it takes to create an intentionally joyful culture. But don't be fooled by the word joy.  This isn't a lesson in how to be more happy-clappy at work.  Far from it.  This is about working hard, as a team, with a clear sense of purpose and an empowering spirit of experimentation and trust. ----more---- Join The Conversation Find Andy Goram on LinkedIn here Follow the Podcast on Instagram here Follow the Podcast on Twitter here Check out the Bizjuicer website here Check out the Bizjuicer blog here Download the podcast here ----more---- Useful Links Follow Rich Sherdian on LinkedIn here Follow Menlo Innovations on LinkedIn here Follow Rich Sheridan on Twitter here Follow Menlo Innovations on Twitter here Follow Menlo Innovations on Instagram here Check out the Menlo Innovations website here Check out the Menlo Innovations blog here Find Rich's book Joy Inc. here Find Rich's book Chief Joy Officer here Find John Naisbitt's book Megatrands (1982) here Find Kent Beck's updated book Extreme Programming here ----more---- Full Episode Transcript Get the full transcript of the episode here

Squirrel and Jeffrey meditate on Brian Marick's announcement that he will no longer accept talk invitations on agile development, and the (different) reasons that both of them still use term "agile". Topics include joy at work, how it leads to profit, and the "near enemy" of that joy, which can lead to disillusionment. SHOW LINKS: - Listener Poll Results: https://twitter.com/TShootingAgile/status/1478640273991294983 - Brian's tweet: https://twitter.com/marick/status/1499905649970397189 - Brian's article on things left out of the Agile Manifesto: http://www.exampler.com/blog/2007/05/16/six-years-later-what-the-agile-manifesto-left-out/ - Joy at Work: http://dennisbakke.com - Joy Inc: https://menloinnovations.com : Joy, Inc. - Near Enemies: https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2014/jun/07/change-your-life-near-enemies-buddhism - Alistair Cockburn on the "death" of agile development: https://heartofagile.com/agile-is-not-dead-quite-the-opposite/ --- Our book, Agile Conversations, is out now! See https://agileconversations.com where you can order your copy and get a free video when you join our mailing list! We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us at info@agileconversations.com

 Otto Siegel is a Genius Coach and Owner/CEO of Genius Coaching in Scottsdale. He partners with brilliant and sensitive children and their families to help them overcome behavioral challenges and anxiety symptoms. He provides a highly innovative program called Parent Playtime and started to offer the program as Power of Play (POP) to company leaders and their teams. Links:https://www.geniuscoaching.comhttps://www.facebook.com/GeniusCoachinghttps://www.instagram.com/genius_coaching/https://www.linkedin.com/in/otto-siegel-6a30705/Joy Inc

The first time Rich Sheridan touched a computer was in 1971. The CEO and Co-founder of Menlo Innovations, who went on to write “Joy Inc.” and “Chief Joy Officer,” was then a freshman in high school who instantly fell in love with the idea of writing software.   For Rich, who refers to himself as a “pure Michigan kid,” software was an artistic medium. He started by typing the names and stats of Major League Baseball players into a computer so he and his friends could “play” baseball in the winter. That programming won a contest and essentially launched his career.   He got his first software programming job shortly thereafter and went on to earn degrees in computer science and engineering. But when he entered the workforce, the world of software development wasn't what he thought it would be.   “It was chaos,” he says. “It was firefighting every single day, delivering poor quality all the time. There is nothing satisfying in that kind of career. I don't care how much money you make; I don't care how many stock options are thrown at you.”   Eventually, Rich became a vice president of research and development for a public company, where he could make the kinds of changes he dreamed of. Unfortunately, he lost that job in 2001 when the dot-com bubble burst, but he took it as a sign to become an entrepreneur.   Rich founded Menlo Innovations later that year with a mission to bring joy back into an industry that he always thought could, and should, be joyful. Themes discussed in this episode: ●     The books that influenced Rich's career ●     The two types of business culture ●     Why Rich hates the word failure ●     Taking action versus taking a meeting ●     Why spending time together is one of the most important ways to build trust ●     How to break out of the "numbers game" ●     Why entrepreneurship is really about self-discovery Featured Guest: Rich Sheridan 

Rich SheridanRich doesn't just talk about joy in the workplace. He lives it every day at Menlo, the custom software and consulting company he co-founded in 2001 in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Rich's passion for inspiring organizations to create their own joy-filled cultures leads him to address audiences across the world as well as throughout the United States. Today, listen to Rich first hand on how to build a workplace people love. We also talk about other things such as pairing and understanding the ACTUAL problem. Tune in to find out more.Rich is CEO and Chief Storyteller at Menlo Innovations. He is a successful entrepreneur and author of two best-selling books—Joy Inc.: How We Built a Workplace People Love and Chief Joy Officer: How Great Leaders Elevate Human Energy and Eliminate Fear.About Being An EngineerThe Being An Engineer podcast is brought to you by Pipeline Design & Engineering. Pipeline partners with medical & other device engineering teams who need turnkey equipment such as cycle test machines, custom test fixtures, automation equipment, assembly jigs, inspection stations and more. You can find us on the web at www.teampipeline.us.  Links:Rich Sheridan on Linkedin

In today's episode with Ludwig von Busse, Co-Founder and CEO of Simplifa you will learn1. How Simplifa successfully wins clients by creating pain point diagnoses and providing suitable solutions2. Why the pandemic prompted Simplifa to restructure its sales organization and key lessons learned3. Andrea's perspective on the importance of aligning goals with your customer and being a trustful, honest thought leaderAbout LudwigLudwig stands out with his solution-oriented, digital mindset and his determination to help in a sustainable and effective way. After graduating in 2007 with a degree in Business Administration, Master of Science (MSc) and with the Diplome de Grande Ecole at ESCP Europe, he worked in various positions at OTIS, eventually becoming Sales and Marketing Manager "Modernization" of OTIS Germany in Berlin. In 2013, he co-founded Simplifa and today acts as shareholder and CEO responsible for sales, business development and marketing. Besides, Ludwig is a music and wine lover, Italy fan, as well as a passionate dad and chef. About SimplifaSimplifa was founded in 2013 by industry expert Ludwig von Busse and his founding partner Hubertus von Schierstaedt, who was previously a shareholder at GSI Unternehmensgruppe. The Simplifa GmbH aims to increase the transparency and predictability of elevator operations for all parties and to manage these processes even faster and more reliably for their customers. Simplifa is committed to further advance the deployment of state-of-the-art technologies and create interfaces to software systems of Simplifa's customers. Although the company is still young, it combines over 45 years of elevator expertise and works hard every day to achieve its goals in Berlin's City-West.About the host SammySammy is Managing Partner and founder of SAWOO. SAWOO helps companies with Social Marketing and Lead Generation to leverage the power of LinkedIn in a sustainable way. No spam, no bots but building real Human 2 Human connections between you and your B2B buyers.Shownotes LudwigFind Ludwig on LinkedIn or xingReach out to Ludwig via +49 1635828773 or Ludwig.vonbusse@simplifa.deLudwig's Company SimplifaLudwig's favorite business book: Joy Inc. by Richard Sheridan and Managing Complex Sales by Jeff Thull

Menlo Innovations' Richard Sheridan has written two books on Joy in the workplace, "Joy Inc." and "Chief Joy Officer." But what happens to joy when your company is in crisis? How does a company built on interpersonal interaction with their customers adapt during a pandemic? Rich talks about the shift Menlo had to make during the past 15 months, what it means for the future and how impacted his ideas about leadership.

In this week's episode of the podcast, I spoke with Damola Morenikeji, the COO of Joy Inc, an organization with a mission to transform sub-Saharan Africa into a mental, emotional and spiritual safe space. We spoke about how he became an author whilst in secondary school and how he helped other students fulfil their dream of becoming authors themselves. We also spoke about how he continued his work of service in the university and the price he had to pay to do so. Lastly, he spoke about his work at Joy Inc.

Wow, it is that time of year again and both of your hosts (Just Nate and DK) are both on vacation again at the same time and they could not find the time record a new episode this week. So they did what they do best and had a conversation about one of their favorite guests from this year. Listen in as your hosts "Just Nate", Dennis K along with guest speaker Chris E talk to the CEO and Chief Story Teller of Menlo Innovations, Richard Sheridan. The Smalls team is a huge fan of Rich and everything that Menlo stands for. The team talks through all the ups and downs that Menlo Innovations have had in order to break the mold and how they created a joyful place to work. Menlo's mission is: "End human suffering in the world as it relates to technology.®" Rich tells stories throughout this nearly hour long podcast as he talks about how they were all focused on delighting others with the work of our hears, our hands and our minds. Rich states the key to success and how they have been so successful is they set out to make a culture where your more likely to take action than to take a meeting. A key to Rich's success is he had a different goal than most. His goal was to try to succeed, where others goal is to try not to fail. Don't let failure get in your way, run the experiment and if it don't work, try something else and learn from the mistake. It sounds simple, Create a Intentional Culture! We can't suggest Rich's books enough, you can find them at nearly any books store or online, see links to both books below from Amazon. Joy Inc. - https://www.amazon.com/Joy-Inc-Built-Workplace-People/dp/1591845874/ref=sxts_sxwds-bia-wc-rsf1_0?cv_ct_cx=joy+inc.&dchild=1&keywords=joy+inc.&pd_rd_i=1591845874&pd_rd_r=d686b69d-d465-4f2e-a0fb-6e8c751ccfed&pd_rd_w=pNf5t&pd_rd_wg=S9ISd&pf_rd_p=e0f994a8-a359-40a9-8917-dadca71c7184&pf_rd_r=QSASTN1ZB45FCMCXDMAK&psc=1&qid=1610928792&sr=1-1-526ea17f-3f73-4b50-8cd8-6acff948fa5a Chief Joy Officer - https://www.amazon.com/Chief-Joy-Officer-Leaders-Eliminate-ebook/dp/B07B2KHQCS/ref=sr_1_4?dchild=1&keywords=joy+inc.&qid=1610928832&sr=8-4 Listen in to the other podcast that Rich mentions the Bossless Office by Tom Ashbrook. - https://www.wbur.org/onpoint/2013/06/20/bossless-office Read the article that Rich mentions from New York Magazine by Matthew Shaer, The Boss Stops Here - https://nymag.com/news/features/bossless-jobs-2013-6/ To find out more about Rich and his team at Menlo Innovations check them out on the web. https://menloinnovations.com/ To hire Rich to come speak at your event you can book him here: https://richardsheridan.com/ From the team here at "The SmallsCast Podcast", thank you Rich, it truly was an honor and pleasure having you on the show! --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/thesmalls/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/thesmalls/support

My guest this evening is definitely not a stranger to podcast and we're super excited to have her back. Michaela is a trained and certified life coach who's also the founder of Joy Inc. Her aim in life is to assist others in finding "JOY" while navigating this bumpy road we individually and collectively travel call life. Please feel free to reach out to her if your interested in scheduling a one on one consultation at Bringjoytolife.mb@gmail.com and a member of her team will contact you within 24 hours. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/carla337/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/carla337/support

This Month I get to roll up my sleeves and get down to the nitty gritty with Michaela the founder of Joy Inc. She's a trained & certified life coach who's mission is to help people find JOY while navigating this bumpy road we individually and collectively travel call life. Michaela's aim is to empower others to shine their brigtest light so that we all may glow a little brighter-which she states is the only way she knows how to change the world. Michaela can be reached at any of her social media platforms listed below so please don't hesitate to contact her for support. Allow her team 24 hours to reply to any correspondence Thank you Sista'Girlfriend❤ we love and appreciate you!!!! Bringjoytolife.mb@gmail.com/Instagram:@Joy.Inc.Coach/Face Book: @JoyInc.MB / Website: HTTPS://JoyINLIFE.Wordpress.com --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/carla337/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/carla337/support

Many people spend much of their life at a job that they do not like.  So many are miserable every Monday morning knowing that they have to go to "work" for another long week.  This book, "Joy, Inc." by Richard Sheridan is all about bringing joy into the workplace. Music - "Unbreakable" (music only) by Bev and Cliff Nelson, Margaret and Andy Machin.  "Together We're Never Alone" (full song) by Bev and Cliff Nelson.

Being an effective leader and being a great comedian, believe it or not, take many of the same skills. One of those skills is the willingness to use mistakes as a learning opportunity. Rich Sheridan is the co-founder and Chief Storyteller of the software developer and IT consulting firm Menlo Innovations. Menlo is widely regarded for their outside-of-the-box, people-first culture where team members work in pairs in a giant open space where ideas are shared freely. This is the sort of workplace where communicable disease spreads easily, so when COVID-19 struck, Rich was out of his comfort zone. Before long, his team leaned into the "make mistakes fastr" mantra, and the virtual Menlo was up and running at full steam. In this bonus episode, we chat about: -The definition of joy and how it's different from fun and happiness / -Serving and delighting others being in our basic human nature / -The choice that comes with every negative life experience / -Experimentation and moments of discovery / -How Menlo responded to the pandemic and the two principles that have helped them thrive / -The willingness to share Menlo's culture with outsiders / -Building an intentionally joyful culture / -Improv and how it plays into Menlo's culture / -Adjusting to remote work / -Menlo's rat problem / -A message for leaders struggling to lead their teams through uncertainty / -And more! Follow Rich on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/menloprez/ Follow Rich on Twitter: @menloprez Book Rich to speak: https://richardsheridan.com/book-rich Check out Rich's books: Joy Inc.: https://richardsheridan.com/books/joy-inc Chief Joy Officer: https://richardsheridan.com/books/chief-joy-officer Find out more about Menlo Innovations: menloinnovations.com Follow David on IG and Twitter: @THEdavidhorning LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-horning-7b636176/ Follow "You Can't Laugh At That" on social media patreon.com/youcantlaughpod twitter.com/youcantlaughpod facebook.com/youcantlaughatthat Produced by Water Cooler Comedy - https://watercoolercomedy.org Music by Producedbyzip - https://producedbyzip.bandcamp.com

Our special quest this evening is a super Mom to two beautiful children a fabulous wife and a new Sista' Girlfriend to the Podcast. She's the VP of Marketing for a 4th Generation Garage Door manufacturer, she's a Sandwich Artist, Mixologist, she has a Black belt in Karate and the list goes on and on. However this evening she's in the building to discuss her new endeavor which is called Joy Inc. We were super excited to have the one and only Michaela stopped by and you all should be too. Michaela can be reached at any of her Social Media Platforms listed below. Please give her team 24 hours to reply to any correspondence. Thank you Bringjoytolife.mb@gmail.com / Instagram:@Joy.Inc.Coach, FaceBook: @JoyInc.MB, WEBSITE: HTTPS://JoyINLIFE.WORDPRESS.COM/ --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/carla337/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/carla337/support

Listen in as your hosts "Just Nate", Dennis K along with guest speaker Chris E talk to the CEO and Chief Story Teller of Menlo Innovations, Richard Sheridan. The Smalls team is a huge fan of Rich and everything that Menlo stands for. The team talks through all the ups and downs that Menlo Innovations have had in order to break the mold and how they created a joyful place to work. Menlo's mission is: "End human suffering in the world as it relates to technology.®" Rich tells stories throughout this nearly hour long podcast as he talks about how they were all focused on delighting others with the work of our hears, our hands and our minds. Rich states the key to success and how they have been so successful is they set out to make a culture where your more likely to take action than to take a meeting. A key to Rich's success is he had a different goal than most. His goal was to try to succeed, where others goal is to try not to fail. Don't let failure get in your way, run the experiment and if it don't work, try something else and learn from the mistake. It sounds simple, Create a Intentional Culture! We can't suggest Rich's books enough, you can find them at nearly any books store or online, see links to both books below from Amazon. Joy Inc. - https://www.amazon.com/Joy-Inc-Built-Workplace-People/dp/1591845874/ref=sxts_sxwds-bia-wc-rsf1_0?cv_ct_cx=joy+inc.&dchild=1&keywords=joy+inc.&pd_rd_i=1591845874&pd_rd_r=d686b69d-d465-4f2e-a0fb-6e8c751ccfed&pd_rd_w=pNf5t&pd_rd_wg=S9ISd&pf_rd_p=e0f994a8-a359-40a9-8917-dadca71c7184&pf_rd_r=QSASTN1ZB45FCMCXDMAK&psc=1&qid=1610928792&sr=1-1-526ea17f-3f73-4b50-8cd8-6acff948fa5a Chief Joy Officer - https://www.amazon.com/Chief-Joy-Officer-Leaders-Eliminate-ebook/dp/B07B2KHQCS/ref=sr_1_4?dchild=1&keywords=joy+inc.&qid=1610928832&sr=8-4 Listen in to the other podcast that Rich mentions the Bossless Office by Tom Ashbrook. - https://www.wbur.org/onpoint/2013/06/20/bossless-office Read the article that Rich mentions from New York Magazine by Matthew Shaer, The Boss Stops Here - https://nymag.com/news/features/bossless-jobs-2013-6/ To find out more about Rich and his team at Menlo Innovations check them out on the web. https://menloinnovations.com/ To hire Rich to come speak at your event you can book him here: https://richardsheridan.com/ From the team here at "The SmallsCast Podcast", thank you Rich, it truly was an honor and pleasure having you on the show! --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/thesmalls/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/thesmalls/support

Rich Sheridan is my guest on this episode of Inside Ideas with Marc Buckley. Rich is CEO and Chief Storyteller at Menlo Innovations, is a successful entrepreneur and author of two best-selling books—Joy Inc.: How We Built a Workplace People Love and Chief Joy Officer: How Great Leaders Elevate Human Energy and Eliminate Fear. Rich's passion for inspiring organizations to create their own joy-filled cultures has led him to address audiences across the world—through four continents and 18 countries (and counting) as well as throughout the United States. What motivates Rich to travel the world, speaking to tens of thousands of people in nearly every setting imaginable? What does he share with his audiences that makes them jump to their feet with enthusiasm and return to their organizations on fire with inspiration? Simply this: joy. More specifically, that joy in your organization is not just possible but essential—essential to profitability, to productivity, to every measure of success. Rich and his message of joyful leadership have been featured in press outlets ranging from Inc, Forbes and New York magazines to Bloomberg, U.S. News & World Report, NPR's On Point podcast, NPR's All Things Considered, and the Harvard Business Review. His videos for organizations such as Gemba Academy, VitalSmarts, and the Arbinger Institute continue to inspire audiences around the world. Rich doesn't just talk about joy in the workplace. He lives it every day at Menlo, the custom software and consulting company he co-founded in 2001 in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Since then, Menlo has received worldwide notice for its unique culture, including recognition by Inc. Magazine as the most joyful company in America. Menlo has also been recognized by the Alfred P. Sloan award for Business Excellence in Workplace Flexibility for 11 straight years and has received a lifetime achievement award for Freedom at Work from WorldBlu, as well as five revenue awards from Inc. magazine. Today people come to Menlo from all over the world—nearly 20,000 in the past seven years alone—to learn about Menlo and how they can create a culture of joy in their own organizations. https://menloinnovations.com/ https://menloinnovations.com/stories/culture/john-naisbitt-and-joy https://richardsheridan.com/ @menloprez https://marcbuckley.earth https://www.innovatorsmag.com https://onepoint5media.com

An organization focused on relationships, trust, reasonable workload, vacation, work-life balance... sounds like a dream job.   A dream that is possible when a goal of the organization is long-term sustainability.   Beyond that, adding joy and recognition that employees have lives outside of work to the recipe has a powerful impact on employee attraction and retention and every measure of business success. My guest for this episode is Rich Sheridan, CEO and Chief Storyteller at Menlo Innovations. His two best-selling books—Joy Inc.: How We Built a Workplace People Love and Chief Joy Officer: How Great Leaders Elevate Human Energy and Eliminate Fear outline the culture philosophy Rich and his cofounder lead by every day.   Listen in as Rich shares the story of his evolution of leadership and finding the formula for thriving in the organization. It is all about more lift and less drag. 

Rich Sheridan is a keynote speaker, the author of Joy Inc., Chief Joy Officer and is best known for helping create Menlo Innovations in Michigan. Check out the full show notes at TheAgileWire.com   YouTube: https://youtu.be/Y-DC8BE41Xw Twitter: @AgileWire

Hello there, This episode is a special interview I had with Chude Jideonwo, Founder of Joy Inc. and Co-Founder of Redmedia. We looked at certain issues and attempted to answer some questions. This is an audio excerpt from a live show hence you might experience breaks in-between. Some Questions asked : People experience a crisis at individual levels but what we have at the moment is global. How do we find ourselves in the midst of all these? What is your understanding of Joy and how should it reflect? Social Media has played a great role in the lives of youths. Do you think there’s somehow in it for us in moments like this? How do you deal with emotions? What is emotional intelligence to you? In December, you wrote an article calling Naira Marley a cultural icon, in spite of his vulgar lyrics and defiance to any kind of authority. In light of his recent comments on the Coronavirus, do you think you might have judged him a little too quickly? Childhood experiences and trauma go a long way in defining our values as adults, yet in Nigeria, not a lot of us see childhood as an important part of our development as people. What are your thoughts on raising children then and now? Listen and share with as many as deserve to hear this. Let us spread the message. you really want to talk to someone, send me a mail  tolusedovefrancis@gmail.com.  Follow me on social media@tolusefrancis https://bit.ly/2JzIVdz and @risingheroespodcast https://bit.ly/3aBXU2x  Stay up to date with the podcast by subscribing here  Subscribe to the Youtube channel (youtube.com/tolusefrancis) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Featured Resource : Content Cookbook:  https://tolusefrancis.com/pay --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/risingheroes/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/risingheroes/support

Rich Sheridan is the CEO and Co-founder of Menlo Innovations. Rich is also the author of Joy Inc.: How We Built a Workplace People Love and his newest bestselling book Chief Joy Officer: How Great Leaders Elevate Human Energy and Eliminate Fear, which is a 2018 Nautilus Book Award Winner for Business and Leadership. His company was founded in 2001, “To end human suffering in the world as it relates to technology.” Today Rich travels the world speaking about joy, creativity, and human energy in the workplace. In addition to his corporate responsibilities, Rich passionately shares the Menlo way through workshops, tours of his company, speaking, and mentoring entrepreneurs in the community. Rich has never shied away from challenges or opportunities. His focus is always on technology, teamwork, and organizational design, and always with one goal in mind, the business value of joy. What you will learn in this episode: How Rich's new book Chief Joy Officer differs from his first book, focusing instead on the how-to of creating a culture of joy in today's businesses and organizations What has changed at Menlo Innovations since Rich's last appearance on the Other Side of Potential podcast and since the launch of Chief Joy Officer Rich shares a story about encouraging a mother at his company to bring her child to work with her and how this “experiment” set a precedent for the Menlo How the daily routine and structure at Menlo is ideal for allowing parents to bring their babies to work and why it matters Why people crave clarity and the opportunity to do meaningful work, and why these concepts are central to the way Menlo structures their paper-based workflow How visitors translate Menlo's organization methods into their own industries, and how employees even use those methods in their family lives Why Menlo pairs employees at shared computers throughout their workday and how this unique practice supports better employee engagement and higher performance and productivity. Why an effective business culture needs intentionality to thrive, and how Menlo's interviewing and onboarding process is designed to teach Menlo's culture How the culture systems Rich has put in place serve to also hold him accountable in his role as CEO Why Rich recommends reading and continual learning to any business leader who wants to keep growing Resources: Chief Joy Officer by Rich Sheridan: https://amzn.to/33fjoOh Website: www.menloinnovations.com Email: experience@menloinnovations.com LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/menloprez/ Facebook: www.facebook.com/menloinnovations/ Additional Resources: Website: sharonspano.com Book: thetimemoneybook.com Events: sharonspano.com/workshops Contact: sharon@sharonspano.com Twitter: @SharonSpano

In this episode, we talk to Rich Sheridan author of Joy Inc: a case study of Menlo Innovation and Chief Joy Officer: the values of a joyful leader and how to build a culture of joy. We’ll hear about his company’s mission to end human suffering in the world as it relates to technology

I recorded this episode of the podcast during the International Conference on Happiness at Work in Copenhagen, where both me and Rich led a workshop. Rich Sheridan is the author of a famous book Joy Inc and also founder of Menlo Innovations - company which has the mission to "end human suffering in the world as it relates to technology.". The unique thing about Menlo Innovations and also the main topic of our interview was pairing. It's the way of work, where two people cooperate on one task. They sit together behind one computer, with one keyboard (or even one pen & paper) and discuss and share their ideas. In the first view, a very unusual idea. But one that brings many advantages to company culture. We discussed how pairing helps to build feedback culture or how it improves learning within the organization. At Menlo Innovations, pairing is, of course, also an integral part of the interview process and it greatly helps to test for culture fit before looking at the technical topics. If you'd like to dive deeper into happiness at work, don't miss our international conference coming to Prague (Czech Republic) on October 10th, 2019. For more details about the event, visit happinessatwork.cz.

Melissa Boggs (@HmngbirdAgility) joined Ryan Ripley (@ryanripley) to discuss her new role as co-CEO at Scrum Alliance, the power of cross-functional teams, and how to use HR practices in an agile world. Melissa Boggs – Chief Scrum Master at Scrum Alliance In this episode you’ll discover: What’s happening over at Scrum AllianceHow to make transformations to agile organizations more likely to succeedWhen agile values can help influence hiring decisions Links from the show: Scrum Alliance – https://www.scrumalliance.org/ Melissa Boggs – https://www.linkedin.com/in/melissa-boggs/Joy Inc. by Richard Sheridan – https://amzn.to/30AOcrQScrum Alliance Unscripted – https://www.scrumalliance.org/unscripted Take a Scrum.org Class with PST Ryan Ripley – https://www.scrum.org/ryan-ripleyRead Ryan’s New Book now in BETA – https://pragprog.com/book/rrscrum/fixing-your-scrum How to Support the Show: Thank you for your support. Here are some of the ways to contribute that were discussed during this episode: Share the show with friends, family, colleagues, and co-workers. Sharing helps get the word out about Agile for HumansRate us on iTunes and leave an honest reviewJoin the mailing list – Check out the form on the right side of the pageTake the survey – totally anonymous and helps us get a better idea of who is listening and what they are interested inLeadership Gift ProgramMake a donation via Patreon Buy Ryan’s New Book: Broken Scrum practices limit your organization’s ability to take full advantage of the agility Scrum should bring: The development team isn’t cross-functional or self-organizing, the product owner doesn’t get value for their investment, and stakeholders and customers are left wondering when something—anything—will get delivered. Learn how experienced Scrum masters balance the demands of these three levels of servant leadership, while removing organizational impediments and helping Scrum teams deliver real-world value. Discover how to visualize your work, resolve impediments, and empower your teams to self-organize and deliver using advanced coaching and facilitation techniques that honor and support the Scrum values and agile principles. Click here to purchase on The Pragmatic Bookshelf. Want to hear another podcast about the life of an agile coach? — Listen to my conversation with Zach Bonaker, Diane Zajac-Woodie, and Amitai Schlair on episode 39. We discuss growing an agile practice and how coaches help create the environments where agile ideas can flourish. The post AFH 109: Agile Organizations with Melissa Boggs appeared first on Ryan Ripley.

Here's a great case study example of story power in action - where stories have been used to drive a better culture, results and mentality in the workplace. Corporate storytelling specialist Eamonn O'Brien speaks with speaker, author of Joy Inc, and Chief storyteller, CEO and tour guide at Menlo Innovations Inc about how he uses stories to capture how their software and ways of doing things impacts their customers, people using their systems and their staff...And the profound effects of creating a story-centric culture (both on those who share stories and those who hear them).

Here's a great case study example of story power in action - where stories are used to drive a better culture, results and mentality in the workplace. Corporate storytelling specialist Eamonn O'Brien speaks with speaker, author of Joy Inc, and chief storyteller, CEO and tour guide at Menlo Innovations Inc about how he has used stories to capture how their software and ways of doing things impact customers, people using their systems and their staff...and how creating a story-centric culture can have such a profound effect on all who hear and share them.

What you'll learn about in this episode: How Rich entered the software industry in high school by creating an award-winning computer game for his friends to enjoy How a difficult period in his career almost led Rich to leave the industry, and why he chose to persevere through the challenges How the spark of an idea early in Rich's career became the joyful culture of Menlo Innovations almost 30 years later How Menlo's unique business structure supports developing leadership skills and a culture of teamwork What steps Rich takes to foster a joyful workplace environment and grow leaders within his organization Why Rich believes storytelling is one of the most important components supporting his business culture Why Menlo's joyful culture doesn't prevent turnover but does encourage the right people to stay Why Rich wrote his bestselling book "Joy Inc.", and why its success led him to write his upcoming book "Chief Joy Officer" Why the elimination of fear has been instrumental in unlocking the potential of Menlo's employees Why allowing employees to experiment and innovate can be a powerful catalyst for cultural change How to contact Rich Sheridan:   Website: www.menloinnovations.com  

Speaker: Dan Joy

Speaker: Dan Joy

In this episode of the Autism Quality of Life podcast, host, Teri Krakovich, interviews Susan Kolb of Life with Joy, Inc.!  Susan and her husband, Gary, developed an innovative program in Andover, New Jersey, for adults with Autism Spectrum Disorder. Susan and Gary Kolb are Arthur’s parents. They celebrate Arthur, who has an Autism diagnosis, and they set no limits on who he can become. They developed Life With Joy, Inc. for Arthur and his friends, so they can continue to learn and grow after age 21 in a safe and joyful environment! To learn more about Susan, her family, and Life with Joy Inc., view her show notes at: www.autismqualityoflife.com/podcast-susan-kolb

While listening to my podcast interview with Rich Sheridan, you will get an innovative perspective on people, culture and design from one of the top organizational leaders and business builders in the US today. I am fascinated with people who have the enormous courage, heart, vulnerability it takes to actually do things differently (in Rich’s case, radically different). Whether you are a business IT leader employed by a company, or an entrepreneur. Rich and I cover equally cover the two, because he has had massive success with both. This discussion is a master- class. I felt like he was speaking to me personally on how to think about my own company and my own teams. I trust his message will be equally ring true for you. Subscribe to my Exponential Innovation Insider Newsletter. Make sure to check out the show notes page at redzonetech.net/podcast where you can connect with him via twitter. About Rich Sheridan Rich Sheridan got started as a kid programmer in 1971. He is the author of Joy, Inc. He is a Michigan graduate BS Computer Science + MS Computer Engineering. He has never shied from challenges, opportunities nor the limelight. While his focus has always been around technology, his passion is actually process, teamwork and organizational design, with one inordinately popular goal: the Business Value of Joy! He is an avid reader and historian, and his software design and development team at Menlo Innovations didn't invent a new culture, but copied an old one ... Edison's Menlo Park New Jersey lab. Henry Ford's recreation of the Menlo Park Lab in Greenfield Village was a childhood inspiration! Some call it agile, some call it lean … Rich and his team call it joyful. And it produces results, business and otherwise. Six Inc. magazine revenue growth awards, invites to the White House, speaking engagements around the nation, numerous articles and culture awards and so much interest they are doing a tour a day of the Menlo Software Factory™. Major Take-Aways From This Episode: How to handle the chaos of software development with process and culture, The process of installing a culture of delight into your teams, His version of instilling accountability and service, The concept of team flow, One simple phrase to disarm every naysayer ever again. Read full transcript here. How to get in touch with Rich Sheridan email - RSheridan@menloinnovations.com LinkedIn Twitter Website: Menlo Innovations Blog: Menlo Blog Book: Joy Inc.: How to Build a Workplace People Love Video: Joy Inc.| Rich Sheridan - keynote at the 2014 VitalSmarts REACH conference. Entrepreneurship Hour Talk - Michigan Engineering, The University of Michigan College of Engineering Richard Sheridan's Recommendations: Extreme Programming Explained: Embrace Change - Kent Beck The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leadership Fable - Patrick Lencioni Getting Naked: A Business Fable About Shedding the Three Fears That Sabotage Client Loyalty - Patrick Lencioni Crucial Accountability: Tools for Resolving Violated Expectations, Broken Commitments, and Bad Behavior - Vital Smarts Influencer: The New Science of Leading Change - Vital Smarts Leadership and Self-Deception: Getting Out of the Box - Arbinger Institute The Anatomy of Peace: Resolving the Heart of Conflict - Arbinger Institute IDEO Website - global design company creating positive impact through design This episode is sponsored by the CIO Scoreboard, a powerful tool that helps you communicate the status of your IT Security program visually in just a few minutes. Credits: * Outro music provided by Ben’s Sound Other Ways To Listen to the Podcast iTunes | Libsyn | Soundcloud | RSS | LinkedIn Leave a Review If you enjoyed this episode, then please consider leaving an iTunes review here Click here for instructions on how to leave an iTunes review if you're doing this for the first time. About Bill Murphy Bill Murphy is a world renowned IT Security Expert dedicated to your success as an IT business leader. Follow Bill on LinkedIn and Twitter.

SARITA JOHNSON Business Name: Care Joy Inspirations Telephone: 561-267-3915 Email: carejoysl@aol.com Sarita Johnson is a speaker, author, coach, certified cognitive behavioral therapist, and the founder of CARE JOY Inc., a community-based organization that focuses on personal empowerment. Her area of expertise is emotional healing and Sarita not only breaks down the topic of loss for us but shares tips that can get us on the path to healing.

Brandon Laws and Tyler Meuwissen discuss the book Joy, Inc: How We Built a Workplace People Love by Richard Sheridan. In the episode, Brandon and Tyler discuss some of the most unique human resource practices Menlo Innovations is putting into practice in their business, such as hiring, recruiting, office set up, how people work together, purpose, and much more.

Rich Sheridan is the author of "Joy Inc." and the CEO and Chief Storyteller of Menlo Innovations, a company that builds custom software. Like Barry-Wehmiller, Menlo has a unique culture that they want to share with the world. We call it Truly Human Leadership, they call it “the business value of joy.”

Joy, Inc.: How We Built a Workplace People Love by Richard Sheridan This on demand audio series is a part of the Executive Girlfriends Group Vignette Series. Chicke Fitzgerald interviews Richard Sheridan. The original live interview was 3/20/15. CEO and Chief Storyteller, Richard Sheridan, has recently written a book called Joy, Inc. about how he created a joyful culture at Menlo Innovations. Menlo is a software design and development company in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Last year, 2,197 people came from around the world to visit Menlo. They made the trek not to learn about technology, but to witness a radically different approach to workplace culture — one intentionally designed to produce joy. Joy, Inc. is for readers in any field who want tangible examples for a healthier, happier atmosphere at work—and the sustainable business results required for growth. Readers will come away with an inspirational blueprint for how to create a corporate culture centered on joy in their own workplace. Menlo has gone on to win the Alfred P. Sloan award for Business Excellence in Workplace Flexibility for eight straight years and has earned five revenue awards from Inc. magazine. Rich spends the majority of his time sharing the Menlo Way through teaching classes, leading tours, speaking at conferences and mentoring entrepreneurs in the community and sharing joy! His website is www.menloinnovations.com To order the book click HERE For more information about the Executive Girlfriends' Group see: http://www.executivegirlfriendsgroup.com

Interview by Chicke Fitzgerald of the Game Changer Network as a part of the Best of the Game Changer series, showcased on C-Suite Network. Every year, thousands of visitors come from around the world to visit Menlo Innovations, a small software company in Ann Arbor, Michigan. They make the trek not to learn about technology but to witness a radically different approach to company culture. CEO Rich Sheridan removed the fear and ambiguity that typically make a workplace miserable. With joy as the explicit goal, he and his team changed everything about how the company was run. The results blew away all expectations. Menlo has won numerous growth awards and was named an Inc. magazine “audacious small company.” Joy, Inc. offers an inside look at how Menlo created its culture, and shows how any organization can follow their methods for a more passionate team and sustainable, profitable results.  The Game Changer is featured on C-Suite Network. Chicke is a philanthropreneur • she zigs where others zag, creating value, growth and bringing to life crazy good ideas that will leave a legacy

After almost all our interviews we ask the person we interviewed “did you have fun?” I was happy that Richard Sheridan, Co-founder and CEO of Menlo Innovations said yes, but then I had to quickly reply that I had a blast!Our interview with Richard will delight and AMAZE you! From an early age Richard's focus has always been on technology (Menlo Innovations is a software company), but his passion is process, teamwork and organizational design with one goal: The Business Value of Joy!We add to Richard Sheridan's interview with a discussion about how customers are better strategists than managers and how to change or build your career.Business Builders Show is all about informing, educating and encouraging entrepreneurs and small business owners. Don't miss this rare opportunity to attend what would be a great business class at any university in the country. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

After almost all our interviews we ask the person we interviewed “did you have fun?” I was happy that Richard Sheridan, Co-founder and CEO of Menlo Innovations said yes, but then I had to quickly reply that I had a blast!Our interview with Richard will delight and AMAZE you! From an early age Richard's focus has always been on technology (Menlo Innovations is a software company), but his passion is process, teamwork and organizational design with one goal: The Business Value of Joy!We add to Richard Sheridan's interview with a discussion about how customers are better strategists than managers and how to change or build your career.Business Builders Show is all about informing, educating and encouraging entrepreneurs and small business owners. Don't miss this rare opportunity to attend what would be a great business class at any university in the country. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

What if you loved starting your work most days? What if you were able to create a workplace where people felt joy? Our guest today leads a place that Inc. Magazine has called, “The most joyful company in America,” and is here to inspire us to do more for the people we lead. Guest: Richard Sheridan Author of the new book Joy, Inc.* CEO, Menlo Innovations Community Feedback CoachingforLeaders.com/feedback USA: (949) 38-LEARN Episode #125 airing later this month will be an all question and answer show focused on the topic of Time Management. If you have a question relating to time management, please record it for consideration for this episode at this link. Thank you to Juha Ruohola, Mir Ali, Chad Belletete, Donnie Mefford, Simon Cooper, Varun Perla, Sanjay Patel, Craig Strickler, Terry Cao, Melissa Hecht, Hani Alshoulah, Par Hoglund, Reza Ahmadi, Rebecca Mohon, Lynn Schaffer, Teresa Gibson, René Rasmussen, Klaus Feldam, Dick Donovan, Melissa Williams, Sylvia Emery, and Ron Echtenacher who subscribed to my weekly update this past week. What’s one thing you could do today to bring joy into the workplace?

Podcast Highlights How Rich is bringing humanity back to business The winning strategy of hiring humans and not polished resume's How the biggest risk Rich faced was doing the same thing The business value of Joy How to empower employees to become evangelists Why they don't allow headphones or earbuds at work  

Joining me as my guest for episode #189 is Rich Sheridan, CEO and Chief Storyteller at Menlo Innovations, a software development company in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Rich is author of the new book that I'm really enjoying: Joy, Inc.: How We Built a Workplace People Love. Learn more about the author and the book at www.menloinnovations.com/joyinc. You can also download a free chapter here. There's so much to love about his book and what they are doing at Menlo. I think it's great to start a new year, 2014, with a look at a book that gives us hope about creating workplaces where employees are fully engaged and everybody wins - customers, company, and employees. I'll have a chance to visit Menlo in about two weeks when I'll be in Michigan for my public Kaizen workshop, so I'll report back on what I see during that visit. For a link to this episode, refer people to www.leanblog.org/189.  Please leave a comment and join the discussion about the podcast episode. For earlier episodes of the Lean Blog Podcast, visit the main Podcast page at www.leanpodcast.org, which includes information on how to subscribe via RSS or via Apple iTunes. You can also listen to streaming episodes of the podcast via Stitcher: http://landing.stitcher.com/?vurl=leanblog If you have feedback on the podcast, or any questions for me or my guests, you can email me at leanpodcast@gmail.com or you can call and leave a voicemail by calling the "Lean Line" at (817) 776-LEAN (817-776-5326) or contact me via Skype id "mgraban". Please give your location and your first name. Any comments (email or voicemail) might be used in follow ups to the podcast.

Podcast Highlights How Rich is bringing humanity back to business The winning strategy of hiring humans and not polished resume's How the biggest risk Rich faced was doing the same thing The business value of Joy How to empower employees to become evangelists Why they don't allow headphones or earbuds at work