As most know I have moved to a founding director role at RedBalloon – Kristie Buchanan CEO has well and truly put her stamp on the business as she leads the business to it’s next phase of growth.
We presented last week at the Growth Summit to fellow entrepreneurs on what it is like working with the founding director and how we transitioned to CEO.
One of the questions came from the audience “what are you going to do now Naomi?” Of course I felt like responding something flippant such as “read a few more books”, or “go on a yoga retreat” But the reality is that I am busier than I have ever been.
I’m busy writing a new book – which I should have finished in April sometime – so all being equal I’d like to see published for the beginning of May (though the title for it is still being very illusive). I continue to blog and speak, I have just taken a role as a chair with 20/20 Exchange. And I sit on three philanthropic boards. But wait there is more….
Every time I speak with business groups (large and small) – all of them want to know ‘how’ and ‘why’ RedBalloon has consistently been on the great places to work list for half a decade.
I would love to influence other Australian (or anywhere on the planet really) businesses to focus on the employee experience.
Together with original colleague Jemma Fastnedge (the person who wrote me that infamous email which started the journey to appointing a CEO) we are preaching about what we practice.
We are building, designing, developing, researching and sharing our passion for people – launching RED [Recognition Every Day]
We are going to shift the appalling disengagement scores in Australia! Mismanaged employees are costing the Australian economy as much as $305 billion due to lost productivity (according to Ernst & Young).
Most leaders do want to do something about it – they know that a happy team are a productive and creative team – they just don’t necessarily know best practice on how to inspire behavioral change in their businesses.
So I am excited to be in ‘start up mode’ and taking the next steps in my journey of sharing throughout workplaces (and this is not limited to Australia) the notion of ‘experience happy’ – It extends everything I believe about giving an experience as a gift.
RED takes the essence of RedBalloon’s own ‘Happiness Revolution’ and great workplace and has packaged this up to support other businesses growth strategies.
Literally we are sharing our ‘secret sauce’ to help other businesses tackle:
- Poor Engagement
- High Attrition
- Lack of Productivity
- Ill defined Culture and Values
Whilst we feel like it is ‘start up’ mode – because Jemma and I are so excited by what we are upto – but the reality is that it builds on what was RedBalloon for corporate – which has been part of the RedBalloon since inception.
I’m loving the excitement of ‘start up’ but with a brand reputation, clients and resources (not quite the boot strap RedBalloon was)
So there is my moment to savour, my passion and intention to create happier places to work has now become an even further reaching reality.
I love this little video that explains why I am so passionate.
And guess what – I am bounding out of bed every day! Still loving what I do as I fast approach my 13th anniversary as a RedBallooner on 1 April. (Not so foolish after all).
