A colleague called me from a bus this morning to tell me she’d be unable to make an 8.30am meeting because the “traffic was at a standstill”. The fact she had left her home – a mere 19 kilometers from the office – at 6.30am that morning still did not guarantee she’d get to work on time. After sitting on a bus for almost two hours, she decided to get off and walk the remaining distance; eventually arriving at the…
Tag Archives: Fun at work
Where I do my best work – Anywhere
The only thing that is constant in my life is being on the move. I was asked by LinkedIn to share ‘where and how’ I work… Maybe this request was inspired by Marissa Mayers demand for the Yahoo employees to stop telecommuting and come to the office. [I think she may well have been taken a little out of context. I know the importance of feeling a part of the team – and if I am out and about the…
Five positive signs for 2013
This year is off to a flying start and we are already seeing some very positive shifts. This is what I have already noticed. What have you found that is different this year than last? 1. Customer intimacy becomes reality – not only have we moved our language away from ‘call centers’ and ‘CRM’, to being all about ‘Customer Love’ – and creating brands people love. The focus on the customer experience will be fundamental to performance results – NPS…
Vote please – if you like what you read
It’s the beginning of another year and 2013 is set to be a fulfilling and exciting one… and it has started with a flurry – I’ve been writing this blog for 2571 days (but who’s counting) and in that time I have shared 713 posts… now my writings have been nominated for ‘Business Blog’ of the year… but it is a popularity vote… so if you have a moment and like what you read then could you vote please… So…
5 ways to be Cheap, Cheerful and Impactful – this Christmas
Well I don’t exactly like the word ‘cheap’ – but it rhymed with cheerful… what I mean is ‘financially enlightened’. We have worked hard at RedBalloon to ensure that we have something for everyone’s budget – to make sure we have in the experience range the sort of gift that you give to your child’s school teacher and even for Secret Santa. Regardless of religion, Christmas and the end of the year is a time to be thankful. For family…
10,000 moments of happiness
A few weeks ago I decided to run a LinkedIn poll, after I had read Daniel Nettle’s book ‘Happiness – the science behind the smile’. I enjoyed it and found it easy to ‘consume’. One thing I discovered was that we all ‘sense’ happiness differently, and our environment could be a contributor to what we consider happiness. Even the notion of thinking about happiness can change our experience of life. So I asked the question “All things being considered do…
1 night, 2 people, 3 venues.
When I was a child my parents would go to ‘progressive dinners’ – usually as a fundraiser for the kindergarten or primary school. I remember my parents having a ball – wandering the local neighborhood with friends – eating a different course at a different friends house. I was excited when the 1, 2 ,3 progressive dinner experience was published on the RedBalloon site – but I wondered if it would work – to the same degree. Finally last Friday…
Happiness is not a dirty word at work – surely!
[This article first appeared as part of the LinkedIn Thought Leaders program - I will republish articles on my own blog - for the sake of putting all my thoughts in one place - the Linkedin posts will appear here a few days after they are first published.] One could argue that work is work and as such why should you expect to have a good time. I’d worked for a lot of large corporations, some better than others, before…
It’s a big world out there… now chatting to 175 million of them
It is humbling and exciting to be selected as a ‘Thought Leader’ to a potential audience of 175million LinkedIn professionals, to think that the blogging and opinion pieces I write for BRW, the Australian and SmartCompany have propelled me onto a much bigger stage. My colleague Lauren thought that it was worthy of an ‘announcement’: below is the media release she sent out. Aussie entrepreneur rubs shoulders with world’s most influential thinkers Redballoon.com.au founder Naomi Simson one of only two…
Five habits for creating long-term happiness.
Shawn Achor and I chatting at the final EO dinner in Istanbul Shawn Achor concluded his presentation, after telling why happiness is important, and sharing what happiness looks like – by telling the group actions that we can take to create long term happiness. He did warn; all the knowledge in the world does not necessarily mean that we will be in action. (We all know to stay healthy we need to be active and eat well – knowing this…
Imagine running a business based on fun - that's what I decided to try when I left a very serious corporate career in marketing to set up RedBalloon...
