Henry is founder and Chief Happiness Officer of Happy Ltd, originally set up as Happy Computers in 1987. Inspired by Ricardo Semler’s book Maverick, he has built a company which has won multiple awards for some of the best customer service in the country and being one of the UK’s best places to work.
Henry was listed in the Guru Radar of the Thinkers 50 list of the most influential management thinkers in the world. "He is one of the thinkers who we believe will shape the future of business," explained list compiler Stuart Crainer.
His first book, Relax, was published in 2009. His second book, the Happy Manifesto, was published in 2013 and was short-listed for Business Book of the Year.
You can find Henry on LinkedIn and follow @happyhenry on Twitter.
George Osborne was today reported as stating that government procurement from SMEs (small or medium sized enterprises) will rise five-fold. It is a great aspiration. It would result in big cost savings and better service if government was prepared to look beyond the likes of G4S, Capita and Serco. But the chances of this government actually delivering on this promise? Absolute zero.
Today, Wednesday 20th March, is the first UN International Day of Happiness. Take the pledge to bring more happiness to others at the World Happiness Day web-site, add your Happy Heroes and see what events you can attend on the day.
Choosing your own manager is becoming more popular, allowing staff to choose a manager who really motivates them. Find out more in Henry's blog.
A big thanks to Marion Janner of Star Wards, @starwards, for alerting me to this fabulous approach to an annual report. And its not from a cutting edge startup, but from the public sector, the good old NHS: The annual report for Whittington Hospital Trust for 2004.
This festive period I was avoiding Amazon (because of their UK tax avoidance) and found myself in a real bookshop. And what a delight. I could have spent hours there. I know, it is sad that this is rare experience for me.
One of our trainers, Dhira Wiggins, has spent most of October and November providing free database support for local charities. He had been allocated to a two month database training project, and then the client cancelled – leaving Dhira with an empty diary. It didn’t make sense, for him or for Happy, to have nothing to do so we emailed our charity clients asking if any needed some free help setting up or fixing a database (as this is Dhira’s speciality). It proved quite a popular offer and Dhira ended up providing support to eleven different charities, including.
I often ask groups where they have found the best customer service. Two companies stand out and always come up: Apple and John Lewis. And when lists are published of the UK’s most admired businesses you can be sure that John Lewis is at or near the top. So I felt greatly honoured yesterday to be speaking alongside Charlie Mayfield, Chair of John Lewis (at Tomorrow’s Company “Tomorrow’s Value” event).
If you want to be happy at work, don’t go and work in the financial services industry. That is the message from the Career Happiness Index 2012, conducted by City and Guilds.
Last Saturday I got an outraged call from my daughter: “Dad, the bank is stealing my money”. She had accidentally gone £9 into overdraft, the first time she had ever been overdrawn. Within a short time the charges had racked up to £135. I tweeted @asknationwide. After an exchange of tweets and a single call, the charges had been refunded and all was well again.
If you have ever felt envy when you scan the Rich List or read about a millionaire (and, to be honest, who hasn’t?) then a recent discussion on Quora provides a useful antidote. Answering the question “Is getting rich worth it?” several very wealthy people described lives that do not sound enviable.