happy blogs

Almost thirty years ago I stood for election for President of the Student Union and came top. But the election was run under AV, the Conservative votes switched to the Independent candidate and I never got the sabbatical post.

Following Socrates and Creating Empowerment

It’s funny when I find myself quoted and it’s a better summary than I’d do myself.

I was delighted to be involved in the launch of Action for Happiness last week, giving a short speech on increasing happiness in the workplace.

Is Your Company an Ostrich or a Fox?

These are the two ends of customer service. On the one hand you have you have the foxes, eagerly scouring the internet to find any negative mention of their name and responding directly to the customer. And then there are the ostriches, burying their heads in the sand, and somehow managing to ignore negative feedback even when it is submitted on their own feedback forms.

Ethical Investment: It Has Paid Off For Me

Recently I’ve found myself several times in lively discussions about whether choosing to invest ethically means accepting a lower financial return.

What makes a great training course? We’ve done a lot of research on this, and worked with some great trainers to find the answer.

Don't Tell When You Can Ask

Don’t tell when you can ask has been the core training principle at Happy since I founded it 20 years ago. Read more about the reasoning behind this principle in this blog by Happy's Chief Happiness Officer, Henry Stewart.

Once again we have a government talking about saving money through shared services and combined procurement.

It is Good to Pay Tax

There have a been series of demonstrations organised by UK Uncut and others against companies who have been avoiding paying their tax.

As the government embarks on programmes of shared services, let me give an example of why this approach can be disastrous.