Content
Our society is changing rapidly. There is no point hiding. The motto is to respond effectively.
There is nothing as powerful in organizations as actually having principles that you hold on to passionately and require those around you to believe. All my consulting advice and speeches as a professional speaker come down to passion, people and values, answering the question of how to bring these to life in practice. The presentations are inspired by and based on the work of former Harvard professors David H. Maister and Tal Ben-Shahar.
David H. Maister
Until his retirement in 2009, David Maister was widely recognized as one of the world's leading authorities on the management of professional service firms. In his book 'Practice what you preach', Maister convincingly proves how high performance teams and organizations distinguish themselves from the rest. Maister points out that, in business and private life, we all know what we should do, why we should do it, and often how we should do it. However, knowing all this is insufficient to predict whether individuals or institutions will actually do it. Maister concludes that the only competitive advantage, for companies and for careers, is the ability to create and transmit drive, determination, energy, excitement and enthusiasm.
Tal Ben-Shahar
Tal Ben-Shahar is an American and Israeli teacher and writer in the field of positive psychology and leadership. As a lecturer at Harvard University, Ben-Shahar created the most popular course in Harvard history. He has written several bestsellers and in 2011 co-founded Potentialife with Angus Ridgway, a company that offers leadership programs based on the science of behavior change to organizations, schools and sports organizations worldwide.
The profit formula
The formula for (financial) success, scientifically demonstrated by Harvard Professor David H. Maister across 139 organizations with 28 different services spread across 15 countries all sharing 1 common denominator - human beings - is that enthusiastic employees ensure happy customers and happy customers determine the degree of success of your organization.
Values in Action
Any organization can chalk its values on the wall or project it onto its website. What set excellent organizations apart is their ability to put their values into daily practice. This creates an environment where employees feel safe, supported and inspired, allowing them to achieve their greatest accomplishments.
Management makes all the difference
If (and only if) competent managers know how to stimulate their people, then (and only then) will employees provide excellent service to their customers, and the customer base will reward the organization with superior (financial) performance.
Business = People management
Ultimately, it all comes down to understanding how people work. Everything we want in life - whether it is profit, respect, fame, loyal subordinates, cooperative colleagues or, in our personal lives, love and relationships - all of these things, each and every one of them, must be given to us by another person. That means we need to understand how other people want to give us what we want, and underlining the importance of relationships in everything we do.
Permission to be human
Once we accept emotions – such as fear and sadness – as natural, we are more likely to overcome them and experience greater happiness in the long run.
Prioritize relationships
Prioritize relationships. The number one predictor of human happiness is the time we spend with people we care about and vice versa.
Rituals
We first make our habits and then our habits make us.
Meaning, Pleasure & Strengths
Happiness - both business and private - lies at the intersection of pleasure and meaning. If you can also develop your talents, life will become a real treat.
Say ‘No’
A simple life makes you happy. We are generally too busy and try to squeeze more and more activities into less and less time. Quantity affects quality, and we compromise our happiness by trying to do too much. Saying 'yes' to someone else often means saying 'no' to yourself.
”Success without happiness
Joris MenckeKeynote Speaker
is no success.
