Read a blog post some time ago about laughing at work. When we get older we tend to laugh more seldom. And most of our laughter takes place during the weekends. During the weeks we have more important things going on – work. But that’s really a disservice.
Laughing helps us relax, makes us better listeners, makes us more creative, productive and engaged. We feel better and strengthen the workplace community. All essential ingredients to Stay in Startup Mode! It’s time to laugh at work!
According to researchers several factors influence how much we laugh at work:
The culture: Most laughter is found in flat, non-hierarchical organizations, where the employees can be themselves, where creativity and innovation are encouraged. What can I say? Surprise! 😉
Don’t have time: OMG – is this really true??!
Afraid to insult someone: Well, that’s of course something to take into consideration. You should laugh with someone, not at someone….
Afraid to be known as ”not serious”: I ask you to re-read what laughing does to us; helps us relax, makes us better listeners, makes us more creative, productive and engaged… Does it sound like ”not serious” to you? What if laughing rather means you’re authentic, don’t take yourself too seriously, shows that you love what you do and that you’re courageous enough to have fun at work?
Laughing could be one of the best investments in your business or career. What will you do this week to increase laughing at work?
Thanks Chefshuset for the inspiration 🙂
Be younique!
entrepreneur, startupWhy are we trying so hard to fit in when we were born to stand out? Don’t we choose whom to hire, invest in, buy from, partner with etc. based on their uniqueness, not because they’re like everybody else? And this is not just true for individuals, but for companies as well. I have been writing quite a lot about launching ourselves and our businesses in beta version and improve as we go.
How can you launch an updated beta version, that is a little bit more YOU, every day? An essential part of Staying in Startup Mode!
The optimal way of doing business is yet to come
entrepreneur, startupWhat are the odds that we’ve discovered the optimal way of organizing and doing business? In my opinion non-existing. I’m convinced that we’ll find new and smarter ways of working that support creativity, fuel our passion and enable the lifestyle we want. But it won’t happen unless we’re willing to do some experimentation and try to do things differently. That’s why it’s super important to stay in startup mode, to launch in beta and improve as you go!One of the best investments you can make
inspirationRead a blog post some time ago about laughing at work. When we get older we tend to laugh more seldom. And most of our laughter takes place during the weekends. During the weeks we have more important things going on – work. But that’s really a disservice.
Laughing helps us relax, makes us better listeners, makes us more creative, productive and engaged. We feel better and strengthen the workplace community. All essential ingredients to Stay in Startup Mode! It’s time to laugh at work!
According to researchers several factors influence how much we laugh at work:
The culture: Most laughter is found in flat, non-hierarchical organizations, where the employees can be themselves, where creativity and innovation are encouraged. What can I say? Surprise! 😉
Don’t have time: OMG – is this really true??!
Afraid to insult someone: Well, that’s of course something to take into consideration. You should laugh with someone, not at someone….
Afraid to be known as ”not serious”: I ask you to re-read what laughing does to us; helps us relax, makes us better listeners, makes us more creative, productive and engaged… Does it sound like ”not serious” to you? What if laughing rather means you’re authentic, don’t take yourself too seriously, shows that you love what you do and that you’re courageous enough to have fun at work?
Laughing could be one of the best investments in your business or career. What will you do this week to increase laughing at work?
Thanks Chefshuset for the inspiration 🙂
Why you should think of yourself as an app – part 3
entrepreneur, startupTime to celebrate!
One more thing to learn from apps. Many apps uses some element of gamification – when you complete a task you get a fanfare, you get rewarded when you’ve run faster than before, you get a high five when you’ve sent your campaign. What about you? How good are you at celebrating your successes? Often, we strive to reach a goal and when we’re finally there we tend to already be on our way to the next one. Acknowledging our accomplishments helps build our confidence. More confidence means more action. More action means more accomplishments. And more accomplishments means an impact in the world.
Celebration makes you happy and energized, when we’re happy and energized we’re more creative and creativity is essential to keep up with today’s ever-changing world.
My advice – start celebrating! Create your TA DA list.
Thanks again Per Frykman for inspiration on the TA DA list.
Why you should think of yourself as an app – part 2
startupObsession – a key to success
I’m really inspired by the ever-changing digital world and think we can learn a lot from the digital approach. Lately I’ve been experimenting with thinking of myself as an app. What if this is version 1.0 of the professional me? And every day it’s my mission to release an updated version. I try to identify the bugs. I decide which are important to improve and which I can live with. I try new ways of doing things, to see if I can find an even better way. That’s the concept of ”beta”. Being in permanent beta is my mission. Progress, not perfection.
But there’s more to learn from apps.
What characterize a great app? It’s really good at delivering something in particular. There’s no great app delivering both taxi services and workout programs and productivity tools and pod casts. A great app is really good at what it does and leaves the rest to someone else.
Lots of people, including me, talks about the importance of being passionate about what you do. I heard the other day that it might be time to change passion to obsession. We need to find something so interesting that we get obsessed about it. Where we’re eager to learn more and where we improve effortless – because we think it’s both inspiring and fun.
Great apps are obsessed about solving their problem. Just as you should be. All other things should end up on your ”to don’t”-list.
Here’s part 1 of Why you should think of yourself as an app. Stay tuned for part 3 🙂
Nex(t)cellence™ THINK TANK, September 24th-27th in Barcelona
entrepreneur, startupTired of the Swedish summer weather? Join us in Barcelona! 🙂
I’m very happy to present my latest collaboration with Per Frykman and Magdalena Bibik: Nex(t)cellence. Maybe you’ve heard Tom Peters say ”Excellence is not an aspiration, it’s the next five minutes”? We call it Nex(t)cellence and within this concept we will strive to give you the tools to succeed in today´s ever-changing world.
In September we will go to Barcelona for a 3 day Nex(t)cellence THINK TANK. In this THINK TANK we will work on your ideas, strategy and promotion of your company to expand it’s borders heading for success. Together with a limited number of participants, you will co-create ideas and insights on the future entrepreneurship and work-life.
For three days, we will look into you professional reputation – your most important asset – and how it kicks off the expectations that are so crucial today. We will explore how you enter and stay in startup mode to be even more creative and take action on new ideas. We will challenge you to expand your case and the boarders of your business.
As the numbers of participants are limited, make sure to reserve your spot today!
Nex(t)cellence THINK TANK gives you the opportunity to meet exciting people, to co-create ideas and set you, and your business, for success.
We promise that it will be extremely creative, rewarding and last but not least: a lot of fun! And a lot warmer and sunnier than Swedish summer (so far)… 😉
Why you should give yourself permission to be stupid
entrepreneur, startupThe importance of working on the unimportant.
You’ve probably heard about Google’s 20% time; that 20% of the employees’ time should be devoted to developing new ideas. So what’s the point with spending 20% of your time on something that has nothing to do with the core business?
To be able to reinvent and innovate we need to dedicate time to work on things that are unapproved and maybe even thought to be stupid. We need to find time to explore those crazy ideas that might be useless, but could just as well turn out to be the ones changing the game. We need to understand the importance of working on the unimportant.
In today’s work-life we focus so much on getting things done. Efficiency is our goal. We strive to find the perfect solution. Perfection is thought to be the ultimate destination. But efficiency and perfection might just not be the fastest way to innovation. As Ludwig Wittgenstein put it:
We need to be stupid to be intelligent. We need to focus on the unimportant to get something really important done.
Therefore I suggest you give yourself permission to be stupid and dedicate some time in your calendar for working on unimportant stuff.
Wanna learn more about creativity and fun at work, read this blog post by Samuel West.
Do you over-strategize?
entrepreneur, startupIn my former world (management consulting) the word strategy could be the most popular and mostly used word ever. Everyone suggests “we need a strategy for this” and “we need to think strategically about that”. And after strategy it’s time for planning. Strategy and planning, planning and strategy and so forth and so on. When is the time for action?
As we all know, it is action that actually changes things. But very often, action seems to have the lowest priority on our lists.
Don’t get me wrong, I think strategy and planning are super important (and fun). But. I also think we sometimes use strategy and planning as an excuse for not taking action. I think we hide behind that strategizing and planning because we are afraid. What if we start taking action and everything goes wrong? What if we fail?
Well, what if you succeed?
In today’s ever changing world there’s no time for extensive strategizing and planning. We need to act. We need to start before we’re ready. We need to launch in beta and improve as we go.
And you know what? It doesn’t matter if you fail sometime. Progress is so much more attractive than perfection.
Ready, set – GO!
Become known for what you haven’t done…yet
entrepreneur, inspiration, startupSome time ago, I was interview in the Swedish newspaper Metro about expectations and how to attract clients (or employers, or talent, or investors…) in today’s expectations economy.
We know from research at Stanford University and Harvard Business School that potential outshines experience when choosing whom to hire, what product or service we will buy or where to invest. It’s about kicking off the right expectations! That’s what makes people stand in endless lines to get the latest Apple product – even if they haven’t tried, or even seen, it.
The journalist interviewing me came up with the brilliant headline: ”Become known for what you haven’t done…yet.” Wow, talking about kicking off expectations! 🙂
How will you get known for what you haven’t done? Yet…
How to constantly reinvent without losing focus
entrepreneur, startupOk, you might have discovered by now that I’m a huge fan of experimenting, trying new things and to start before you are ready. Though, I sometimes hear a concern that this means you will lose focus – that your clients will be confused because your message is vague and not consistent. Therefore I take this opportunity to once and for all tell you my answer to that concern. It’s a small three letter word: W-H-Y.*
Why do you do what you do? What is your belief? What positive change would you like to make in the world? How will you leave the world a better place? What are your nonnegotiable values?
This is the core and essence of your business. This is consistent. This is what your experimentation and beta versions evolve around.
Actually, reinventing on a daily basis takes a huge amount of focus. Focus on improving and becoming more unique and more authentic.
Reinvent ”what” and reinvent ”how”. But if you find yourself constantly reinventing the why – consider changing business or career.
*Learn more about why-how-what in Simon Sinek’s brilliant TED talk.