Happiness and Humans: Recent Episodes
Matthew Phelan
My name is Matt Phelan and this podcast is for anyone who wants to positively shape the future of work.
We share research, data, evidence and the stories of people focused on making work more human.
BIO:
Co-Founder and Head of Global Happiness at one of the fastest growing tech companies in the world: The Happiness Index.
Author of Freedom To Be Happy
https://tinyurl.com/freedomtobehappy
Founder of the Happiness and Humans Community.
https://thehappinessindex.com/join-happiness-community/
https://uk.linkedin.com/in/matthewphelan
Matt sits down with Emma Woods, UK Group Head of HR at Rotala PLC to discuss:
What makes you happy?
How did you get into HR?
Any advice for anyone wanting to move sectors?
Can you go from being a bus driver to MD?
What are your tips for developing managers?
Can you be a nice HR person?
What is HR excellence?
How can HR and recruitment work better together?
How do you make a difference in HR?
What advice would you give to your younger self?
Matt is joined by Paul Spiers, Founder and Host of The New P&L, as they unpack why next gen leaders are looking for a new P&L and whether happiness belongs in P&L.
Matt sits down to chat to Jules Eustance, Founder of The Corporate Success Co. to discuss career development and leadership develop for retail and e-commerce. Delving into how to create illusive measurement andaccountability, this is not one to miss!
In this episode we see Kashi takeover once again, hosting a Q&A session on the release of 'The Happiness Index - Why Todays Emotions Equal Tomorrows Business Success'.
A live Q&A with audience participation, you'll find out how this book came to be and why it's such a useful tool.
Matt is joined by Founder of The World Happiness Summit, Karen Guggenheim to delve into the story behind the 3-day event that sees the world’s leading experts in the science of happiness and wellbeing gather to share practice and tools!
Minter Dial, Keynote Speaker, NED/Advisor, Award-winning Author, Expert @APM, Podcaster: Minter Dialogue & Joy of Padel sits down to discuss 'Values' in this final instalment of our Neuroscience series.
We develop our personal values through life, and especially in our younger years. They are our emotional guide that help us know what we want to experience in terms of human connection and concepts such as fairness. Sharing our sense of values is critical to sustaining team journeys where we are engaging with others who want to share the same emotional experiences as ourselves.
Rob Turner, Culture & Engagement Manager at BT talks all things Inspiration with Matt!
Inspiration is the inner sensation which motivates us to do something important, a state where we are prepared to engage with a significant challenge regardless of the difficulties it may present. When we are inspired, we have the potential to be our best and to summon all of our personal talent. Inspiration can be triggered by our external experience or by our own internal thoughts.
Matt sits down with John Fitzgerald, the Founder of Harmonics, Executive Coach to CEO's. Described by Clients as Passionate, authentic, highly impactful, insightful and innovative. They tackle the topic of Commitment!Commitment is a state of emotional attachment to a cause. It is something we feel as a sense of belonging and purpose which is personally meaningful to our own life journey. It is a state of emotional engagement where we identify with a wider human group or purpose. At its higher energetic level, it can be described as passion
Steve Bianchi Chief People Officer at ECARX, sits down to tackle the tough subject of Information Flow, in this final part to the Clarity theme trilogy.
People need to have access to the right information to enable them to do their jobs effectively. This needs to include primary information for task execution and supporting information to provide context. The contextual information offers room for more creative ideas as to how task responsibilities can evolve
Gemma Shambler Head Of People at The Happiness Index sits down with Matt Phelan to discuss the topic of Requirements/Resources within the theme of Clarity.
Each person needs to understand exactly what is expected of them in their role, an area classically explained in the job description and including key tasks and responsibilities. Importantly, such documents should be dynamic and evolve over time, keeping pace with the person’s learning and ability to contribute.
Fiona McDonnell International GM/ Board Advisor / Author /Speaker /VP Booking.com sits down with Matt Phelan to chat all things Clarity, specifically 'Organisational Impact'
People have the opportunity to contribute more widely when they can see the bigger organisational picture. Understanding how their own role fits into the wider process flow of the end-to-end business encourages cross-functional consideration and ideas, avoiding the missed opportunities of siloed thinking.
Dan Sodergren, Founder at AI Marketing Course, joins Matt today to delve into the world of 'Enablement', more specifically the topic of 'Collaboration'
Collaboration with other teams outside of the immediate job role context can open up opportunities for wider creative contribution and more effective teamwork across the organisation.
Sope Agbelusi joins us today! The Executive Coach & Founder of Mindsetshift chats to Matt about how to give your people the resources they need to thrive.
People need the right resources to be available to fulfil their responsibilities. This includes having access to the appropriate tools, systems and support services, as well as enablement through education and training.
Today's special guest is Azzy Aslam, Performance Habits Coach at Comentra! Here to chat to Matt about the Neuroscience theme of 'Enablement', specifically 'Workload'.
The level of workload and the degree of challenge within it needs to be sufficient to keep the person engaged but not overwhelmed.
Listen on to find out more!
This episode, we switch things up and Matt is being interviewed by THI Community and Events Exec, Kashi Chellen
Listen on for all the things you need to know about upcoming release of Matt's book 'The Happiness Index' and the book launch!
On this episode of Happiness&Humans we have the incredible Arlette Bentzen, Chief Happiness Officer at Arbejdsglæde nu, talking about 'Team Dynamics'!
The term line manager might sound like an outdated term these days but no matter how flat your internal org chart is, there will be some kind of power dynamic in play and these relationships will impact the happiness of your employees.
Matt sits down with Cathy Courtenay Certified RLT Coach at Conscious Relating Coaching, to discuss all things 'Personal Relationships'
There is a particular dynamic around teamwork that can give us a sense of community and collective bonding. Being able to connect with a team provides a vital social ingredient to our emotional needs and gives us the opportunity to feel that we belong.
Feeling energetically connected to our colleagues is that sense of just understanding each other. We are on the same wavelength and naturally click.
People and Happiness Assistant at The Happiness Index, Tony Latter, Co-founder & Chief Platform Officer at The Happiness Index & Clive Hyland, Head of Neuroscience at The Happiness Index & Founding Partner at Make Sense, sit down to chat about why energetic connections are so important in relationship building.
On the podcast today is Hannah Litt, Award Winning JEDI (Justice, Equity, Diversity & Inclusion)UK Top 100 Influential Muslims 2022, Head of EDIA & Resourcing Leader for Mindweaver.
Matt and Hannah chat about the Freedom sub-theme of Acceptance. This area is about being accepted for who we are. It means not being judged or experiencing prejudice because we are different from the perceived norm. Acceptance is a state where diversity is embraced and openness is the encouraged state of mind.
Matthew Knight Chief Freelance Officer and Independent Strategy Partner. Founder of Leapers and Manual of Me. YJ Freelancer of the Year. Mental health advocate.
Matthew joins us to discuss Autonomy, Freedom & Employee Happiness
The opportunity to operate with some autonomy strikes at the heart of the human experience. It gives us space to explore and grow, and to take ownership of our responsibilities, actions, and their consequences. It offers us the opportunity for deep personal meaning and learning.
Matthew Knight
Matt Phelan sits down with Jenn Lim, Co-Founder, CEO and Chief Happiness Officer at Delivering Happiness and author of best seller, "Beyond Happiness". Named 'World’s Top 50 in 2023 Keynote Speaker' by Real Leaders.
To discuss all things Authenticity. Authenticity in this context is a state of human expression, whilst Acceptance is the response we get. Being allowed to be authentic allows people to access their deepest talents and passions and enables them to offer their whole selves, rather than a diminished shadow shaped by judgement and prejudice.
Seeing our personal development and career development journeys translate into new job responsibilities is a great source of sustainable motivation. It provides the emotional reward that validates our efforts and keeps us on track. Taking ownership of increased or different responsibilities is a meaningful challenge that supports our sense of moving forward.Ben RainforthGott Director of People & Organisational Development discusses the association between career and personal progression with employee happiness.
To maintain a sense of momentum we need to feel appropriately challenged in our roles. The key is achieving the right balance. Feeling a little outside of our personal comfort zone is a good place for personal growth as we have to engage our wider potential to succeed. If this goes too far, we will retreat into survival mode, where we resist change and new demands.CHRO of the year and board advisor Njabulo Mashigo discusses the association between challenge and employee happiness.
We are designed to evolve and grow, whilst standing still results in stagnation and inflexibility. People therefore need opportunities to expand their experience and expose themselves to new learning. This helps us feel engaged. Experiencing novelty is an important element of keeping the brain alert.
Andrew MacAskill CCO at Fraser Dove International and LinkedIn change maker shares his expertise on personal Growth and Person development.
The Happiness Index internal culture team of HR pro Laura Page, Co-Founder and technologist Tony Latter and Head of Neuroscience Clive discuss the impact of work life balance This is another area that has hugely been impacted by the pandemic and the digital revolution. With everyone carrying a phone with more computing power than the first spaceship that carried humanity to the moon it can be hard to balance our work and our private lives.Work life harmony covers whether or not people feel that they are in a state of reasonable balance in terms of juggling their work and personal /family commitments and emotional needs. Excessive work pressure will cause difficulties in personal relationships and will limit people’s capacity to recover their energy.
HR expert Phil Burgess sits down with Matt Phelan to discuss how Trust and Safety are key drivers of Employee Happiness People need to feel trust to be able to commit themselves emotionally to an organisation. They need to feel trusted and be able to trust those they work with. Our sensory intelligence system constantly surveys our environment and is very sensitive to factors such as tension, suppression, dishonesty, and insincerity, all of which are inhibitors to human expression and contribution.
HR expert, entrepreneur and author Natasha Wallace sits down with our host Matt Phelan to discuss how to create a work environment that drives employee happiness.People need to feel that their physical working environment is safe, that it poses no danger either in terms of conditions or access. It also includes emotional safety, such as freedom from bullying, prejudice or psychological abuse.
Head of People Nadia Vatalidis sits down to share her wisdom with our host Matthew Phelan who is co-founder of The Happiness Index.
Nadia discusses her career in working in the fast pace tech world. Nadia shares insight from her career and her thoughts on building in public. This episode is wide ranging and covers a wide spectrum from inclusion through to advice on how best to support your people.
This episode is packed with new ideas and practical advice on how to build a thriving workplace culture for your people.
Matt Phelan author of Freedom to be Happy the Business case for Happiness and Karen Robinson sit down to discuss the importance of feedback on employee happiness.Karen is a senior business leader with 15 years exp. Karen is a mentor, coach and trainer. Karen gives her expert view on how to give and receive feedback.Regular feedback is a vital component of emotional sustainability and growth. Getting timely and relevant levels of feedback, delivered with appropriate skill and care, can be a critical personal development opportunity, helping people to keep on track on their own meaningful journey.
Happiness and Humans Host Matt Phelan Interviews Global head of Diversity and Inclusion and Belonging at ISS on the importance of employees feeling listened to.
When we express a thought or feeling it is important to us that our views are heard. This is a subtle, yet critical, experience that helps us understand our impact on the world. Not being listened to is a form of sensory deprivation that is emotionally destabilising and can make us feel unsure about who we are and whether we are important.
Our host and entrepreneur Matthew Phelan interview's employee recognition expert Simon Berry.Simon is one of the world's most respected and knowledgeable experts in both employee recognition and reward. Simon also helped design the Employee recognition impact Index that sits within The Happiness Index's Employee Engagement platform. Recognition informs us that we are doing things right, which in turn gives us a sense of emotional validation. This is not limited to more formalised recognition schemes and rewards, but is the much wider and richer tapestry of human to human acknowledgement expressed at an authentic interpersonal level.
Tech founders Matthew Phelan of The Happiness Index and Sultan Murad Saidov of Beamery sit down to discuss Sultan's journey from childhood to founding the UK's latest tech unicorn. Sultan Murad Saidov is Co-Founder and President of Beamery, the leading Talent Lifecycle Management Platform. Prior to Beamery, Sultan worked at Goldman Sachs. He studied Politics, Philosophy and Economics at the University of Oxford. Sultan is a frequent speaker on AI, the Future of Work, and Talent TransformationBeamery’s Talent Lifecycle Management platform allows enterprises to create more human experiences for all talent, and unlock the skills and potential of their global workforce. We help organizations identify and acquire top talent, move the needle on DE&I, close important skill gaps and retain top performers.Questions in this episode include; What makes you happy?Tell us about your childhood?What’s it like working with your brother? Why did you start Beamery?Can you talk us through what it’s like letting employees go from a company you founded?Any tips on how to offer employees a soft landing when making job cuts?Does becoming a tech unicorn change things?What’s been your proudest moment?What do you want to learn next?
With layoffs being announced across the globe Walter Peterscheck felt compelled to share his story of being let go twice in his career. This episode is designed to help both the individual being let go and the company in how to do this in a supportive way. Walter is motivated to help people being made redundant continue with their career and prosper.The last 3 years have been a tough struggle for many individuals and organisations alike. The financial strain has resulted in many layoffs being made and this episode is a learning opportunity for all of us. A huge shout to Walter for sharing his personal experience with the Happiness and Humans community.
Tim Lomas is a Research Affiliate at the Human Flourishing Program at Harvard University and the author of Translating Happiness- A Cross-Cultural Lexicon of Well-Being. His work has been featured in Time, the New Yorker, Vox, Scientific American, and the Atlantic. Tim discusses his new paper The Architecture of Happiness. Happiness is an increasingly prominent topic of interest across academia. However, relatively little attention has been paid to how it is created, especially not in a multidimensional sense. By ‘created’ we do not mean its influencing factors, for which there is extensive research, but how it actually forms in the person. The work that has been done in this arena tends to focus on physiological dynamics, which are certainly part of the puzzle. But they are not the whole picture, with psychological, phenomenological, and socio cultural processes also playing their part. As a result, this paper offers a multidimensional overview of scholarship on the ‘architecture’ of happiness, providing a stimulus for further work into this important topic.
Dr Hayley Lewis is on the HR Most Influential 2022. Hayley is a chartered psychologist, coach, University lecturer & Sketchnote doodler. Hayley describes herself as a pracademic making psychology accessible.
Matt and Hayley discuss Happiness, HR and modern Psychology in the word of work
Matt Phelan and guest Laura Campbell discuss health, neuroscience, gut microbiota, food & nutrition, mental health, alcohol, mood & sleep. Laura discusses her own health journey that covers serious subjects such as anorexia, diet and the importance of getting the right information and advice on subjects related to your own health. This is a wide ranging conversation covering many areas related to our wellbeing and happiness. The conversation also focuses on how companies can help their employees focus on their wellbeing.
Kashi Chellen takes over as Happiness and Humans host to interview Matt Phelan on his TedX Brighton talk. The talk is titled 12 Million Lessons in Happiness. Matt uses a concept called The Super Happiness Suit with in built emotional deflector field to discuss what has been learnt from data collected by The Happiness Index via their Employee Engagement and Happiness Platform. The talk covers learning from 1 million human beings from over 100 countries.
Matt Phelan and Amanda Henwood discuss Amanda's research into subjective Well-being Amanda's research focuses on exploring the links between well-being, cognition and behaviour. Amanda uses a mixed methodological approach, combining field and lab experiments, to investigate potential well-being related mechanisms underpinning people’s responses to online cognitive and behavioural interventions, with a focus on Cognitive Behavioural Therapy. To do this, Amanda draws upon insights from different disciplines including, psychology, computer science, human computer interaction and behavioural economics. Expertise Details Wellbeing; happiness; behaviour change; mental health; cognitive behavioural therapy; new technology
Matt Phelan from the Happiness Index an employee engagement and happiness platform sits down with Tracey Smith-Atkins, Robert Black & Alex Rowlands to discuss what it is like to work in a job where death is a daily part of the employee experience. We discover we can learn from this sector from the perspective of a CEO, HR professional and a Technology evangelist.
Bianca Cefalo of Space DOTS sits down with Matthew Phelan to discuss entrepreneurship, happiness and new space.
**Bianca discusses her career, organisational culture, her co-founders and what it is like to be an entrepreneur in the space industry.
BIO**
Space Scientist & EngineerDeveloping the next generation of telecommunications in space, and advocate for girls in STEM.
Melissa Thorpe is the inspirational Head of Spaceport Cornwall and sits down with the Co-Founder of the Happiness Index Matt Phelan.
Melissa discusses her career, her leadership tips, how kindness is an important part of success and also gives insight on how to start a career in the Space industry. Melissa discusses her twin passions of nature and space and how they plan to run a UK space port that supports the local Cornish community by being considerate to their neighbours in Cornwall and the wider planet.
This episode is packed with advice on how to rise to the top and still be a great human being by being an empathetic leader.
In this episode guest host Patrick Phelan who is a Happiness Index founding employee interviews Co-founder Matt Phelan on The Happiness Index's crowdfunding campaign on Seedrs. Pat asks Matt the following questions.
What makes you happy?
Why Seedrs?
Why fundraising?
What is crowdfunding?
How does it work?
Can people still get involved?
What does the future of THI look like?
This episode is perfect for anyone looking to become an investor or for people trying to understand how crowdfunding platforms like Seedrs and Crowdcube help businesses raise cash to fund their growth plans. Capital at risk.
You can find more details here on the campaign https://www.seedrs.com/the-happiness-index
Njabulo Mashigo Executive Director | International HR Executive | Non Executive Director of Vodacom part of the Vodafone family sits down with Matt Phelan to discuss everything from employee happiness through to how to build a successful career in HR. Matt Phelan the Co-Founder of The Happiness Index and host of the Happiness and Humans podcast asks Njabulo the following questions. What makes you happy? What is your number one career learning? What’s been your biggest mistake in your career? What tips do you have for someone starting a career in HR? How important is employee happiness to you?
Dan Sodergren shares his views on the future of work and his positive outlook on how we can all move towards a world where we love the work we do.
Lewis Wedlock is an Activist, academic & Social Psychologist.
As one of the UK's youngest lecturers, Lewis' work centers around exploring and challenging structures that limit expression. We discuss Lewis’s views on Toxic masculinity.
Creative Jason Lancaster discusses how reading the book Blink by Malcolm Gladwel changed the way he looked at the world forever. Following a chance visit to a remote Scottish Island Jason uprooted his London life and now lives full time among the sheep and crystal clean blue ocean. We discuss the impact of this move on his career, happiness and performance. This episode will make you stop and listen to your emotions. This is a story about the Isle of Tiree, this is a story about career happiness.
Matt Phelan Co-Founder and Co-CEO of the Happiness Index sits down with Ben RainforthGott
Ben is a Strategic Group HR Director. He has extensive international HR & business transformation through optimisation of agile, commercial, and adaptive HR functions, A strategic thinker & agile operator with substantial experience in all facets of Human Resource management and proven expertise in business change and transformation.
Ben is also hilarious and shares his wonderful story and life lessons with the Happiness and Humans audience. A must listen for all HR professionals.
Karen Robinson Founding Director of The Flockist sits down with Matt Phelan the Co-CEO and Co-Founder of The Happiness Index to discuss Karen's mission to rebrand leadership.
Karen will help you find your voice in the workplace and make a difference without compromising your values or falling over with stress.
In this episode of Happiness and Humans Matt asks Karen the following questions;
What makes you happy? Why does leadership need a rebrand? Who do you work with? Why is feedback important? How to give and receive feedback?
Leadership expert Steve Rush and Co-Founder of The Happiness Index Matt Phelan sit down to discuss Leadership. Steve helps people and teams explore new ways of working, new behaviours and processes through learning by unlocking their AH-HA moments. Matt asks Steve the following questions
What makes you happy? Do the fiance sector care about their employees? How did your Leadership podcast go so crazy? What is the The Leadership Cake? What is leadership? Is leadership nature or nurture?
Kate Druhan head of community and environment at the Green School Bali joins Matthew Phelan Co-Founder and Co-CEO The Happiness Index to discuss What is a Green School? Does the school consider the happiness of students important? Do you think nature has a role to play in happiness? What can the world of work learn from what you have learnt at the Green School so far? Green School's mission is a 'Community of learners making our world sustainable' and is so much more than a school - it is a community where all members - students, staff, parents, volunteers and the surrounding community - come to learn and engage in various social enterprises, such as Green School's innovation hub (makers space), Kembali (Green School's resource management centre) to help build and educate on sustainable solutions for the future. Green School's tailor-made campus includes beautiful wall-less bamboo classrooms, specifically designed to encourage play, creativity, collaboration and facilitate learning.
The Co-Founders of The Happiness Index Tony Latter, Chris Hyland and Matt Phelan sit down to review the year and discuss what could have gone better, what went well and their ambitions for 2022.
Adam Shaikh helps us unbox mental health and ethnicity. Adam helps draw the line between mental health and ethnicity and shows us why that is important from personal experience but also my macro data.
- Studies show Black, Asian and other ethnic minorities reported a 14% deterioration in their mental health from April 2017 to April 2020; for whites it was 6.5%
- The numbers are even more harrowing when you look deeper. A study from Mind shows that for every white person with schizophrenia, there are nearly three Asian and five Black people
- Covid-19 has exacerbated these issues. The death rate amongst people of colour in English hospitals has been 2.5 times higher than their white counterparts.
Adam says
"Stuck between a rock and a hard place you can feel culturally homeless, like an incomplete jigsaw puzzle. For me, the dysphoria of being half Indian, half Bengali, wholly British yet unilingual brought me to this juncture. For most of my life I have felt Asian amongst Brits and British amongst Asians, never truly fitting anywhere. I caveat this with the progress we have made around racial discrimination. Multicultural Britain has enabled me to lead a rich, vital and fulfilling life whilst being brown which is not something I take lightly. I am proud to be British and it’s from a place of patriotism I believe we can do better"
Andrew discusses his mission to End Career Based Misery. Andrew a career experts talks openly about getting fired and how it was the best thing that happened to him. Matt and Andrew discuss tips for your career and how you can become happy in your career and life. Andrew describes himself as a Father, Career Coach, Guinness lover, Business Advisor, Speaker, Author, Founder, Positivity Dispenser and Official LinkedIn Changemaker for Careers and Unemployment.
Matt Phelan and Fiona McDonnell sit down to discuss Fiona's new book 'Two Mirrors and a Cheetah: Think Differently, Own Your Career & Succeed by Being Yourself'. Two Mirrors and a Cheetah will help you to challenge the assumptions and choices that hold you back, and inspire you to find real career fulfilment just by being yourself. Providing insights, examples and simple exercises, this book will equip you to:
- Understand and showcase your unique capabilities
- Identify the contexts that help you to thrive
- Recognise and successfully navigate change
- Deal with challenges like the ‘bad’ manager, the job hunt and the promotion
- Define your own work-life rhythm
Matt Phelan from The Happiness Index and Emily Cummin from Untangle ( https://l.linklyhq.com/l/d6Z9 ) discuss how to support employees through times of bereavement. This discussion covers What typically happens after a loss? How can employers help? How to support managers who have some in their team who has a bereavement ? What can managers and leaders do to support people? What to do and say? Returning to work after a bereavement, incongruous feelings when a loved one dies and the importance of having a bereavement policy at work.
Chief People officer Steven Bianchi and Matt Phelan discuss the concept of HR Debt in high growth businesses. Steven explains the difference between scaling and growing. Steven also answers; Does money change culture? Can you build culture in a fast growth environment, how to deal with with Hyper growth, how to deal with resource dis-economies of scale as your team expands and how to deal with the challenges that hyper growth & funding can bring to the people team.
Matt and Sope discuss the power of learning and the importance of the people you consciously surround yourself with.
Entrepreneur Dominic McGregor at 21 co-founded the Manchester-based social media marketing agency Social Chain and helped grow it to a $200m turnover business with 750 staff in offices all around the world. Dom was one of the first people to hire a happiness manager to help support his growing business. Having floated Social Chain Dom has now exited the business to start the next stage of his career and he sits down with Matt Phelan to answer the following questions. What makes you happy Dom? How important is personal brand in business and can you lose yourself? How can we be aware of addictions like social media and alcohol? Is university still a good option for young people? How can people starting their career balance hard work and happiness? Please tell us about your new roles with a VC and advising the cabinet office?
Matt Phelan and Gabe Barrett sit down during Pride month to discuss Gabe's unique perspective on the world of work. Having transitioned Gender Gabe offers us all a unique perspective on subjects ranging from belonging to building teams. Gabe is a data expert and now works to help companies build teams in a Hybrid work world.
Matt asks Gabe the following questions
Tell us your story?
How do you support someone transitioning?
Is data scary?
How do you build a team?
What's next for Gabe Barrett?
Femi started his business journey as an 11 year old with the support of his amazing Mum Grace. Now at 15 Femi is a veteran of the tech world and we discuss everything from their mother and son partnership to building an inclusive culture. We talk about dealing with Tourettes Syndrome to training school children to code.
I ask Femi and Grace the following questions
What makes you happy?
How do you work as a double team?
What can employers do to attract talent like Femi?
Matt Phelan and Emily Franklin discuss Employee Voice and the importance of listening to your people. Matt asks Emily the following questions What makes you happy?
Why did you get involved in the people space?
Why do you share stories on your blog?
What is employee voice Not?
What is Employee voice? Why employee voice important?
This episode discusses emotions at work and why they are so important. What are emotions? Why is being emotional associated with being unprofessional? How do you engage with emotions effectively? Should we talk about emotions at work?
Matt Phelan interviews UX expert Leslie Fountain on everything from design, leadership,UX, motivation and designing for human life.
Guest host Susan Furber interviews Clive Hyland on his new book The Quantum Way. Clive's book explores the Science Behind Happiness and Workplace Engagement.
What makes you happy? How does this book link to Freedom To Be Happy Why did you write The Quantum Way? What is in The Quantum Way? What are your influences? If someone has your read book and become inspired what is the next step?
Susan asks Clive the following questions
What makes you happy? How does this book link to Freedom To Be Happy Why did you write The Quantum Way? What is in The Quantum Way? What are your influences? If someone has your read book and become inspired what is the next step?
Editor of Freedom to Be Happy Susan Furber guest hosts this podcast to interview Matt Phelan on his best selling debut book Freedom to Be Happy: The Business Case for Happiness. Questions include What makes you happy? Talk to me about the process of writing a book? Why did you write Freedom to be Happy? What is in Freedom to Be Happy? What are your influences? What does the future look like?
Product manager Dylan Sellberg discusses the Human side of building tech. I invited Dylan on after reading his tweet
"My favorite part about building product is that I can be told my work is "unstoppably great" and "the 667th layer of hell" in the same day". I ask Dylan what makes you happy?
what is a product manager?
take us through the humans side if building great product?
Sope Agbelusi and Matt Phelan discuss the Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities report. Matt asks Sope the following questions. What is the report? What are your views on the report? Why has it been so widely criticised? Was there anything useful in the report? How can we learn from this?
I ask Gethin Nadin the following questions about the recent COVID-19 Recovery & Employee Mental Health by Engage For Success
Who are Engage for Success? Why is this COVID-19 Recovery & Employee Mental Health report important and why now? What's in it? What most surprised you in the report? What are you key take away? Where can we find the report ?
“As we enter the second year of the pandemic, we should be thinking about how we can support employees in the long term. We are no longer reacting to a quick change in circumstances, so more robust, evidence-based initiatives are needed if we are going to offer real support.” – Gethin Nadin, Chair of EFS’ Wellbeing TAG.
CEO of Longhurst group discusses the key role carers play on the world of work. How we need to support them and Harry’s pledge. This deeply personal episode has been recorded to help change the way employers think about their employees potential caring commitments. 1 in 7 of us will need to balance caring for a family member and work throughout our careers. I ask Julie What makes you happy?
Tell us about your career path to becoming a CEO?
What does "Improving lives mean" on a day to day?"
What is Harry's pledge?
Why Harry's pledge?
How can our listeners help?
I ask employer brand expert Alex Ayin the following questions. What makes you happy ? What is employer branding? Why is employer brand important? Is personal branding important for your career?
We discuss the concept of followership and how it is important understand it in the modern world. This episode gives practical advice on how to escape toxic relationships at home and at work. Carolyn offers advice to those working as HR professionals.
Charisse Fontes is a visionary, founder, author, educator, and speaker that brings the message of high-vibration and humanity to the work she does. Her work has been focused on creating healthy and inclusive workplace cultures by bringing humanity in the workplace. Humanity Power™ was birthed out of a much-needed workshop called 'How To Become A Racist', where Charisse took attendees on a journey from Birth-to-Racism while debunking common myths about racism. Charisse answers the following questions What make you happy? What is one thing you find yourself repeating the most? Is there anything you don't like to talk about? At the end of the day, what matters the most?
Following William's 1990 paper "Psychological conditions of personal engagement and disengagement at work" an entire industry was created called Employee Engagement.
William discussed how he believes his version of personal engagement is violently different to employee engagement and has been co-opted by the corproate world.
I ask Bill the following quesitons
1) WHat makes you happy?
2) Did you invent Employee engagement?
3) Can you talk to us about your work on psychological safety?
4) WHat advice do you have for a CEO running a business in 2021?
5) WHat advice would have for a 21 year old Bill starting out now?
Gemma Shambler and Jackie Dyal discuss the Quantum Way. A new way of working that replaces the old command and control structures that are failing in the modern world of business. I ask Gemma and Jackie answer the following questions. What is the Quantum WAY? Why the Quantum Way? What are the Quantum 9?
What have been the biggest challenges? What is a Quantum board? What advice do you have for others trying to implement the quantum way?
Head Coach of England U17s Football team Justin Cochrane shares stories from his coaching career. Justin answers the following questions; What makes you happy? Are the next generation of footballers really different or do we just forget what it's like to be a teenager? What have you learnt from coaching human beings? What is flat pack coaching? What has been the biggest challenge in your career? How do you keep evolving and learning yourself?
Hayley discussed the surprising links between Happiness and Movement. I ask Hayley the following questions; Please tell us about your career? Why do you believe movement is important for happiness? If everyone is busy all the time how can they make time for movement? What's the ROI of movement? What's the opportunity cost of not moving?
I discuss HR, Employee Experience, Quantum Computing, Happiness, Faith, AI & Terminator 2 with Andi Britt of IBM. Is it possible to have a thriving culture in a large company? What does good employee exp feel like? How can AI and Humans work together? how are HR leaders writing the rules of work in a pandemic? WHat will work look like after the pandemic?
in 2014 my sister Marie Phelan was diagnosed with ME/CFS. It was negatively impacting her career and life. We then discovered the lightening process invented by Dr. Phil Parker My sister is now back to herself and is thriving in her career and life. Here is the story of Dr Phil and the lightning process. This is a story about the power of the mind and it's impact on the body.
What makes you happy? What is the connection between visual art and happiness How does being visually impaired impact happiness? What is the most surprising thing you have ever found in your happiness research? Why are you looking into the science of music and happiness?
Minter Dial discusses his new book You Lead.
Your biggest asset in leadership is you. How can you expect people to trust and believe in you, if you aren't truthful and don't embrace your whole self at work?
There is a need for a new kind of leadership; one that bleeds personality and rings true to employees and customers alike who crave authenticity. You Lead argues that business leaders deliver superior results, communities of engagement both inside and outside of the company and true values-driven success when they are themselves and come across as genuine.
What makes you happy? What are the origins of employee engagement? In Emotions and Identity please tell us about the role of relationships and friendships within the workplace and engagement specifically? What’s the most surprising thing you have found in your emotions research? What’s the latest research in emotions? If you were building a business case for happiness what would you include?
1) Lara what makes you happy? 2) Can you tell us about your research on giving and happiness? 3) What is the World Happiness Report? 4) Emotions are your thing? 5) What is the Broaden and build theory of emotions? 6) What’s your view on Emotion as a data point? 7) In your opinion what is the most significant data in the world happiness report? 8) What was your biggest surprise in the data when you were editing the World happiness report? 9) If a listener is trying to build a business case for happiness what is the one bit of evidence you would recommend citing?
What makes you happy? Does playing in the dirt really make you happy? How does bacteria in the soil make you happy? Diversity as an eco system ? What practical tips do you have about about food diversity? Can an office dog make you healthy? How can we use soil research at work?
WHat makes you happy? WHat is happiness? WHat is Hygge? Are there global differences in happiness for example the South Korea example you mentioned? Please tell us about your happiness museum?
What makes you happy Serene? As an MD in China what was your approach to leading people? Do you think being a leader in China needs to be different to other countries in the world? As a regional director across APAC have you had to adapt your style from your style in China? In your opinion why are Singapore and China leading the way in female entrepreneurship? What is your one tip for leading people?
What makes you happy? What was it like joining The Happiness Index in the early days? What does Freedom To Be Human mean to you? What’s your favourite customer nugget? What’s the future looking like for The Happiness Index?
What makes you happy? Are happiness and wellbeing the same idea? What makes you focus on one or the other? How do you judge or know whether people are experiencing wellbeing or not? What is distinct about your research on wellbeing/ happiness? What is the most surprising thing you have found in your research?
what makes you happy? Please tell us about what research studies you have conducted into human happiness? Why do you think employee happiness is important? Please tell us about your latest research into employee happiness? What is the most surprising thing you have found in your research? If a listener is trying to build a business case for happiness what is the one bit of evidence you would recommend citing?
What makes you happy Tabitha? What is Biophilia? Is there a link between nature and happiness? Is there a link between biophilia and organisational culture? How can we build a society that reconnects with nature?
1) What makes you happy John? 2) Does the happiness of CEOs matter? 3) Is happiness important to your career? 4) Do you see a link between happiness and company performance?
1) What makes you happy Louise?
2) Is the pursuit of happiness a legal right to American citizens?
3) What do you think of the recent legal case in France where an employee successfully sued their employer over boredom? 4) In the UK What is implied duty of mutual trust and confidence? 5)How and why are B corps amending their article of associations? 6)WHat is the mindful business charter? 7)Do you think happiness could become a legal right? 8)Should we create a happiness charter?
25 % of this episode is in Spanish (translation is included)1)What is happiness? 2 How important is Happiness to employees in Chile? 3)Have you observed any big differences in the way people work across Latin America? 4)Do you have any interesting data on happiness at work from Latin America? 5) What do companies need to do to be successful in the future?
What Makes you happy? Matt how did you build V1 of the happiness index? Tony, how did you start the happiness index as a company? Matt, can tech really make companies more human? Tony, what have you learnt from taking The happiness index globally? Matt S what’s been your biggest global tech challenge? Tony what is next for The Happiness Index?
What makes you happy Gemma and Chris? Chris how was the happiness index concept born? Gemma how did you use the data from v1 of the happiness index? Chris why did the happiness index become a company? Gemma how has your understanding of happiness evolved? Chris In your day to day role how is customer happiness used? Gemma what is the future of happiness?
What makes you happy Brandon? What’s your view on the link between employee and customer happiness? Why are global brands using happiness in their marketing? What brands are using happiness well?
What makes you happy? Please tell us about the study and the key findings? Why did you want to investigate this subject? What most surprised you in the study? Will you be following up the study?
What makes you happy Margot? Is Ireland a happy country? Margot please tell us about the Irish governments approach to anti racism? Is happiness and LGBT progress linked? What do boards need to focus on to progress D&I within their own organisations?
What makes you happy Kevin? What is Ikigai? Why is D&I important to you? What does “diversity wins” mean? Are D&I and happiness linked? How do you build a happy and inclusive culture?
- What makes you happy Nicola ?
- In your opinion why is the happiness of employees important?
- Is happiness important in storytelling?
- Can a company balance making tough decisions and employee happiness?
- What’s does the future of employee experience look like?
- Why do you think curiosity is important in business?
What makes you happy Gethin? Are wellbeing and happiness linked? Can money make you happy? Do you think their is a link between happiness and company performance?
What makes you happy? You often discuss the link between happiness and performance, what have you found? What are the 3 reasons for Danish high wellbeing scores and how workplaces can become six times more productive and eleven times more innovative? What can the education sector learn about happiness?
1) What makes you happy Jenn? 2) Why do you believe happiness is important for organisations? 3) Are American employees happy? 4) Do you have any good examples where companies have used happiness successfully in their business? 5) If a company wants to take happiness seriously what are your top tips?
What makes you happy Clive? What can Neuroscience teach us about happiness? What can Neuroscience teach us about employee engagement? What can Neuroscience teach us about the link between happiness and performance?
Norris discusses happiness, music, community, hope, Ibiza, leadership, energy, flow and rhythm.
What makes you happy Arlette?
Are the Danes really happier than other countries?
Can you explain ARBEJDSGLÆDE?
Why do you work in happiness?
What does a chief happiness officer in Denmark do?
What evidence / data have you seen that shows the link between happiness and performance?
What makes you happy Raj? Is happiness important in a covid19 era? Please tell us about your work on employee happiness in India? Do you think the happiness of employees in India is unique to the country or are their local differences? How can a CEO put happiness in the board room?
What makes you happy Henry? Do you have rough days? Why is employee happiness important? Is there a link between employee and customer happiness? Do you think there is a link between happiness and company performance?
What is conscious leadership? Do you think the happiness of HR professionals is important? Has HR changed much in your career? How can understanding human behaviour help HR? Is happiness important in conscious leadership?
28 years of data and found that firms with high employee satisfaction outperform their peers by 2.3% to 3.8% per year in long-run stock returns – 89% to 184% cumulative – even after controlling for other factors that drive returns. Moreover, the results suggest that it’s employee satisfaction that causes good performance, rather than good performance allowing a firm to invest in employee satisfaction. Alex answers the following questions; What makes you happy? Please tell us about your research Alex into workplace happiness? Why did you write Grow the Pie? How can HR and Finance work better at board level?
Entrepreneur Louisa Pau discusses the importance of the company board understanding happiness. Questions that Louisa answers in this episode are; What makes you happy Louisa? Is happiness important in the business world? Is happiness in the boardroom important? How can a CEO put happiness into the board room?
Marina and Matt review the evolution of the workplace from the founding of Google, the .com boom, the 2008 financial crisis, the current Covid pandemic and discuss what work could look like in 2030.
Published author, business expert & keynote speaker Minter Dial shares with us why he thinks meaningfulness and empathy are an important part of business and human success. If you enjoy Minter’s take on the world find out more about leadership, brand strategy, and transformation at minterdial.com
Ashley discusses being an entrepreneur through the .com bust, 2008 financial crisis and now the coronavirus virus. We talk about what it’s like to be an entrepreneur the 2nd time round, his new startup Guild and what it’s like to receive a legally threatening letter from Google.
In this extremely wide ranging episode Shereen and Matt touch on many aspects of company culture. They go very deep into subjects such as surviving Cancer at work, diversity, inclusion, building culture, 80 pop sensation Jason Donovan and what a modern business culture could look like.
Sarah discusses changing career, going back to university, balancing life and her HR career in the civil service. She talks about impact and the importance of her work on others and how that drives her career.
Katie Jacobs discusses her career, culture, people measurement and being a HR commentator. Katie covers her career as a journalist, what’s she’s learnt from meeting and interviewing HR Directors from FTSE 100 companies, her opinions on culture, & Employee Engagement.
Phil discusses selling encyclopedias door to door, toxic work cultures, sociopaths, the service profit chain and making business more human.
Clive grew up in a working class family in Wales where his family instilled in him the importance of hard work. Clive discusses how he turned his interest in human behaviour into his current career in neuroscience. Clive is an advisor, shareholder and head of Neuroscience at The Happiness Index.
Pat Fahy discusses growing up in care, his creative career, entrepreneurship, suicide at work and the business world. Pat gives advice to others in their career and also talks about his career low, highest career moment and what he has learnt. We discuss company culture and how important it is to build a thriving culture at work.
Nadine Furlong has worked on shows such as Made in Chelsea, Big Brother and I’m a Celebrity. She discusses the culture of working in TV, casting and the importance of storytelling. We talk about how she uses her skills of storytelling and casting to help companies tell their story via their employees.
Robyn discusses her early career vision, her mother's passion, and her thoughts behind company culture, data and brand. We talk about the companies she has worked for such as Vivienne Westwood, Selfridges and Marks and Spencer. Robyn also discusses how leaders such as Vivienne Westwood and Jeremy Jauncey shape the culture of where you work. This is a great podcast for anyone who has ever been underestimated in their career or for someone who is just starting out.
Matt Phelan interviews Isobel during mental health awareness week on growing up in London, her career in wellbeing, performance at work and advice on how to be a great human.
We cover subjects including marketing, HR, Big data, the future of work and career advice from Brandon. Brandon discusses the big challenges in his life and gives advice to others facing tough times in their career. We also discuss the different work cultures in different companies.
Gareth discusses growing up in Belfast during the troubles, human centred design and his career advice. Gareth runs and owns one of the world’s leading UX companies.
Matt and Jana discuss Jana’s Arkeo story. Subjects include mental health, mental fitness, tech startup, bi-polar, investment, and what companies can do to help mental health and mental fitness.
Oren and Matt spend Valentines morning discussing marketing, advice for people starting their career, interview tips, the importance of company culture, happiness, sport, homophobia, anti semitism, entrepreneurship, finding love at work. Oren shares some amazing insights that I we hope will help your career. Oren Bowman on his marketing career from Chelsea FC to Saracens Rugby club.