post # 266 — Wednesday, December 20, 2006 — a Careers post

Happiness at Work

I received this email earlier today:

Dear David

I've taken the liberty of sending you this email and attaching a copy of my brand new book Happy Hour is 9 to 5 - How to Love You Job, Love Your Life and Kick Butt at Work as a pdf-file.

Now, if I was sitting there talking to you, the conversation might go something like this:

You:Thanks for your email Alex, but come clean here: It's obvious you're just trying to get me to mention your book on my blog.

Me: Weeeeelll... OK. I am.

You: Give me just one good reason why I should do that...

Me: I'll give you three good reasons:

1. Many workplaces are plagued by stress, burnout, bad management, conflicts, power games and disengagement. We must change this. We can change this. Happiness at work is enormously important for both employees and companies alike, and this is the first book specifically on this topic. It's also a great book - or so all my preview readers assure me.
2. The whole book can be read free at this link
3. - so this is not just about me making a buck. Well, that too - people can also buy the book on paper or on pdf.
4. It will make me really, really happy :-) .

You: Are you spamming thousands of people in this way?

Me: No, this goes out only to a few, carefully picked people who blog about themes relevant to happiness at work. I specifically picked you because your take on HR is very much about creating good workplaces. I've also cited one of your statistics in the book.

You: What's the book about anyway?

Me: The book is for employees and managers who want to love their jobs and create organizations that are inspiring, meaningful, energizing and fun. It's about taking work from crappy to happy. From drudgery to luxury. >From "shove it" to "love it". From... I'll stop here! I've been writing the book on my blog The Chief Happiness Officer over the past six months with the help of my readers. They've been giving me constant inspiration and feedback and even came up with the title for me!

You: Hmmm... Interesting. What would you like me to do?

Me: Here are some things you could do:

1. Mention the book on your blog.
2. Read the book and review it. You can read the attached pdf or I'll be happy to send you a free copy of the book.
3. Do an interview for your blog. You can email me some questions about happiness at work and I'll send some answers back right away.
4. Something else that I didn't think of that you think would be fun.
5. Any combination of the above.

Stay amazingly happy,

Alexander

The Chief Happiness Officer

So, I read the book instead of doing what I was supposed to be doing today. (Darn!) And you know what? It’s very, very good. I learned a lot. It's incredibly well written, full of insights, and there are exercises to improve your own happiness at work. You can't ask for more than that!

Thanks for sending it, Alex. (And my compliments on a brilliantly composed, irresistible email approach!)

Order your copy of David Maister’s new book, Strategy and the Fat Smoker today!