Work Happy: What Great Bosses Know

You're looking at my iPad -- and the leadership blog of Skip Prichard, which I read with quite a smile this morning.  Prichard is the CEO of Ingram Content, and has an abiding fascination with leadership and books.  His blog is beautiful to navigate and visually rich. It features his interviews with thought leaders and authors.  Prichard read an advance copy of "WORK HAPPY: WHAT GREAT BOSSES KNOW" and reached out to ask me some great questions about both the book and my leadership teaching. In his introduction to our Q & A, he writes: "I was thrilled to find so much excellent management advice packed into a single book. I didn't just read the book; I put it to immediate use."  Then he went on to ask ten great questions, about feedback, culture, communication, success stories -- and more.  He began with this question: "Why didn't you write this book much earlier in my career?  You could have saved me from making many mistakes.  What inspired you to write it?" Here's a link to the full interview on Skip Prichard's blog.  If you care about leadership and management, there's lots of content there for you to enjoy.

Today's the day it all comes together: in book stores, on Kindle, Nook, iBook -- "WORK HAPPY: WHAT GREAT BOSSES KNOW" is now a reality.  I checked back.  My first post on this site was back in February of 2011, as the book contract was being finalized. I've been recording each step in the process, intersperses with leadership advice.  Today, the birth process of the book is history -- but my gratitude to all who helped make it happen will go on forever.  I also plan to continue using this site to share leadership lessons -- and interesting stories that emerge now that "WORK HAPPY: WHAT GREAT BOSSES KNOW" is out in the world. For those who are seeing this site for the first time, look at the menu bar for all sorts of interesting ways to keep in touch.  Join in the Facebook page,  send me a question, share a photo of yourself with the book, or make contact with me about customized teaching for your organization or joining in on a program at the Poynter Institute.  Most of all, I want to help leaders at all levels bring happiness to work.

My husband Neil picked me up at the airport today, as I was coming home from teaching a leadership workshop in Mobile.  "Let's stop at Barnes and Noble on the way home," he suggested. Tomorrow is the officially release date for the book, but he thought it would be worthwhile to check the shelves today. When we arrived, he took his camera out of the trunk, so I suspected he knew something I didn't.  In fact, he had done a little advance scouting.  Sure enough, there in the "New Non-Fiction" area in business books, that bright, eye-catching cover, smiling right at us. It's been a wonderful journey, bringing this book to life.  Now, it can bring happiness to workplaces!   Feel free to contact me through the book's Facebook page if you'd like to share your thoughts or ask for advice.

What better way to spend the weekend before the official publication date of the book, than conducting a leadership workshop for some very bright young managers in the Raycom Media group.  Raycom believes in growing leaders from within the organization, and each year selects up-and-coming mid-level managers for specialized training. I've played a role in that program for several years running.  Being a manager is serious business, of course, but if you read my book, you'll see that I believe levity is a key value of leadership. As a surprise to the class, Raycom's news VP, Susana Schuler purchased early copies of the book from Amazon.com, and presented each one with a copy, which I then signed.  This photo was taken after they learned about the importance of feedback -- and my concept of "feedback glasses" (also in the book.) We took a few class pictures together, and needless to say, this one is my hands-down favorite.