Page 259 - How Great Leaders Build Abundant Organizations That Win

WHAT DELIGHTS ME? (CIVILITY AND HAPPINESS)

Some possibilities:

• • Smile and laugh more.
• • Have your next team meeting with everyone sitting on
the floor.
• • Give everyone poker chips to reward one another for
going the extra mile.
• • Tell funny stories on yourself.
• • Give out prizes for the happiest desk or the most unflap-
pable response to an irate customer.
• • Use window crayons and markers to brainstorm or draw
solutions on the windows.
• • Wear costumes for Halloween and hand out candy.

Civility

Recently we spent a night at a posh private club in New York
City as guests of a friend. We giggled at the list of stuffy
rules: no flip-flops, no tennis shoes, only jackets and ties in
the lobby or dining areas, no talking on cell phones or using
computers in public spaces. But as we went to the breakfast
buffet all scrubbed and suited, we couldn’t help noting the
air of . . . well . . . civility and delight. We got into a conver-
sation with the waiter, an older man who talked and looked
like Rocky Balboa’s hard-nosed manager, who had worked
at the club for 15 years and loved it. “Why?” we wondered.
“Because the people here are just so nice.” As people who
prefer gym clothes over all other attire and would go barefoot
to the mall if we could, we are unlikely to buy a member-
ship at a private club with a formal dress code anytime soon.

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