"If you want to build a ship, don't drum up the people to gather wood, divide the work, and give orders. Instead, teach them to yearn for the vast and endless sea"
Antoine De Saint-Exupery, author of The Little Prince

I've long been a fan of Saint-Exupery, but it took Henry Stewart to spot that quote buried in among Netflix's rather long slideshare on its values. I've long been a fan of how Henry runs his business, too. He's the founder of Happy. Henry is the only person I know who set out to run a company along the lines outlined by Maverick author Ricardo Semler. And how successful have they been? Here are some of the awards they've won:

2009 Best in UK for Health & Well-Being
2009 World's Most Democratic Workplaces
2009 IT Training Company of the Year, Gold (Institute of IT Training)
2007 Best Workplaces (Financial Times): No. 2
2006 Most positive Impact on Society of any small business in UK (Business in the Community)
2003 Best Customer Service in UK (Management Today/Unisys Service Excellence UK Overall Winner)

Here's Henry's Happy@Work blog.

And here's Happy's website.

Labels: Henry Stewart, motivation, purpose, Ricardo Semler, Saint-Exupery