A few weeks ago I attended Dreamforce 2012 – 
a tradeshow run by the largest CRM SaaS provider: Salesforce.com. The event was informative and addressed rather big topics and changes in cloud computing and SaaS (software-as-a-service) applications. Speakers featured Tony Robbins, Jeff Immelt, General Colin Powell and Sir Richard Branson among others.
One particular session, Happiness at Work: Harness Your Emotions to Achieve Greater Results at Work, featured Chip Conley – founder of Joie de Vivre Hotels and the author of The New York Times best seller, “Emotional Equations”. It was self-help oriented but really struck me. Here’s my list of takeaways – I hope it inspires and motivates you:
- “Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.” – Viktor Frankl
- “We all aspire to self-actualization.” – Abraham Maslow
- Despair = Suffering – Meaning. The more meaning you have in life the less despair you will have
- Joy + Anticipation = Optimism
- Wheel of Emotions – Robert Plutchik
- Happiness = Wanting what you have / Having what you want
- He who is not contented with what he has would not be contented with what he would like to have. – Socrates
- Happiness = Practice Gratitude / Pursue Gratification
- Experiencing gratitude but not expressing it is like wrapping up a present but not giving it to the person
- You don’t have to pursue gratification all the time. It distracts from practicing gratitude
- Happy companies tend to be more successful companies
- Happiness fuels success more than success fuels happiness
- Anxiety = uncertainty x powerlessness
- Anxiety is contagious emotion and the most prevalent emotion in organizations
- Customers are not rational being. The products they buy are a representation of how they see themselves
- 95% of the average buying decision is sub-conscious, based on emotions, such as disappointment.
- Disappointment = Expectations – Reality