Try this to profoundly change your company culture

I have a practice around gratitude that I find to be so helpful.

It’s three simple steps: I write about something I’m grateful for, someone I’m grateful for, and this is the kicker — something about myself that I’m grateful for.

It was inspired by The Happiness Project from Harvard. A professor there shared a profound truth that stuck with me: the key to happiness is gratefulness. If you practice it, you’ll just be happier.

He pulled out his notebook and gave a quick example: “I’m really grateful for the amazing hamburger I had for lunch.”

It almost sounds silly, right? But what I love about this practice is how it attunes me to the bounty in my life. It develops a habit of noticing my good fortune, turning my attention and mindset to see all the great things around me, instead of focusing on what I don’t have.

And when I struggle — because we all do, at some point — this practice gives me the resilience to tackle my struggles with the confidence that I have what I need to overcome them.

A simple practice like this will make a profound impact on your personal life — and your company’s culture. Imagine starting your meeting with everyone sharing one thing — a person, a thing, or personal characteristic — they are grateful for. How would that change the tenor of your meeting?

One thing I know for sure is that it counters our culture of entitlement. “I deserve to have this.” Or, “I want that, but my company/manager won’t give it to me.” Sometimes these sentiments are valid — I don’t want to discount that. But imagine making such a statement from gratitude. It changes the tone, doesn’t it?

We work and feel best when we turn down the volume on station WIIFM (What’s In It For Me) and turn up the volume on gratefulness.

I’d love to hear from you: what’s one thing, one person, and one personal characteristic you’re grateful for? Hit reply and let me know!

For me today, the answers are:

I am grateful for rest areas on a long drive where I can stretch my legs and take a break.

I am grateful for my friends Todd and Cameron who helped me get my car unstuck.

What I appreciate about myself is that I make it comfortable for new people I meet to go deep with me quickly.

-Charlene

My Latest:

• My podcast launched! Have you listened to the first season of 10 episodes about “The New Rules of Disruption” yet!? You’ll hear the best of my research and writing distilled into 10 Rules for how leadership must transform. I hope you’ll check it out! Find it on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Amazon Music, Stitcher, or your favorite podcast player.

• What the heck is “convergence,” and why does it matter? 👀Find out in yesterday’s Livestream!

• Companies Leading Digital Transformation are Doing This (Are You?) Borrow these four stellar strategies!

• What do companies get wrong about customer-centricity? Join me live on LinkedIn on Tuesday, November 30th to find out!

Good Things:

• Good Reads: From Start-Up to Grown-Up by Alisa Cohn. This book reveals the knowledge and experience that Alisa has gained from her two decades coaching startups you’ve heard of (Etsy, Venmo, The Wirecutter, and more). A great read for anyone who wants to grow as a leader!

• Referral: This is a habit that my parent company Prophet does in our San Francisco office did before Covid and continue to do now: Every day at 3:00 PST we plank together for 2 minutes on a Zoom call. Yes, you read that correctly! If you wonder how to connect people from all locations, try planking. It’s funny, builds connection, and is healthy for the body. Teams that plank together, stay together. 😉

• Resource: I dread accounting and bookkeeping, and I’ve found a helpful hack for doing QuickBooks accounting for my family: on my phone while I’m waiting for my food or drink to be ready. It’s been so revolutionary! I just sit and categorize expenses with a click while waiting, and I think “life is good.”