Do Happy Work
In the Do Happy Work Podcast, we explore how universal and natural concepts can be applied in leadership and transform the way we view and do work with one goal: To build happy businesses that express who we truly are.
Do Happy Work
If your job makes you miserable, it's a toxic relationship
Are you an intrapreneur? An intrapreneur is a person with an entrepreneurial spirit that works for a company whose values are aligned with theirs. You don't have to be a business owner to do happy, fulfilling work.
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Follow on Linkedin: Olivier Egli
For most of us, work is a sad affair. We are confused about it, disconnected from it, or simply over it. Fulfillment, lasting success, and a sense of purpose are rarely found. And yet we deserve them because happy work is not just a possibility, it is a right. Welcome to the Human Value Entrepreneurship Podcast, where we explore a new take on a better work reality and how we can all achieve it.
SPEAKER_00:What is intrapreneurship, Olivier?
SPEAKER_01:Well, that's an entrepreneur that works for someone else inside of another business that they don't own, but that is still heavily invested in the cause and the mission of that business. So not just a worker bee, not just, you know, um putting in the hours, but actually invested in elevating the value that that very business has promised to themselves but also to the world to provide.
SPEAKER_00:So it's incredible that you say that because uh when a a business owner, a leader is actually exercising human value entrepreneurship, they create this environment where entrepreneurs can come and not only support and be an ally for what they're creating, but also they themselves feel like they're moving forward, they're developing, they're progressing, they're growing.
SPEAKER_01:They have a stake.
SPEAKER_00:They're expanding their happiness.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, they they have a they have a stake. They're stakeholders. A sensitive topic is the transactional entrepreneurship culture, you know, kind of propagates shareholder shareholder principles and the human value entrepreneurship principle propagates stakeholder principles, which means like in a co-op. In a co-op, the idea is that everybody is engaged and bought into the very mission that the company stands for. In transactional businesses, everybody agrees to make money. Uh the company's top mission is to make money, close a deal. So everybody who works for a transactional company is invested into maximizing the gains and making more money for themselves as well. These are also entrepreneurships. It's just that they are transactional entrepreneurs, whereas human value entrepreneurs, they really work towards elevating a mission that serves emotional needs, which is what we define as transformational uh human value. And I I just see that a lot of people, you know, they have given up. They have given up that they could have that kind of ownership. Yeah. And when you don't have ownership in a company of what you do, you give away 40 to 50 hours of your life every week to someone else for something you don't care about. This has to stop.
SPEAKER_00:You're getting paid for your misery, you guys, when you're in that type of traditional transactional environment.
SPEAKER_01:Aaron Ross Powell And you get most of the times poorly paid to give away your life. Um the emotional value that your life has is diminished by transactional working attitudes. If you're a worker bee, you might be lucky enough not even to feel it.
SPEAKER_00:Because you just know you're just going about your day doing what you have to do, keeping your head down. But is that really a way to live?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. But if you're an entrepreneur, you're misled by this idea that you do this for yourself when really you do it for the machine and you do it for the wallet. That just leads nowhere, obviously, because it's emotionally disengaged.
SPEAKER_00:Aaron Powell What I find very interesting and I see it happen a lot is um there are these companies that will bring together all the teams, right? The create the the brand team, the sales team, and so forth, and they have these workshops, and you're suddenly feeling like, oh, maybe I am in an in a human value entrepreneurship environment, right? And the first thing But you're listening to me, my voice counts. Yeah. And the first day, the workshop is like inspirational and you're all motivated and like, wow, they really care about me. And then the next day, it's here are the numbers, here's the budget, this is what we gotta hit. We gotta go, go, go, go, go. You guys are a team, but you have to individually make these so that the team can make it. And no. And that's when you realize you're still in a traditional entrepreneurship. Oh my God.
SPEAKER_01:W were you there when that happened to me for years and years and years and years?
SPEAKER_00:I think we've all been there. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Wow. That sounds like everywhere we've ever worked. Oh yeah. You think you have buy uh you have buy-in, you're like you have a seat at the table, even being like middle or upper management. And then suddenly, because it doesn't serve the big objectives of the company, you actually don't. Um and even if you do, you only do as long as you support that transactional objective.
SPEAKER_00:Aaron Ross Powell And that's what's really sad, because there are companies out there that you assume, unfortunately you shouldn't assume, right? That they are about bringing value and you're so thrilled and you feel privileged to work there. I know. Hey, I was you know, I was there too where you're you're thinking you're making a huge difference. And then it's where intrapreneur dreams go to die.
SPEAKER_01:That is true. Can I just say something about making a difference? Because I really just wanna I just wanna clear up uh that confusion that we have sometimes that being a human value entrepreneur or intrapreneur means making a difference. Yes, but you're not there to make a difference. You're there because you believe in it, because this is you. This this reflects who you are. And by doing that, you will eventually make a difference. You know, because you know that whole idea of like, oh, I want a meaningful job where I can make a difference, and then all they do is put like, you know, slides and beanbags in the office and other things, like, oh look right, we're healing the world. No, you're not here to do that. Trevor Burrus, Jr.
SPEAKER_00:Ultimately we all want to feel like we're doing something to give back in a way. But I think we confuse that. We we forget that it's about the emotional shift, and we forget that it's about the transformation not only of ourselves, but what that can do to the other. What companies are doing that? Very, very few, unfortunately.
SPEAKER_01:Aaron Powell You know what? I dare to say more than we think. It's just that they don't have to hang it on, you know, uh what do you call that?
SPEAKER_00:Well they don't have to use it as their marketing, right? Because they're already doing themselves like handling business.
SPEAKER_01:Aaron Ross Powell Yeah. If you're really operating in a human value zone where all you people are stakeholders, where they have joy and fun in celebrating that and keeping it up, they will not use it as their marketing. You will never know. You will never hear. I'm convinced there are like millions of them out there and we have no idea. Or we know it a little bit when we stay at their hotels and when we eat their food or when we drive their cars. We feel that something's going on. You know, we just feel it by the people serve us or how the communication is going or how the brand delivery is happening. We just realize something is different. We don't dare to realize that it's different because top-down, bottom-up, left to right, all the way across that company, the idea why that company exists is being lived by everyone. Everybody has a stake. Everybody is an entrepreneur. And you can be at the bottom of the company, meaning that you maybe just started and still be as engaged and have as much stake in the operation as the CEO. Let's take the example of a hotel that uh embraces that. Whether you're the bellboy or the manager of the hotel, you understand what this place is standing for, how it's different in terms of the experience, the hospitality experience, and how it has to be delivered. And now you are as essential to that success as the guy at the very top or the woman at the very top. It does not matter. That is what entrepreneurs really represent. Because you know the people who come to us and say, like, yeah, well, but you know, I'm still like in a salary position, I can't really decide much, I can't really do much. That's not true. Do you even understand what that company is standing for? Have you ever tried to support that objective, to bring in ideas, to be creative about it? Have you ever tried to step forward and say, like, look, I understand what we're doing here, and this is my take. This is what we could do better. Or this is how we could shift processes towards serving our clients with their value better. Have you ever done that? No. If you just sit still and wait for the numbers and then just follow those numbers, you're not an entrepreneur. You are not supporting the cause, unless you're supporting the cause as a foot soldier that wants to rake in more money.
SPEAKER_00:Aaron Powell, which, if that's what you want to do and spend your hours every day just head down feeling numb.
SPEAKER_01:If it's all you know and if it's all you care about, and if it's good enough, as you say, and if the company you work for and you don't want to leave that company, then you remain in that toxic relationship. But that's your choice.
SPEAKER_00:Aaron Powell But if that hit you, then you know that you are in a toxic relationship.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:And that you have a choice. You don't need to be your own business owner, like a business owner. You don't need to be have your own company. You can align your values by first understanding who you are and what your own potential is, and align that with a company whose values resonate with you. And then wow, the amazing things you could do together.
SPEAKER_01:You just said it. You have to know yourself, and then you go, armed with your self-knowledge, you go to that interview, and then you lead the interview. You say, look, this is what I am about as a worker, you know, as an entrepreneur. This is this is what I stand for, and this is why I applied, because I saw this potential where we could engage in a relationship where I could become a stakeholder in your company. So you flip the table now, and now the company has to sell itself to you and say, like, this is why we would be a great container in which you could deploy your value and support what we're doing. Now you have ownership. Now you have ownership from day one.
SPEAKER_00:And how thrilled are you to know that that conversation is a possibility.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00:That makes you want to get up and go do your beautiful work every single day.
SPEAKER_01:Aaron Powell Yeah, exactly. Exactly. Now you want to go. And you know what? If you can have that, if you cannot have that and you have the freedom to look further, well then look further. Go. Because otherwise you engage in a toxic relationship and it's all your fault.
SPEAKER_00:Aaron Ross Powell And you know that just drenches every other relationship that you have. Because you get home and you just complain. Exactly. Or if you have kids, you're just tired. Why do that to yourself?
SPEAKER_01:Aaron Ross Powell Behind every miserable worker stands an entire ecosystem of people who suffer alone. All the family members and all the people that you engage with with your bad mood and your frustration. It's not their fault. So take that responsibility and turn yourself into a stakeholder. Stop working for objectives that don't suit you. Take up responsibility, take up the instrument, and move forward with it, whether you have your own business or you work for a business that is worthy of you.
SPEAKER_00:Thanks for listening. If you like what you heard and you want to continue on the path towards achieving your own happy work, make sure to subscribe so you can get notified of weekly episodes. You can also follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter by searching for at the Y Story.
