Awesome Office: Lead. Create. Inspire

How to Maximize Joy in the Workplace, Pt. 2 - with Menlo Innovations' Richard Sheridan

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If you were to look at Richard Sheridan’s business card, you might be surprised by his official title:

“Chief Storyteller, Tour Guide and CEO.”

As we learn in the second part of our epic interview with the Joy Inc. author, storytelling is an essential part of his role at software developer Menlo Innovations - so much so that the company’s founder and chief executive leads daily tours and considers telling the Menlo story to be one of his most important roles.

The act of storytelling, Richard explains, helps hold himself and his team accountable, and reinforces the cultural values at the core of Menlo’s culture.

We talk in depth with Richard about how to tell better stories, why it's so important to do so, and many other topics, including why organizational change must first start with personal reflection, and why boomerang employees - employees who leave and come back - remain a huge missed opportunity for most companies.

Key Takeaways

  • Richard tells us why he had to first rethink his own role in the organization before he could start to think about organizational change.
  • Richard shares the insight that his eight year old daughter gave him regarding his own leadership style.
  • Richard explains why low attrition isn’t necessarily the sign of a good company culture, and how some of the worst cultures he’s seen are ones in which no one ever leaves.
  • Richard explains how boomerang employees can be a source of fresh ideas and innovation, and why so many companies miss out on them.
  • Richard describes the tours he gives at Menlo, and how this daily story telling benefits himself and his team.
  • Richard tells us why he believes the most important breakthroughs won’t be technological, but will be based on the expanding concept of what it means to be human.
  • Richard shares why the biggest people-oriented crisis facing businesses today is a crisis of human energy - and why this represents a huge opportunity for organizations.
  • Finally, Richard enters the ring and takes on…the Minute of Magic.

    • Links

    • Menlo Innovations
    • Richard on Twitter - @menloprez 
    • Richard on Instagram - @menloprez
    • Menlo Innovations on Twitter - @menloinnovation
    • Visit Menlo Innovations
    • Zingerman’s Deli

      • Recommended Reading

      • Joy Inc. by Richard Sheridan
      • The Fifth Discipline by Peter Senge
      • The Practice of Management by Peter Drucker
      • In Search of Excellence by Thomas Peters
      • Megatrends by John Naisbitt
      • Everybody Matters by Bob Chapman
      • Leadership and Self Deception by the Arbinger Institute

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        Awesome Office: Lead. Create. InspireBy Sean Spear