The Chief Happiness Officer

The past few weeks have given us all plenty of reasons to be unhappy. None of us is without sadness over the devastating natural disasters in Burma and the earthquake in China. At the same time, so many nations and people are just plain angry about current events. The Arabs are mad because Israel is celebrating its 60th birthday. The U.N. is mad because the U.S. is delivering aid to Burma. Obama and many in the media and Democrat party are angry because Hillary will not give up the race for her party's nomination for president.

Regardless of the reason, being sad or mad is not the way to go to work everyday.

As business owners we set the tone of the workplace and we can make or break the attitude of those around us. And with all of the news making so many people sad or mad, it is harder than ever to stay upbeat and enthusiastic.

Anne Beiler, the founder of Auntie Anne's Pretzels, hired her replacement and promoted herself to the position of Chief Happiness Officer. She doesn't really call herself that but when I asked her how she spends her time now that she is no longer responsible for the day-to-day operations, she said that her job is to make sure everyone is happy.

Another owner of a very large small business told me the same thing. Cathie Jao of Bridgecreek, a property development and management company, told me that her main job is to ensure the happiness of others.

My friends who are psychotherapists would say that Anne and Cathie have set themselves up for failure because none of us can make another person happy. I think the reason these women are multi-millionaires is that they have succeeded at doing the impossible.

Partner Power

Our study of successful companies has taught us that founders who find the right partner find power. Without exception, partners tell us they never could have done what they have done alone. The thriving partnerships are like marriages. The partners admire and respect each other and defer to each other quickly, especially when someone wants to know about an area where the other partner is the expert.

Thriving partners know that the other guy is better at some things than he is. That's the whole point. You never want to be the partner of a guy who sees you as the sou chef. You want to partner with a person who knows you are better than he is at some things. You also want your partner to know that you know your own weaknesses so well that there is no way you could build a business alone.

In his book, The Illusions of Entrepreneurship, Scott Shane points out that the companies founded by more than one person have a greater chance at success than companies launched by an individual.

One of our favorite partnerships is Dave Young and Jodi Johnson who have built their business, Oberon, into a 500-person company in a few fast years! In past work together, they found out that their management styles and philosophies were almost identical. Marry that with complementary areas of expertise and profound trust and respect for the other, you have the makings of a powerful and extremely successful partnership.

The Internet Can Be Your Best Friend

Since 1994 we have been talking about the Web and the importance of it to every small business. We have preached the theory that we all need to be on the Web and allow our customers to deal with us the way they want to deal with us. This means you probably have customers who want to email you, some that want to call you and some that want to come see you in person. The trick is to spend enough money for Web functionality but not too much.

I want to suggest to you that there will be a day when you can truly go paperless.

In today's New York Times I read that the publishers of Computerworld, InfoWorld, PC World, Macworld and CIO are gradually moving away from printing on paper. This strategy has already increased their profits.

Many of the owners in our library have leveraged technology to increase profits. While you might guess that it is young men who are making these moves, learn how a woman owner who is over 90 years old today was an early adopter.