The strategy improved both the quality of workers' lives and his company's bottom line, as evidenced by Taco Bell's 38 percent increase in profits that year.
Former New York Knicks coach Pat Riley learned a similar lesson about the relationship between fun and success. When Riley loosened up practices and the team started having fun again, they also started winning ballgames.
The urge to enjoy yourself is innate. When you make the effort to enjoy yourself at work, you're doing what comes easily and naturally. You're also increasing your chances of success. As a customer, you can tell when the people who serve you are enjoying themselves. Usually, it makes you want to do business with them again. At Southwest Airlines, keeping customers entertained is such an important part of flight attendants' duty that a sense of humor in now part of the job description. To test that trait, candidates are asked to describe their most embarrassing moment and how they got out of it with humor.
Flying Southwest from Houston to Chicago recently, I experienced that lighthearted touch firsthand. A flight attendant burst into an impromptu rendition of "Sweet Home, Chicago" as the plane touched down on the runway at Midway Airport. Her performance was followed by a startled moment of silence, then the passengers burst into a spontaneous round of applause. As we left the plane, everyone seemed to be more relaxed and happy for the experience.
Then there's Scott Alyn, the purpose-driven CEO of Something Extra, a Fort Collins, Colorado, a greeting card company. His stated business objective is "to bring lightheartedness into the world through my products."
Every aspect of his firm reflects that goal. Even the credit and collection department exudes a playful spirit. For example, instead of the usual stern invoice, customers with past-due accounts are sent a package of noodles with a card attached that reads, "Pasta Due" or "Please pay a uppa or we break a your noodle." Not surprisingly, the company has exceptional collection rates and is growing steadily.
When you delight your customers like that, you improve word-of-mouth and, in turn, your business's sales. You also improve your own state of mind, and make your co-workers and bosses happy, too.
Peter Lind, who heads up the research and development team for Ben & Jerry's in Waterbury, Vermont, also brings a playful spirit to his work. During factory tours, his laboratory is in full view. Rather than pretend he's working diligently every minute, Lind acknowledges tourists' presence by holding up a sign that says, "We're professionals. Don't try this at home."
What else would you expect from a former chef and actor who responded to a help-wanted ad that listed "playing with your food" as a prerequisite for the job? Bob Basso, the president of Light Management Associates, a motivational speaker in Hawaii and coauthor with Judi Klosek of This Job Should Be Fun! (1991, Holbrook, MA: Adams), believes that productive play is the key to success. This is especially true now, he says, when so many of us are expected to work harder, longer hours for the same money. Rather than let your performance slip because you're discouraged about diminishing incentives, you can enjoy your work and make it its own reward.
Herman Cain, the CEO of the Godfather Pizza chain, describes fun as the key to self-motivation. "Fun helps remove the barriers that allow people to motivate themselves," he says. Career consultants, however, often have trouble convincing the dissatisfied professionals they counsel to lighten up. Says Lawternatives' President Cheryl Heisler: "A lot of people can't get past the idea that you can have a 'real job' and still have fun working," says Heisler. "Unless they're bored out of their skulls, they think it isn't real work."
Howard Campbell agrees. As an independent outplacement consultant in Oak Park, Illinois, Campbell fights an uphill battle to convince clients that their first objective should be "finding somebody to pay you to do what you're good at and enjoy." Their second objective, says Campbell, is to "find an environment where you feel comfortable to be yourself." His views are usually greeted with skepticism.
"Yeah. Right. I should be so lucky," they tell him. But luck has little to do with it. Self-knowledge, a positive attitude and determination are the core requirements, not luck. Campbell knows of what he speaks. For 20 years, he worked at traditional corporate jobs for which he was ill-suited, including 11 years as a human resources manager with Packer International, a high-tech medical firm in Bellwood, Illinois. Yet he describes himself as "the world's worst administrator." Because he wasn't much interested in the paperwork end of his job, doing it competently required a lot of energy.
"If you don't enjoy your work, how can you expect to be good at it?" asks Campbell. Heisler agrees. Like Campbell, she spends a fair amount of time convincing clients that it's OK to get paid for having fun. In her experience, people usually succeed much faster when they enjoy their work because it comes more naturally to them.
The key, says Heisler, is to know what makes work fun for you. In other words, define the terms of your enjoyment. "Fun is unique to the individual," she says "Finding your niche is critical."
For her, nothing is more pleasing than when she receives an unexpected call from a television or radio producer to book her on a show, or when a reporter asks for advice for an article. While others eschew the limelight, she embraces it. Vocationally, it's an emotional high that gets her adrenaline pumping.
