Shout Out Loud! Traits 8 & 9 - Joy & Spontaneity

Does your boss insist that you party?
Jack Welch does. Jack was my boss for five years in the late 1980's and early 1990's. Back in 2001, I interviewed Jack for the third time, who as Chairman and CEO of GE, had been my penultimate boss at CNBC. Here's one of the last sound bites from that interview, "Welch: I think business is a lot about spirit. When I think of spirit I think of energy, I think of excitement. I think of exciting others. I mean what's worse than a manager who sits around and manages people?! I mean this is all about exciting people and making it more fun.
DVM: "But the world used to think and some still do that formality is part of big business, it's what works."
JW: "Formality is the killer of business! Informality is what makes a company work, when everyone has voice, when the quality of an idea is not measured by the level in the organizational box, but only by the quality of the idea, this isn't just about first names stuff. This is about being able to try things, wing things. This is about being able to celebrate.
Companies have a tough time celebrating, I mean every little victory, I mean
- a ratings win at CNBC, get a keg, throw a party, do something! This is where you spend your life! Have a ball at it. Why would you want to come to a place as a stuffed shirt and hang around a corporation? It's dumb, unless you had a ball at it!"
Jack is not just pushing keggers, he's pushing spontaneous expressions of joy. He's articulating two of psychologist Abraham Maslow's traits of the healthiest psyches -- immediate and expressed happiness. Regarding spontaneity which is an under appreciated quality -- This is where young athletes with their leaping, hooting and hollering have it right. This is where children are superior to adults. This is where Julia Child with her great, loud "Oooooohs" and reactive squeals had it right. We're all so scheduled these days that we often have to postpone celebrating until we find time on our jam-packed calendars. To me, scheduling a celebration in the future for some bit of great news now nearly defeats the point. I believe and have been taught by happy people that exuberance is not only justified, it is fitting. Indeed, it coaxes more success. Good fortune requires recognition at the moment of awareness.
Spontaneity is a key ingredient of joy and joy is fundamental outgrowth of a life well lived.
Cheers from Sonoma,
Donald