If you had to describe your company’s culture in a single word, what would it be? Are you super flexible and casual? Are you collaborative and inclusive?

Software executive Richard Sheridan argues that one key quality is missing from too many workplaces today: joy.

As CEO of Menlo Innovations, an enterprise software company based in Michigan, Sheridan deliberately focuses on cultivating joy in his company. His 2018 book, Chief Joy Officer: How Great Leaders Elevate Human Energy and Eliminate Fear, offers guidance for how to create joy at work — and why it’s so important for innovation.

He explains the difference between joy and happiness and how to harness joy in service of a larger project. He also discusses how, as a leader, you can model joy for your team and why joy and a culture of fear are incompatible.

Key episode topics include: leadership, managing people, emotional intelligence.

HBR On Leadership curates the best case studies and conversations with the world’s top business and management experts, to help you unlock the best in those around you. New episodes every week.

· Listen to the original HBR IdeaCast episode: How One CEO Creates Joy at Work (2018)

· Find more episodes of HBR IdeaCast.

· Discover 100 years of Harvard Business Review articles, case studies, podcasts, and more at HBR.org.

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How to Cultivate Joy on Your Team

HBR On Leadership