James Lawrence on Creating Happy Leadership

Intentional Performers

James Lawrence is a serial entrepreneur with a passion for cultivating great workplaces and empowering people. You will be able to tell right off the jump that James is extremely passionate about developing people in the workforce and doing so with intentional leadership. With more than 25 years of being a CEO and founder, James loves to share his insights, not just on leadership, but also on organizational culture and the intersection of technology and the workplace. His mission is to help people love their work and get connected with their teams, because in his words, when people work better, we all win together. He’s the founder of a company called “Happy,” which is dedicated to empowering people and improving how every team works together. He is someone who is passionate about the power of technology to change how we operate, how we develop people, and ultimately, how we perform. So, this conversation dives into what currently he’s doing at “Happy,” but also backs up to some of his journey and what he’s intentionally done to better himself so that he ultimately can serve others as well.

James had a number of amazing insights during our conversation. Some of them include:

“When you have a really high performing organization, that starts with intentionality” (4:55).

“If you’re trying to lead people, that’s an entire skill that you have to develop” (5:40).

“I’ve made every mistake in the book as a leader” (7:15).

“It takes time to become a leader” (7:15).

“You can be very skilled at knowing how to do things and not be very good at teaching them” (7:50).

“People that actually tell you the current state and are willing to be honest even when it hurts, those are people you want in your corner” (10:35).

“Being a good listener is a really important part of being a leader” (11:20).

“Listening and discarding something is totally different from not listening” (11:40).

“Today, I think true leadership is about making sure that I fully heard someone, that I fully processed everything, and then for me at least it’s now just making sure I build enough time in there to when I do talk to them, I’ve gotten the chance to really think through with some intention what my response is” (16:00).

“Entrepreneurship comes in a lot of flavors” (17:45).

“The manager-employee relationship is the number one driving force in an organization” (24:05).

“We believe in full transparency” (28:00).

“We’re just at the beginning of being able to maximize humans’ happiness” (32:40).

“I love the word happy” (36:50).

“[Happy’s mission] is to make the world at work better” (37:20).

“Happiness is a complex thing… but I like it as a north star” (39:00).

“Your hiring process is incredibly important” (40:00).

“You better be really discerning with who you let in the building” (41:50).

“You’re effective when you combine motivation, capability, and experience” (42:45).

“You have to develop a lot of patience to be a good parent” (46:00).

“I like challenges and I don’t think about risk in the way that some others might” (57:40).

“I have always liked challenges; I like pushing myself” (59:10).

“All we have is time, so where do we want to spend our time?” (59:50).

“I love building things. I’ve always been a builder and that’s where I thrive” (1:02:30).

Additionally, you can find everything about “Happy” here and connect with James on LinkedIn as well.

Thank you so much to James for coming on the podcast!

I wrote a book called “Shift Your Mind” that was released in October of 2020, and you can order it on Amazon and Barnes and Noble. Additionally, I have launched a company called Strong Skills, and I encourage you to check out our new website https://www.strongskills.co/. If you liked this episode and/or any others, please follow me on Twitter: @brianlevenson or Instagram: @Intentional_Performers.

Thanks for listening.