CHAPTER 2The Crossroads of Change
A lot has changed since my co‐founders and I started The Happiness Index in 2014. People starting a business are often told that it's really important to speak to their target market first. But it's not always that simple when trying to create a new market or category like happiness at work.
As Henry Ford famously said, “If I asked people what they wanted, they would have asked for faster horses.”
When we started a happiness business, we were not just trying to innovate an existing market; we were trying to build a new market and encourage organizations to take emotions at work seriously. Happiness was still regularly described as the “soft side of business” or as a “fluffy metric.” That’s how the Employee Engagement and Happiness Platform came about.
Our Employee Engagement and Happiness Platform measures the entire employee experience, from onboarding to the day an employee leaves the organization. Years on, with customers using this platform in over 100 countries, we recount these stories with fond memories. At the time, we doubted if we could convince people that happiness had a place in the boardroom.
The start of our journey wasn't an easy one….
Birthday Beginnings
In May 2014, we started The Happiness Index on my birthday (entrepreneurs are weird, I know) while sitting around a table with my daughter Izzy on my lap.
We were excited ...
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