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Jim McCarthy

Happy, high-performance teams!

Latest Innovation Secrets from California

Latest Innovation Secrets from California

Jim McCarthy leading workshop for the team at Tatari

I grew up in Omaha, but have lived in the San Francisco Bay Area since 1991. When I first arrived here, the biggest Silicon Valley companies were probably Hewlett-Packard, Intel, Oracle…and Apple Computer. Since then, something called “the Internet” has happened, and Bay Area companies (Yahoo, eBay, Google, LinkedIn, Facebook, Salesforce, Netflix, Uber, Airbnb…and Apple again!) have led those innovations, too.

But what makes Silicon Valley “innovative”? Here are a few articles which illustrate that California in general, and Silicon Valley in particular, continue to creatively push boundaries, in our endless quest for better, faster, cheaper — and happier.

Compassion as a key leadership skill
I remember when yoga was considered weird and funky. Heck, I remember when jogging was considered strange! So I should not be surprised that many people think meditation is silly — until everyone starts doing it, as a way to make their lives better. I’m delighted to see my alma mater being innovative by teaching the importance of mindfulness for leaders. Learn about “Chief Kindness Officers?”

My favorite place in the world
My wife and I recently did a personal retreat at the Esalen Institute, located in gorgeous Big Sur, California. I’ve done seven retreats there over the past decade, ranging in topics from ecstatic Brazilian dance to interpersonal relationships to meditation. All of them have been transformative for me. Some people say the entire “New Age” movement started there. Although it’s easy to laugh at Esalen’s previous nudist hippie setting, a lot of great thinking and breakthrough practices have been developed there, and are still taking place today. Read about “Where Silicon Valley Is Going to Get in Touch With Its Soul.”

Incredibly fierce competitors…thanks to mindfulness
Many people admire the amazing talent and athleticism of the NBA’s reigning champions. But it’s especially cool to see that one key to their success seems very Californian, as well! Learn how the Golden State Warriors are a lesson in mindfulness, empathy, and cooperation.

Innovations in building happy, peak performance teams
Recently Philip Inghelbrecht, CEO and Co-founder of Tatari, asked me to do a workshop as a team-building exercise for his organization. (Philip was a co-founder of Shazam, a wonderfully innovative media engagement app.)

Afterwards, Philip wrote “Jim’s workshop taught the Tatari team simple, practical ways to reduce our stress, increase our focus, and enjoy our lives more. This was a great use of our time, and highly impactful team building experience.”

Please contact me if you’d like to learn how I could bring any of my workshops to your organization.

Inspiration
“If you take care of the minutes, the years will take care of themselves.”
Tibetan Saying

Be well,

Jim

[ I sent this post as my regular email newsletter on January 25, 2018.]

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About Jim McCarthy

Jim McCarthy teaches people how to create their happiness. He is a thought-provoking TEDx speaker and #1 bestselling author of the book Live Each Day: A Surprisingly Simple Guide to Happiness. He has presented his innovative and highly acclaimed “Happiness Keynote” to organizations of all sizes across the U.S. and internationally.

His talks aren’t just inspirational. Audiences take away practical strategies, science-based insights, and daily action plans — because happiness is a skill you can develop. Jim is recognized for his unique perspective — as a Stanford MBA, internet pioneer, and person living with a cancer diagnosis.

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Testimonials

Joe Walowski
VP, Alexa at Amazon

Jim’s session turned out to be a high point of our 2-day event. The team deeply appreciated this focus on their well-being, and many folks commented to me on the power of Jim’s personal story. I’m very happy we did it and I would recommend it to others.

 
Heidi Roizen
Venture Partner at Draper Fisher Jurvetson

Jim's Happiness Workshop was a tremendous experience. I highly recommend to others that they do this!

 
Brian Rumao
Chief of Staff to the CEO, LinkedIn

Thoroughly enjoyed Jim McCarthy’s Happiness Workshop, which introduced new, thought-provoking lessons. Already find myself adopting several of the practices every day. Highly recommended to anyone looking for an impactful and self-reflective session.

 
Dave Zinman
Chief Executive Officer at Infolinks, Inc.

Jim is an amazing source of wisdom about sourcing, evaluating, hiring, training, motivating and mentoring teams. He built and ran two very high performance, valuable teams for me while we were at BlueLithium and Yahoo! together. I can’t recommend him strongly enough to companies looking to get more out of their employees.

 
Miriam Rivera
Former Trustee – Stanford University; Co-Founder Stanford Angels & Entrepreneurs

The work we did in Jim’s workshop was an unexpected joy. It helped me to feel renewed gratitude for the life I’ve been able to live and that I’m living now.

 
Associate Director and Ph.D.
Leading Pharmaceutical Company

“Jim’s Happiness Workshop not only taught us the many benefits of increasing our happiness levels, but he also shared simple, practical methods that we can use every day to achieve this goal. The feedback after the workshop was overwhelmingly positive, and I highly recommend Jim’s workshop for anyone looking for a transformational experience.”

 
Jorge Morgan
President and CEO, MMG Bank, Panama

Simple, yet powerful. It was the perfect closing for our Panama YPO presidential retreat.

 
More Testimonials

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