Happiness@Work Live!

Line-up for 2024:

Garry Ridge

Garry Ridge is the former Chairman and CEO of WD-40, a global company he led for more than 25 years. During his tenure, he transformed the company's culture into one of the most engaging and high-performing in the world, with an employee engagement rate of 93%. Under his leadership, the company's market capitalization quadrupled (to $2.5 billion) and profits grew significantly.

Ridge is known for his innovative approach to leadership, emphasizing continuous learning, servant leadership and employee empowerment. He is also a professor at the University of San Diego, where he teaches corporate culture principles and practices.

The co-author of several books, including "Helping People Win at Work" with Ken Blanchard, Garry Ridge has been recognized in rankings of the world's best CEOs by publications such as Inc. Magazine.
 

Sonja Lyubomirsky

Sonja Lyubomirsky (AB Harvard, summa cum laude; PhD Stanford) is a distinguished professor of psychology at the University of California, Riverside and the author of the bestselling books "The How of Happiness" and "The Myths of Happiness" (published in 39 countries).

Her research focuses on the potential for sustained increases in happiness through interventions in gratitude, kindness, and connectedness, and has received numerous grants and awards, including Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), an honorary doctorate from the University of Basel, the Diener Award for Outstanding Midcareer Contributions in Personality Psychology, the Christopher Peterson Gold Medal, the Positive Psychology Prize, and two Faculty of the Year Awards.

She lives in Santa Monica, California with his family.

Jurgen Appelo

Jurgen Appelo is an author, speaker and entrepreneur who helps innovative organizations survive and thrive in the 21st century. He shares stories, games, tools and practices so you can create networked organizations yourself. Most importantly, he offers the unFIX model for organization design, continuous innovation, and a better "human experience."

Jurgen describes himself as a creative networker. But sometimes he is also a writer, speaker, coach, entrepreneur, designer, manager, blogger, reader, dreamer, runner, freelancer or... Dutch. Inc.com ranked him among the Top 50 leadership experts and Top 100 speakers on leadership.

Since 2008, he has written a popular blog on NOOP.NL with thoughts on agile management and organizational change. He is the author of the bestselling "Management 3.0," which describes the role of the manager in agile organizations; "How to Change the World," which presents a supermodel for change management; "Managing for Happiness," which offers practical ideas for engaging employees, improving work, and delighting clients; and "Startup, Scaleup, Screwup," which addresses the major issues that entrepreneurs and business leaders encounter throughout the company lifecycle. The fifth book he is working on will be "Glitches of Gods," a science fiction novel.

Jurgen is CEO of The unFIX Company and co-founder of the Agile Lean Europe network.

Josef Dvořáček

Josef Dvořáček is the co-owner and director of SONNENTOR, which today is a major processor of herbs, teas and spices from organic farming. He and his team have been pioneering healthy organic food for over 30 years, developing local cooperation with local organic farmers and have managed to build one of the most sustainable companies in the Czech Republic.

If you visit their SONNENTOR Herb Paradise visitor centre in Čejkovice in South Moravia, you will be a huge inspiration in organic business and you will definitely be impressed by their original company culture.

Eliška Remešová

Psychologist and psychotherapist. Everything she does is aimed at improving mental and social health in the Czech Republic. She founded the Mezilidmi Institute, a psychotherapeutic and educational centre. In private practice she works with both individuals and couples. In companies she helps to strengthen psychological safety, workplace relationships, emotional resilience and personal wellbeing.

She has been a trainer for over fourteen years in a number of companies that are leaders in their fields. Key Note Speaker at professional, public and corporate conferences. Co-author of the therapeutic journal for women "Soul in Place", promoter and popularizer of respectful education in the author's podcast miniseries "Are We There Yet?" with 200,000+ listens. Online creator with a focus on mental health and author of the content series "Love is a Skill" on Forendors.

Michal Meško

Michal Meško (1984) studied management and marketing at the Faculty of Management of Comenius University in Bratislava. He also completed a PLD programme at Harvard Business School in the USA and a six-month study programme with a focus on consumer behaviour and internet commerce at Rijksuniversiteit Groningen in the Netherlands.

In 2000, he co-founded Referaty.sk, the largest portal for students, which was acquired by Atlas.sk in 2004. He was also behind the creation of the online bookstore Martinus in 2000, of which he is now co-owner and CEO.

He is the recipient of the EY Entrepreneur of the Year 2020 and TREND TOP Manager of the Year 2018 awards, and has been included in the Forbes 30 under 30 list and among the New Europe 100 innovators compiled by the Financial Times and Google.

In his free time, he enjoys cycling, running and, of course, reading.