‘The Three Hs.’ Never heard of ‘em? Oh, come on now. Humble, Happy, Hugged? Ok, I confess I made it up. When I sat down today to write another article for the Culture space on the WOW! Buzz, I was stumped for a few minutes. I’ve been away from work for five days now and therefore not in a WOW! environment to be unexpectedly inspired. “What will I write about?” I wondered.
(The Hug) I spent a few minutes thinking about all the many things that make WOW! such a unique place to work. For some reason the picture that kept popping up in my mind’s eye was one of our CEO Colleen Abdoulah giving a hug to a brand new employee. I thought about how many times I’ve mentioned this to new hires before they meet her for the first time. It’s truly something you don’t expect in a work environment. But it isn’t suggestive, it isn’t invasive, and it isn’t forward. It is simply this: ‘I’m really glad you’ve joined our company. If you’re here, you must be someone special. Since you are someone special, I look forward to working with you and I’m really happy to welcome you to our team!’
(The Humble) Another thing I thought about is how being humble is such a prevalent personality characteristic at WOW!. I guess it’s natural because it goes along with one of our core values, Servanthood: ‘Embrace the attitude and honor of serving others rather than being served.’ Everyone at WOW! understands what it means to serve others and everyone knows we are one big team. There are countless examples of this over the years at WOW! With every little success and every big success there are always fingers pointing in other directions – pointing at all the other people at WOW! who helped to make it possible.
(The Happy) Finally I thought about how happy I am to be part of this company. This is not an original thought – I’ve probably had this thought 1,347, 983 times over the 8+ years I’ve worked at WOW!. And guess what? It’s not just me. More than once I’ve had an employee tell me that this is the first job they’ve had where they are happy to come to work every day. (A couple of times it was the employee’s spouse who told me this!) If you’re ever in a WOW! office first thing in the morning the happiness is a palpable thing. People are greeting each other, people have smiles on their faces, there is energy in the air and a sense of urgency and purpose. Every employee at WOW! knows what it is about what they do to make a difference in our success. Everyone adds value. It’s a beautiful thing.
Ok, so I had my thoughts together for a culture article - The Three Hs – but then I thought ‘Uh oh. Which comes first? Isn’t there probably a natural order for The Three Hs?’ I think there is and I challenge you to find it. Here’s your hint: it’s not the order in which I wrote about them in this article. So just think about it for a minute. Got it? Good for you! Yes, it’s the order shown in the title.
(1) Humble people truly appreciate all the good things that happen to them so they are (2) happy more of the time. (2) Happy people are more likely to want to share how they feel, so they are more generous with their hugs (3). Too simple for you? Ok then, answer this: When was the last time you were hugged by an egotistical grumpy person?
Have a great week… and hug someone! 
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