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The story so far & what people think of the Lead Happy Experiences

What do Lead Happy clients think of their Experiences?

This year, we gathered a group of Lead Happy clients from different sectors and organisations together in one fabulous space. They got to meet each other, many for the first time and in return, they told our film crew what they thought about their own Lead Happy Experience, and how it had helped them at work and in life.

They enjoyed a unique, one-off group development experience exploring identity in leadership, they shared their stories with each other and, being a Lead Happy event, there was a feast for the senses – gourmet lunch, great music, and cake.  Enjoy listening to them tell the story of their Lead Happy journeys so far. 

A short story: The origins of Lead Happy

“A true leader herself, in experience and spirit, Anna is able to engage with people at every level of an organisation – her approach is nothing less than trailblazing.”

Edd Terrey, Managing Director
South & Central Region: Community Integrated Care

A short story: The origins of Lead Happy

“A true leader herself, in experience and spirit, Anna is able to engage with people at every level of an organisation – her approach is nothing less than trailblazing.”

Edd Terrey, Managing Director
South & Central Region: Community Integrated Care

These kind words from Edd came over a decade after the start of my leadership journey which, like so many others, was anything but plain sailing.

On the road to Lead Happy, I had worn all the familiar-sounding senior and leadership clothes: Team Lead; Project Lead; Head of; Director of; Special Advisor to the CEO; you name it, I’d held that title. Most of the organisations I worked for straight out of Uni were big, international household names – that was the trajectory I’d chosen for myself, and all was good with the world.

Except it wasn’t.

I had met and learned from so many different people from all corners of the globe, in business and on my personal travels, but when it came to me, in all of the positions, in all the companies, and at every level, there was always something missing. It bugged me for a long time, thinking that there must be something I’m not doing, or getting.

What I didn’t do straight away was find an answer, but what I did do was realise that this wasn’t about me. I started to notice that so many people who were on similar leadership journeys had similar experiences – different for each individual, but the same hard-to-define feelings within. These days it might be called Imposter Syndrome.

It took a while for it to click properly, until one day, after a particularly stressful event, I thought – I haven’t been told how this works, I’ve done everything to get this event right, and it’s completely flopped and I don’t understand how.

As it turned out, nobody had been told how this works. And by this, I mean leadership.

It didn’t seem to matter how much people earned, where they were from, what they did within the organisations, or where they had received their education. Almost nobody was given any truly useful guidance, training, help, input – call it what you want – on what it really meant, what it actually takes and how they go about becoming a good leader.

It felt like there was a code somewhere, maybe in a secret book I hadn’t yet been shown or at the end of some Camelot style quest. Wherever it was, I hadn’t seen it and I wanted to know where the hell it was.

Spoiler Alert – There isn’t a book (or a quest, sadly) but my curiosity led to me asking the ultimate questions – What is leadership? What does it truly mean? How can I do it well? I didn’t know it at the time, but these sparks were the genesis of what would, many years later, become Lead Happy, and on that journey I have learned the biggest leadership lesson there is – to lead brilliantly is to lead confidently, authentically, courageously and above all, happily.

So here we are. After more than a decade of helping thousands of leaders and hundreds of teams go on similar journeys, and becoming an ILM7 qualified coach, I have taken everything I have learned from those early years of leadership, and developed it into what is now Lead Happy – a very different kind of leadership and team experience which changes thinking, transforms lives and grows organisations in the right way.

With ten years of the business behind me, countless stories of the ways in which Lead Happy has tangibly changed the lives of leaders and to be taking this moment to capture some of those stories – it’s genuinely a dream come true.

– Anna Jester, Founder.

Brilliant Leadership comes from the inside out.

You can’t train someone to be confident in themselves or tell a team to connect on a completely new level. You can, however, help them gain confidence, discover their strengths, and learn to use them, individually and collectively. An experiential, impactful development experience lasts a lifetime, benefiting individuals, teams, and companies.

Our philosophy is rooted in this belief, and our testimonials support it. ROI in leadership development is traditionally sought through logical, financial metrics. In reality, it’s found in greater employee retention, the dismantling of siloes and the creation of happy, connected teams who are unafraid to bring themselves to work, in all their wonderful variety.

“I expected another rehash of a four-box diagram telling me which box I fit in or my team members fit – How wrong I was!” – LinkedIn Review

Leadership in the AI age will require confident, courageous and happy leaders.

In a world where AI is subtly and not-so-subtly engraining itself to our every-day lives, the Lead Happy principles are more relevant than ever.  We believe wholeheartedly in the responsible advancement of AI and its ability to transform our lives for the better. Automating the mundane, doing the dangerous, and helping us in a whole range of areas has the potential to transform all of our lives, not least in creating even more images like the ones on this website!

Our hope is that this revolution will free us up to enjoy and capitalise on the things that are innately and uniquely human which we all share and can’t be created artificially >>

our ability to connect, converse, to love and create in a seemingly irrational way, and of course the way we do that is unique to each of us. Future business success will be underpinned by confident, courageous teams that celebrate their differences and create authentic connection points, enabling creative thinking and powerful decision making, leading to ever greater human innovation.   

“It is much easier to be fired for being illogical than it is for being unimaginative. The fatal issue is that logic always gets you to exactly the same place as your competitors.” – Rory Sutherland

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The Team Behind Lead Happy

It’s a small team delivering a big mission at the Lead Happy HQ. Anna is the creator of Lead Happy, and our visionary, human specialist and leadership veteran. Known for her warmth, dedication, and ability to connect with people, Anna’s approach is rooted in her complex life story, her deep understanding (some would call it an obsession – ed) of human nature and her unwavering belief in better. She is tunnel-visioned on humans and humanity, so she is not someone you want on your pub quiz team. Follow Anna on Linked-in

Tom is our creator, storyteller and joiner of dots. Known primarily for something that people find it hard to describe, when he’s in the room the ideas flow, the lights come on and the magic happens. Just don’t expect him to show his workings. Follow Tom on Linked-In. We also have a support team who help to power the mission and prefer to stay behind the scenes. Fancy joining our team (we’re growing!), get in touch here.

We envisage a future powered by
Emotional Intelligence

Emotional Intelligence and the Human Experience will be the key drivers in every organisation that wants to be genuinely innovative. Lead Happy experiences are all designed to reflect this.

Now that AI is here, we believe more than ever that strong Emotional Intelligence and happy, confident people will drive positive change. Welcome to Lead Happy – the home of original experiential Leadership Development.