Nick Gianoulis is the “The Godfather of Fun.” More than a decade ago, Nick founded The Fun Dept. He was inspired to start the company after experiencing firsthand the enhanced business results of fun during his 20-year corporate management tenure with a company that embraced a “work hard, play hard” culture.
He is the co-author of "Playing it Forward" and is recognized as the leading authority in implementing workplace fun. His company has been featured on CNN, BBC News, Washington Post, TEDx, and hundreds of media outlets. In 2018 his company joined forces with Delivering Happiness.
What you’ll learn about in this episode:
- The story of what inspired Nick to leave the corporate world and become “The Godfather of Fun”
- How to use fun as a process to get great business results
- Dealing with getting a tough reception and how to push past that, especially in the beginning stages
- Why fun should be a component of the culture of any successful company
- Nick’s success rate when leadership buys into his model
- Details of the ROI the Fun Department is able to offer companies
- The importance of leadership in determining a company’s culture
- An example of how positive workplace culture can create big opportunities for companies
- Nick’s partnership with Delivering Happiness: how it got started organically and how the two companies complement each other
- How to find a shared experience to make fun organic within companies
- Examples of unique fun experiences companies have developed and how those experiences can be fun for each worker
- How to allow different sectors of a company to have their own fun experience
- The importance of leaders being respectful of their employees’ time after work, and how the Fun Department can help with that
- How Nick created his company to survive any economy and allow businesses to participate at various different price points
- A story about how Wegman’s got it right and became successful by putting culture first
Ways to contact Nick: