Happy MBA

Do you take the time to design for your own wellbeing? When we’re being the change we want to see in the world, it’s easy to focus on hard metrics: more sales, more leads, more success. But what if your body suddenly says “no”? As the saying has it, our health is our truest form of wealth. But how often do we check in with ourselves and explore what we might need? On this episode, Carlos and Laure...

You’ve decided to change. You’re driven to find a new professional path, but you’re struggling to take the next step. As an experienced professional or entrepreneur, you’ve accumulated the skills, but now you’re doing something new. And so fear kicks in. What got you here isn’t going to get you there. It’s time to go from the inside out to overcome self-doubt. Doing business differently is about m...

Tribe 8 of Vision 20/20 ended their journey together. On this episode, a few of the cohort share their stories and projects that have emerged and evolved over their last few months together: The Love Shortage podcast  that came out of nowhere The Human Greenhouse  with a bolder mission and manifesto What if we?  a series of experiential gatherings in the Netherlands An ins...

Taking the entrepreneurial path requires taking risks. And the rewards we'll encounter are never certain. The choices we make create real consequences for our livelihood. And it can be hard to get over the feeling that we're imposters as we face the uncertainty over whether we've made the right ones. This episode features an enlightening story – the personal and entrepreneurial journey of  Sa...

Ever felt like there was more that you could do but didn’t know what to commit to? You're not alone. When it comes to thinking about meaning, Laurence and Carlos found the book  The Map of Meaning  by Lani Morris and Marjolein Lips-Wiersma really helpful. They talk about working with meaning as working with the tension between being and doing, and self and others. The work is to be aware...

While we can’t avoid the inevitable, we can still find agency. When we’re navigating a professional or personal transition, it may seem like we’re living in chaos, and there’s nothing we can do that can make things better. In his book At Work in the Ruins , Dougald Hine asks a question about the climate crisis: how did we find ourselves in this trouble? Is it simply a piece of bad luck with atmosp...

When people join the Happy Startup School’s  Vision 20/20 program  and talk about what they want to do, one phrase pops up again and again: “I just want to be paid for being me.” But it’s not always easy to get to this point. Sometimes it takes a circuitous route, as we get more and more used to showing up as our full selves and discovering what it is we truly want to do. One such alumnu...

If you want to empower others to act and not just fill their heads with facts, Crowdcast is a platform that can help you do that. It was founded by Sai Hossain who got the idea in 2013 while at a retreat in Costa Rica. Laurence and Carlos started using Crowdcast in March 2020 which was the time the platform exploded from 500,000 users per month to 2.5 million. On this episode, you’ll hear more abo...

John Pritchard was the founder of Pala, a brand driven by purpose. The mission was to produce high quality, long-lasting eyewear whilst making a commitment to minimise the impact on the planet and maximise positive social impact on people. Longevity of product was important to minimise resource usage, but that makes for a very different approach to business. The Pala strapline was “see the world b...

Professional women are under overwhelming pressure to achieve it all – career, kids and caring partner. And to do it with an effortless smile. But it isn’t that easy. It doesn’t mean that you can’t have it all, but according to Emma Draper, award-winning retail entrepreneur, property developer and mother, “we need to release ourselves of the guilt and just do the best we can”. On the outside Emma...

It’s hard to put into words what happens at Summercamp. And that was never truer than in 2023. There’s an enormous amount of love, growth and connection that happens; and the openness and vulnerability that takes place in a field near Hastings every year is astounding. In this special episode, you’ll hear from Laurence and Carlos about what the event brings them, and a little of what it requires....

In an age where meaningful leadership and authentic connection are more crucial than ever, Jerry Colonna, coach, entrepreneur, and author of the transformative books  Reboot: Leadership and the Art of Growing Up  and  Reunion: Leadership and the Longing to Belong . Jerry has worked with CEOs and change-makers from across the world. His company offers a complete foundation for what i...

Whether it's problem-solving an issue, coming up with a new product, or making a mark on the world, our personal vision of success often needs new ideas. But what if you’re stuck in a rut? What if the usual ways of “shaking the snow globe” just won’t cut it any more? What if the way forward isn't the state of our business plan but the state of our consciousness? On this episode, Carlos and Laurenc...

Forget thinking about business in terms of B2B or B2C – It’s time to think H2H; human to human. As much as lawyers and accountants will tell you that businesses are independent legal entities, in the end, they’re a bunch of humans working together for some reason or other. Too many solopreneurs and founders hide behind the idea of being a “big business” when in fact they are human beings wanting t...

In a world that wants to keep hustling and believing that “bigger is better”, we’ve always had a different measure of success. For Laurence and Carlos, it’s about forging deep friendships and relationships, getting out in nature, making things that give people delight, and making sure that those you love get more of you. To do this can mean simplifying our lives. It can mean focusin...

On  our previous episode , Laurence and Carlos spoke with John Parkin about big ideas: what they are; where they come from and how to spot them. He shared how big ideas can create real impact with minimum effort. The idea itself does the heavy lifting. However, what happens when you’re still searching for your big idea. How do you commit to action when it’s not clear? Say hello to our new fri...

John Parkin knows a good idea when he sees one. As a formed Creative Director of one of the most innovative and exciting advertising agencies of the 1990s, he knows a thing or two about coming up with ideas. He's helped create big ideas for big brands, and he's also had one big idea of his own that has transformed his world. His big idea?  F**k It . It led to John leaving his job, Him and his...

When Laurence started out in business, he was a company of one. For 5 years he found his own clients, did sales and marketing, managed his finances. It didn’t even occur to him to ask for help. Then one day he realised it wasn’t much fun anymore, and he could only go so far with his own skillset. Thankfully a project came in that meant he  had  to ask for help if he was to take it on. He...

What if you were unapologetically you? What impact would that have on your work, life and relationships? Unfortunately, too many of us aren’t prepared to bring our whole selves to work… or even life. We either create a mask or hold back on what’s really wanting to be seen. When we’re not prepared to show our full selves, it means we may not allow others to show their full selves too. This disconne...

Our  previous episode  covered the theory along with Laurence, Carlos and Lana’s own stories of change, both small and large. On this episode, we invite some of our now 120-strong  Vision 20/20  alumni – aka the Vision Tribe – to share their stories. These 3 amazing humans have been living their excite strategy by  working out loud . Others have connected with th...

The master storyteller. One of the most valuable things we’ve learned from him is about stories of change and how stories can motivate our own action and mobilise others. Story of Self, Story of Us, Story of Now. This approach to stories is a way to activate change in the world that is aligned to who we (entrepreneurial changemakers) are and what we need. In the world of business we can spend too...

“Everything has a time to burn because it invites new life.” During his talk at Summercamp 2022, Ben Johnson shared his thoughts on the importance of creative destruction. Whether you’re talking about corporate innovation, the eventual demise of capitalism, or the maintenance of an ecological system, old things need to die in order for new things to live. In 2015, Laurence and Carlos experienced t...

At Summercamp 2020, coach David Papa gave a personal, entertaining and vulnerable talk about how to be scared. He believes that the only thing that can stop you living the life you love is not the fear, it’s believing the fear. Fear is just a thought and a sensation in the body. But when you add belief to it, then it’s energy that controls your life. In this week's episode, David shares how this h...

In a complex fast paced world it’s all too easy to think that we’re unable make any impact. But this isn’t true. At Happy Startup Summercamp 2022, Liana Fricker, founder of Inspiration Space, gave an empowering talk about turning apathy into action. Liana believes that if we harness our inspiration we can inspire others and these small ripples can turn into tidal waves of change. To start we just...

When Ayse Birsel gave her talk at our  Happy Startup Summercamp  she was shocked that she only had 20 minutes to speak. Not only that, we told her that she should be sharing stories and not lessons. Ironically her talk is about lessons; lessons she’s learned from doing extensive research about older people and their attitude to life. She compiled these lessons along her research in her n...