Word: joie
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...said he believed in "masterly inactivity." Indeed, he, Picabia and Ray shared a talent for cerebral sloth. They all thought up endless word games that boil down to jokes about sex. This too was art. The Tate Modern exhibition is dense with doodles and scraps full of dark joie de vivre...
Chip Conley, the founder and CEO of Joie de Vivre Hospitality, which operates 40 boutique hotels and other properties, exemplifies San Francisco smarts in Peak: How Great Companies Get Their Mojo from Maslow. Conley's company was almost wiped out by the post-9/11 downturn. But the theories of renowned psychologist Abraham Maslow provided "mouth-to-mouth resuscitation," says Conley, a Stanford M.B.A. (In miniature: Maslow believed that as their basic needs are met, human beings and companies are able to strive for higher goals.) Despite a few New Age-y concepts like "karmic capitalism" and a tendency...
Ironically, when tackling the subject of recognizing people for good work, the three very different CEOs all fall back on corny ploys. Joie de Vivre's Conley quotes philosopher William James: "The deepest hunger in humans is the desire to be appreciated." He says he has given away "dozens and dozens of copies" of the children's book The Little Engine That Could to his employees. Writes Conley: "The fact that a room attendant is given this book personally by the company's CEO, with a customized inscription inside, makes the recognition all the sweeter." Likewise, Kilts believes...
...less dangerous to health than tobacco or his glass of vino. "There's a certain degree of risk in anything you do, including eating!" he says, passing his petard to his laconic chum. "Risk and indulgence is inherent in the French way of life. It's part of our joie de vivre." Perhaps, but if the Observatory's study is accurate, the French joie is increasingly chemically assisted...
...white hood ornament on their cars. Snowmen are a winter status symbol that tell everyone in your home village that you've been up in the mountains for the weekend. The fact that the snowmen often block windshield visibility doesn't seem to bother anyone. Indeed, a certain joie de vivre in the face of danger is as Lebanese as the cedar tree. As my Lebanese skiing buddy, Alex, said when an errant snowboarder went crashing through the plastic orange protective webbing separating skiers and the lunchtime crowd sunning themselves at a base lodge: "They ski like they drive...