Dickson: Career success for the ‘Happy Warrior’
Oct 29, 2024, 12:00 PM | Updated: 5:57 pm
Amanda Dickson talks about happy warriors at work. (Canva)
(Canva)
Editor’s note: This is an editorial piece. An editorial, like a news article, is based on fact but also shares opinions. The opinions expressed here are solely those of the author and are not associated with our newsroom.
SALT LAKE CITY — Are you the “happy warrior” at your workplace? The one who shows up with a smile, even when the task feels like drudgery? The happy warrior is more than just a hard worker. They lift the spirits of the whole team.
The term was first coined in 1807 in a poem by William Wordsworth titled “Character of a Happy Warrior.” The phrase was later used by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt in a nomination speech for Alfred E. Smith for president in 1924.
Today, you might see it as part of professional job titles on LinkedIn or hear it in workplace conversations.
“It’s an interesting idea,” said Senior Director of Marketing and Communications at U Career Success at the University of Utah, Diana Woodbury. “How you identify people who have a good attitude in the workplace, who are people that you want to work with, who have positivity – whatever challenges face the organization or face them personally. I think we are all drawn to people who have that positive attitude.”
Can you teach attitude?
“I absolutely think positive attitude can be learned, in part by observing others around you,” Woodbury said. “And that has a lot to do with preparation. Our job is to prepare students at the University of Utah for a professional experience as they exit the university, and we want them to have as many professional experiences as possible before they leave us. The more exposure you have to professional workplaces, the better prepared you are to contribute to them and be that kind of proactive contributor that people want to work with.”
Internships and real on-the-job experiences are so important because the students get that sort of immediate feedback to learn the intangibles of a workplace.
“Let’s say you go in as an intern,” Woodbury explained. “You might have a certain way of working. Maybe you’re asked to create a report of some kind, and you turn it in. You’re going to get the feedback of whether you’ve created something that’s useful. And you start to learn.”
You learn how to create things that are useful. You also learn how to behave, how to communicate with your coworkers and superiors.
It takes more than a positive attitude
As important as the spirit of the happy warrior is, the warrior part is as important as the happy part. In order to be successful, you have to put in the hard work.
“It takes being able to collaborate with others, having empathy in the workplace and then a level of competence that is driven by curiosity,” Woodbury explained. “I think the balance between those kinds of things is what makes someone an effective person in their personal lives as well as their work lives.”
Amanda Dickson is the co-host of Utah’s Morning News and A Woman’s View on KSL NewsRadio. Follow her on Facebook and Instagram.
