A Healthy City is a Happy City
Kansas City is truly a happy town. People from the region have always known it is a great place to be and a great place to call home. The nation is starting to take notice. We are no longer just a flyover town, but we are becoming a fly in town.
The people in this region are known for a love of the city, a love of sports, a love of family and a strong work ethic. We are a friendly approachable town.
Dozens of members of the national media, and thousands of visitors descended on the Kansas City region with the 2014 and 2015 World Series, and they liked what they saw.
The Kansas City region has been nationally recognized as great place to live, work, raise a family, start a business and more. Over the past few years the area has been recognized in national rankings by Huffington Post, CNN Money, U.S. News & World Report, New York Times, Fox Business News, Forbes, BusinessWeek and others.
Part of the Kansas City culture involves taking care of others. Joyce Hall once coined the phrase the “Spirit of Kansas City” to describe the personal determination and commitment of the community. Nearly every weekend there are charitable events to raise money for helping others. The community cares.
So what does this have to do with health. It’s simple. A happy attitude is a healthy attitude.
Surprisingly, both physical health and personal happiness are directly correlated with business growth and success. A significant percentage of companies provide healthcare benefits to their employees. While it has continued to become increasingly expensive, companies who do provide health benefits consider it part of employee compensation. They also realize it is good business.
If employees have the insurance benefits and financial support of their employers to keep themselves and their families in good health, they are also better employees. Having peace of mind allows employees to be more dedicated and engaged in their work.
Increasingly employers are going above and beyond typical healthcare benefits to ensure that their employees are dedicated to healthy habits. Encouraging exercise, healthy eating, advanced fitness training and sponsoring special outdoor events are some of the ways that today’s great employers are encouraging not only a health mental attitude toward life, but also a healthy physical attitude.
In future issues, we will continue to explore ways that great companies in Kansas City encourage their employees and employee families to remain active, healthy and happy. Companies like Cerner, Children’s Mercy, JE Dunn Construction, Kansas City Power & Light, Henderson Engineers, McCownGordon Construction and many others consistently are recognized in the community for not only being great employers, but also great supporters of healthy employee practices.
Growing healthy, smart happy children can be traced directly to the efforts of healthy parents. Encouraging regular doctor checkups, a healthy diet, exercise and early treatment for illness are all part of growing smart families.
What few people stop to consider is just how important these same things are for raising and growing successful, profitable companies.
Leadership and innovation are directly correlated with business growth and business success. We all have our own definition of leadership. However, unless employees respect, enjoy and have favorable feelings about the senior leaders in their companies, it does not count as effective leadership.
Innovation is the next stage of leadership. The people who come up with the best ideas can do so effectively only when they are in a work environment they feel good about. I have had the pleasure of working with some of the finest innovators in industry, both in small companies and large. If you find the inventive spirit in an employee, you also find a healthy attitude toward happiness and a healthy lifestyle.
Kansas City is also known for being a Midwest oasis for technology companies. This includes software, computer networks, cloud storage, enterprise-wide IT consulting. In addition, the construction, engineering, architectural and healthcare communities required high performance science and technology employees, and science related innovation. To keep up with the competition in markets like Seattle, San Francisco, Denver and Austin, Kansas City companies must attract, inspire, retain and reward the best employees. Health and happiness are a huge part of that mix.
So when we refer to “Growing Healthy Kansas City,” we are definitely referring to healthy people, healthy families, healthy kids and healthy schools. We are also referring to healthy, profitable, innovative companies. Here’s to healthy leadership. Here’s to a healthy Kansas City and a successful Healthy Kansas City magazine!
Dave Anderson, president of Neuvision Group will help you maximize your odds of success, minimize risk and accelerate market penetration and performance with major new initiatives. Call 913.685.4650 or visit neuvision360.com for details.
