The Power of Positive Leadership E-Book

Jon Gordon

• Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
• Kategorie: Fachliteratur
• Serie: Jon Gordon
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2017

Seitenzahl: 240

Beschreibung

We are not positive because life is easy. We are positive because life can be hard. As a leader, you will face numerous obstacles, negativity, and tests. There will be times when it seems as if everything in the world is conspiring against you and your vision seems more like a fantasy than a reality. That's why positive leadership is essential! Positive leadership is not about fake positivity. It is the real stuff that makes great leaders great. The research is clear. Being a positive leader is not just a nice way to lead. It's the way to lead if you want to build a great culture, unite your organization in the face of adversity, develop a connected and committed team and achieve excellence and superior results. Since writing the mega best seller The Energy Bus, Jon Gordon has worked and consulted with leaders who have transformed their companies, organizations and schools, won national championships and are currently changing the world. He has also interviewed some of the greatest leaders of our time and researched many positive leaders throughout history and discovered their paths to success. In this pioneering book Jon Gordon shares what he has learned and provides a comprehensive framework on positive leadership filled with proven principles, compelling stories, practical ideas and practices that will help anyone become a positive leader. There is a power associated with positive leadership and you can start benefiting yourself and your team with it today.

Leseprobe

Contents

Cover

Title Page

Copyright

Dedication

Chapter 1: From Negative to Positive

Chapter 2: Real Positive

Notes

Chapter 3: Positive Leaders Drive Positive Cultures

Your Most Important Job

Culture Beats Strategy

Know What You Stand For

More than Words

Positively Contagious

Create a Culture that People Feel

Invest in the Root if You Want the Fruit

You Must Keep Building Your Culture

Notes

Chapter 4: Positive Leaders Create and Share a Positive Vision

A North Star

A Telescope and Microscope

Dabo Swinney's Vision

Keep the Vision Alive

Make the Vision Come Alive

My Vision

Chapter 5: Positive Leaders Lead with Optimism, Positivity, and Belief

Believe It and You'll See It

If You Don't Have It, You Can't Share It

Feed the Positive Dog

Talk to Yourself

It's All How You See It

Tell Yourself a Positive Story

Challenge or Opportunity

Shark or Goldfish

Think Like a Rookie

Defeating Murphy

Inside Out

Distort Reality

Leadership Is a Transfer of Belief

Lead with Faith Instead of Fear

Be an Over-Believer

Don't Stop Believing

Your Leadership Journey

Note

Chapter 6: Positive Leaders Confront, Transform, and Remove Negativity

Your Positivity Must Be Greater than All the Negativity

No Energy Vampires Allowed

Why Wait?

The First Step Is to Transform

Start at the Culture Level

Remove the Negativity

Sooner or Later

Lead from Where You Are

Implement the No Complaining Rule

Michael Phelps's Positive Leadership

Don't Be Negative about Negativity

Chapter 7: Positive Leaders Create United and Connected Teams

Connection Is the Difference

Team Beats Talent When Talent Isn't a Team

Dabo Swinney's Safe Seat

Collaborate and Facilitate

Don't Let Your Reptile Eat Your Positive Dog

Note

Chapter 8: Positive Leaders Build Great Relationships and Teams

Love Does

Love Is the Greatest Leadership Principle on the Planet

Rules without Relationship Lead to Rebellion

Communication Builds Trust

Where There Is a Void in Communication, Negativity Fills It

Leading by Walking Around

Listening Is Communicating

Enhance Your Positive Communication

Be an Encourager

Believe in Others More than They Believe in Themselves

Help Your Team Become Unstoppable

Connect One on One

Be Committed

Serve to Be Great

Doing the Laundry

It's Not About You

Commit to Coach

Commitment Requires Sacrifice

When You Help Others Improve, You Improve

Elite of the Elite

Positive Leaders Care

Develop Your Caring Trademark

The Sandwich

Notes

Chapter 9: Positive Leaders Pursue Excellence

Humble and Hungry

There Is No Finish Line

Demanding without Being Demeaning

Love and Accountability

Love Tough

Craftsmen and Craftswomen

The One Percent Rule

Clarity and Action

Chapter 10: Positive Leaders Lead with Purpose

Find and Live Your Purpose

Share the Purpose

Inspire Others to Live Their Purpose

Purpose-Driven Goals

One Word

Life Word

Leave a Legacy

Give People Great Stories to Tell

Life and Death

Notes

Chapter 11: Positive Leaders Have Grit

Know What You Want

Know Your Why

Love It

Embrace Failure

Keep Doing Things the Right Way: Trust the Process

Ignore the Critics; Do the Work

Note

Chapter 12: Lead the Way Forward

Acknowledgments

Bring the Power of Positive Leadership to Your Organization

Power of Positive Leadership Resources

Other Books by Jon Gordon

End User License Agreement

Guide

Cover

Table of Contents

Chapter 1

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The Power of Positive Leadership

How and Why Positive Leaders Transform Teams and Organizations and Change the World

Jon Gordon

Cover image: © abzee/iStockphotoCover design: Wiley

Copyright © 2017 by Jon Gordon. All rights reserved.

Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey.Published simultaneously in Canada.

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data:

Names: Gordon, Jon, 1971– author.Title: The power of positive leadership : how and why positive leaders transform teams and organizations and change the world / Jon Gordon.Description: Hoboken : Wiley, 2017. | Includes bibliographical references and index. |Identifiers: LCCN 2017008997 (print) | LCCN 2017034146 (ebook) | ISBN 9781119352037 (ePDF) | ISBN 9781119351702 (epub) | ISBN 9781119351979 (hardback)Subjects: LCSH: Leadership. | Employee motivation. | Organizational change. | BISAC: BUSINESS & ECONOMICS / Leadership. | BUSINESS & ECONOMICS / Motivational. | BUSINESS & ECONOMICS / Management.Classification: LCC HD57.7 (ebook) | LCC HD57.7 .G66674 2017 (print) | DDC 658.4/092–dc23LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017008997

To Ken Blanchard, for teaching me and showing me how a true positive leader lives and leads. Your example and support changed my life and I am forever grateful.

Chapter 1From Negative to Positive

Being positive doesn't just make you better; it makes everyone around you better.

I'm not naturally a positive person. People think I am because of my books and talks, but the truth is that I have to work hard to be positive. It doesn't come naturally to me. In fact, I find it ironic that I would write a book like this—and that my life's work centers on the importance of positivity. It's true that we teach what we need to learn. I know that my quest to become a more positive person and better leader has made me a better teacher.

I grew up in Long Island, New York, in a Jewish-Italian family; with a lot of food and a lot of guilt; a lot of wine and a lot of whining. My parents were very loving but they were not the most positive people in the world. My dad was a New York City police officer who worked in undercover narcotics. He fought crime every day and wasn't a big fan of positivity. I remember waking up in the morning and saying, “Good morning, Dad.” He would say in his thick New York accent, “What's so good about it?” My dad was Al Bundy before Al Bundy was Al Bundy.

By the age of 31, I was a fearful, negative, stressed-out, and miserable husband and father to two young children. My wife had had enough. She gave me an ultimatum: Change or our marriage was over. I knew she was right that I needed to change. I knew that I was allowing the stress of life and the fear of not being able to provide for my family to get the best of me. I told my wife I would change and began researching ways I could be more positive. At the time, positive psychology was an emerging field, and I read everything I could about it. I began to practice positivity and write about the things I was doing. I met Ken Blanchard, who became my role model. I began taking “thank you” walks to practice gratitude, enjoy the outdoors, and feel grateful instead of stressed. This was a life-changing practice that not only energized me physically, emotionally, and spiritually, but also provided time for many profound insights and ideas to come to me.

One of these ideas was The Energy Bus. In case you haven't read it, it's about a guy named George who is miserable and negative. His team at work is in disarray and he has problems at home. George was easy for me to write about because he was based on me and my struggle with negativity and adversity. George wakes up one Monday morning to discover his car has a flat tire and he has to take the bus to work. On the bus, he meets Joy the bus driver, who, along with a cast of characters, teaches George the 10 rules for the ride of his life. Their advice not only helps him become a more positive person, but also a better father, husband, and leader at work. On one level, George demonstrates that positivity is a difference maker in business, education, life, and sports. On another level, George represents the fact that every one of us will have to overcome negativity, adversity, and challenges to ultimately define ourselves and our team's success.

Since The Energy Bus was published in 2007, I've had the opportunity to work with many Fortune 500 companies, businesses, professional and college sports teams, hospitals, schools, and nonprofits that have utilized the book. I've met many amazing positive leaders and have witnessed firsthand the power of positive leadership. I've seen how they have led, inspired, and transformed their teams and organizations. I've observed the impact they have had and the results they have achieved. I've also researched many positive leaders throughout history and learned about their paths to success. There is indeed a power associated with positive leadership, and my goal with this book is twofold. First, I aim to explain how and why positive leaders make a difference. Second, I intend to provide a simple framework filled with practical ideas that will help anyone become a positive leader. It's one of the most important things a person can do because one positive leader will inspire many others to become positive leaders as well. My daughter wrote her college admission essay last year and it said, “When I was young my mom struggled with her health and my dad struggled with himself. But over the years I watched my dad work to become a more positive person. Then he started writing and speaking about it and sharing his message with others. I saw people change for the better and I know that if he can change, and they can change, the world can change.” Her words brought tears to my eyes because I realized that my one decision to be a positive leader not only impacted my life but also my marriage, my children, my team at work, and everyone around me. My hope is that you too will discover the power of positive leadership in your own life. I know that being a positive leader doesn't just make you better; it makes everyone around you better. You can start today!

Chapter 2Real Positive

We are not positive because life is easy. We are positive because life can be hard.

It takes a lot of work to create a world-class organization. It's hard to develop a successful team. It's not easy to build a great culture. It's challenging to work toward a vision and create a positive future. It's difficult to change the world. As a leader, you will face all kinds of challenges, adversity, negativity, and tests. There will be times when it seems as if everything in the world is conspiring against you. There will be moments you'll want to give up. There will be days when your vision seems more like a fantasy than a reality. That's why positive leadership is so essential. When some people hear the term positive leadership they roll their eyes because they think I'm talking about Pollyanna positivity, where life is full of unicorns and rainbows. But the truth is that we are not positive because life is easy. We are positive because life can be hard. Positive leadership is not about fake positivity. It is the real stuff that makes great leaders great. Pessimists don't change the world. Critics write words but they don't write the future. Naysayers talk about problems but they don't solve them. Throughout history we see that it's the optimists, the believers, the dreamers, the doers, and the positive leaders who change the world. The future belongs to those who believe in it and have the belief, resilience, positivity, and optimism to overcome all the challenges in order to create it.

Research by Manju Puri and David Robinson, business professors at Duke University, shows that optimistic people work harder, get paid more, are elected to office more often, and win at sports more regularly.1 Research by psychologist Martin Seligman also shows that optimistic salespeople perform better than their pessimistic counterparts.2 And psychologist Barbara Fredrickson's research demonstrates that people who experience more positive emotions than negative ones are more likely to see the bigger picture, build relationships, and thrive in their work and career, whereas people who experience mostly negative emotions are more likely to have a narrower perspective and tend to focus more on problems.3 Daniel Goleman's research demonstrates that positive teams perform at higher levels than negative teams.4 John Gottman's pioneering research on relationships found that marriages are much more likely to succeed when the couple experiences a five-to-one ratio of positive to negative interactions; when the ratio approaches a one-to-one ratio, marriages are more likely to end in divorce.5 Additional research also shows that workgroups with positive-to-negative interaction ratios greater than three to one are significantly more productive than teams that do not reach this ratio. Teams with more negative interactions are more likely to be stagnant and unproductive. The positive energy you share with your team is significant. According to Wayne Baker, the research he and Robert Cross conducted shows that “the more you energize people in your workplace, the higher your work performance.” Baker says that this occurs because people want to be around you. You attract talent and people are more likely to devote their discretionary time to your projects. They'll offer new ideas, information, and opportunities to you before others.

Baker adds that the opposite is also true. If you de-energize others, people won't go out of their way to work with or help you.6 Gallup estimates that negativity costs the economy $250–$300 billion a year and affects the morale, performance, and productivity of teams.

The research is clear. Positivity is about more than having a positive state of mind. It's also a life changer and gives people a competitive advantage in business, sports, and politics. While the pessimists are complaining about the future, the energy vampires are sabotaging it, and the realists are talking about it, the optimists are working hard with others to create it. Puri and Robinson's research shows that our attitude helps create a self-fulfilling prophecy. Because optimists believe in a positive future, they actually delude themselves into working more to make it possible. Their belief makes them willing to take actions to achieve it. As a result, positive leaders invest their time and energy in driving a positive culture. They create and share the vision for the road ahead. They lead with optimism and belief and address and transform the negativity that too often sabotages teams and organizations. They take on the battle, overcome the negativity, face the adversity, and keep moving forward. They devote all their energy and effort to uniting and connecting their organization and invest in relationships that truly build great teams. They believe in their principles. They believe in their people. They believe in teamwork. They believe in the future. They believe in what's possible, so they act and do, connect and create, build and transform their team and organization—and change the world.

In the following chapters I'm going to take you through a simple, powerful model and framework you can utilize and implement to enhance your leadership capabilities and put your positive leadership into action.

Notes

1.

Puri, M. & Robinson, D. (2007). Optimism and economic choice.

Journal of Financial Economics

, 86, 71-99.

2.

Seligman, M.E. & Schulman, P. (1986). Explanatory style as a predictor of productivity and quitting among life insurance sales agents.

Journal of Personality and Social Psychology

, 50(4), 832–838.

3.

Fredrickson, B. (2001). The role of positive emotions in positive psychology: The broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions.

American Psychologist

, 56, 218-226.

4.

Goleman, D. (2011).

Leadership: The power of emotional intelligence

. Florence, MA: More Than Sound Publishers.

5.

Gottman, J. (1994).

Why marriages succeed or fail

. New York, NY: Simon & Schuster.

6.

Baker, W., Cross, R., & Wooten, M. (2003). Positive organizational network analysis and energizing relationships. In J. Cameron, J.E. Dutton, & R. Quinn (Eds.),

Positive Organizational Scholarship: Foundations of a New Discipline

(pp. 328-342). San Francisco, CA: Berrett-Koehler Publishers, Inc.

Chapter 3Positive Leaders Drive Positive Cultures

Culture is not just one thing. It's everything.

Positive leaders drive positive cultures. I use the word drive here because as a leader you are the driver of your bus and you have a big role and responsibility in creating the kind of journey you and your team will experience. One year I spoke at a school district and talked with all their leaders, mostly school principals. I shared the same principles and strategies with everyone. At the end of the year, I heard from two principals from the district. One principal had given every member of her staff The Energy Bus to read and followed up with staff meetings where she discussed and reinforced the principles each month. She focused all of her energy on creating a positive culture, one meeting, one conversation, one interaction, one positive message, one teacher, and one student at a time. She completely transformed the morale, engagement, energy, and culture of her school. The other principal I heard from was very disappointed and told me that she had handed a copy of The Energy Bus to all her teachers, encouraged them to read it, and wondered why it didn't have much of an impact on her school and culture. I realized in that moment that you can give a team a bus, but unless you have drivers, it doesn't move. It's not a book that makes a difference. It's not a lecture or a keynote. It's the leader that makes the difference. It's the leader that must drive the culture.

Your Most Important Job

Your most important job as a leader is to drive the culture—and not just any culture. You must create a positive culture that energizes and encourages people, fosters connected relationships and great teamwork, empowers and enables people to learn and grow, and provides an opportunity for people to do their best work. Culture is not just one thing; it's everything. Culture drives expectation and beliefs. Expectations and beliefs drive behaviors. Behaviors drive habits. And habits create the future. It all starts with the culture you create and drive throughout the organization. That's where all success and great results begin.

Driving your culture is not something you can delegate. You are the leader and you must spend your time, energy, and effort creating and building the culture of your team and organization. Nancy Koeper, the retired president of UPS for the Northwest Region, made culture her number-one priority as she drove a positive culture through an organization that was, literally, full of drivers. She wanted to improve engagement and morale, so she rolled out The Energy Bus to the 1,000 leaders she led with the intent of enhancing positive leadership, positive interactions, and improved relationships with the UPS drivers. Her leaders all read the book, then discussed ways to implement the ideas. They then rolled out The Energy Bus to their 11,000 drivers in the district by simply focusing on positivity, positive interactions, and improved relationships. I had yet to have a company measure results after utilizing The Energy Bus, so it was exciting to hear from Nancy a year later. She reported that engagement, morale, and performance had risen while disengagement and absenteeism had fallen. Nancy drove the UPS bus and it made all the difference.

Alan Mulally, the former CEO of Ford, led one of the most incredible corporate turnarounds in history. In 2006, when he stepped into the CEO role, the automaker had just suffered an annual loss of $12.7 billion and was on the verge of bankruptcy. In just a few short years under his leadership, Ford was back in the black and the company saw an annual profit every year since 2009. Mulally credited this improbable feat on the organization's focus on driving and building a “One Ford” culture that was centered on the idea of “One Team” where everyone in the organization was committed to the enterprise and to each other. A cultural shift like this doesn't happen by accident. Mulally shared with me his management system, a simple but powerful set of principles, philosophies, behaviors, and processes he designed to create a culture at Ford that fostered unity, teamwork, appreciation, transparency, safety, and even joy. I'll share more of what I learned from Mulally, who defines his leadership as positive leadership, throughout the book because he's one of history's greatest examples of positive leadership and he demonstrates that great cultures happen when positive leaders know their most important job is to drive the culture.

Culture Beats Strategy

When Apple was just the two Steves (Jobs and Wozniak), they knew the culture they wanted to create. They would be the culture that challenged the status quo. Everything they did, including hiring people, running campaigns, and creating products, was influenced by this culture. Even after Steve Jobs's death, the culture continues to influence everything they do. It's why Apple is famous for stating the maxim that “culture beats strategy.” You have to have the right strategy of course, but it is your culture that will determine whether your strategy is successful. I believe Apple will be successful as long as they innovate and create from the strength of their culture. If they lose their culture they will lose their way and, like many of the mighty that have come before them, they will fall.

Very few people understand the importance of culture more than Rick Hendrick, the owner and founder of Hendrick Automotive Group and Hendrick Motorsports. In a world where there are thousands of car dealerships and many NASCAR racing teams, Hendrick Automotive is the largest privately owned dealer group in the United States, and Hendrick Motorsports is the winningest racing organization in the modern NASCAR era. Through speaking to the leaders of Hendrick Automotive and Jimmie Johnson's racing team (owned by Hendrick Motorsports), I have witnessed the incredible culture in both organizations. It's clear that they are driven by the same person. Rick Hendrick's signature leadership and drive are ingrained in everything they do. His people are humble, hungry, thankful, kind, and appreciative. They are on a quest for greatness. Their buildings are spotless. Their energy is always positive and contagious. Everyone wants to be the best and win. When you spend time with two companies—when you see the success of his automotive dealerships and the Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson, and Dale Earnhardt, Jr. racing teams—you realize that culture not only beats strategy, but it also fuels it and drives people and organizations to record growth and performance.

Know What You Stand For

You might be wondering where to start when driving and building a culture. I believe it starts with two questions: 1) What do we stand for? 2) What do we want to be known for? While visiting Hendrick Automotive, I asked several of Rick's leaders what they stood for, and they all said servant leadership. They told me that Rick leads the way and, in doing so, puts himself last in every decision he makes for his organization. He is very focused on making sure everyone's voice is heard because it is the team that shapes the company today, tomorrow, and in the future. His executive staff knows that Rick expects them to serve the people they lead in the same way. Teamwork through trust and respect is also one of Hendrick's core organizational values. One of Rick's mantras is “None of us is as smart as all of us.” He constantly states, “People are our biggest asset! If we take care of our people they will take care of our customers, and if we work together we will all accomplish more.” This principle comes to life through weekly and monthly meetings where employees share best practices. Having the high performers share how they win in the market lifts the whole company.

As you would expect, Rick is all about integrity and doing the right thing, doing what you say you will do, and being honest and telling the truth regardless of the situation. Leaders at Hendrick Automotive and Hendrick Motorsports also told me