The Power of Positive Leadership: How and Why Positive Leaders Transform Teams and Organizations and Change the World

145 Pages·2017·1.3 MB·English

by  Jon Gordon

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
The Power of Positive Leadership
How and Why Positive Leaders Transform
Teams and Organizations and Change the World
Jon Gordon
Cover image: © abzee/iStockphoto
Cover 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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ISBN (cloth) 9781119351979; ISBN 9781119351702 (ePub); ISBN 9781119352037 (ePDF)
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 1
FROM 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.