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

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

• 
  Laurie Levermann coker

  Book Review: Jon Gordon's Power of Positive Leadership
  I wondered as I read author Jon Gordon’s book The Power of Positive Leadership how I might review it, even before I decided I would. As I type this, I am hard-pressed to think of ways to bestow my opinion without repeating myself over and over again. It is those very words (over and over), that put me in this current predicament. How do I write a critique of any length when the repetitiveness, tedium, and overtness of Gordon’s message on the power of positivity caused me to roll my eyes and frankly, to nearly tune out? Thankfully, Gordon’s Power of Positive Leadership is brief – less than half a day reading time. Were it not for a few valuable and applicable principals regarding leading with positivity; the book would have been a total waste of time for me. Making matters more frustrating, Gordon, who penned the bestseller The Energy Bus, spends an exceptional amount of time touting his other books, like one long self-aggrandizing infomercial for Jon Gordon. His written several decent books, I get it. I also know that positivity begets positivity and a positive leader, who can foster positivity and do so in honest and positive earnest, will, even in the face of adversity, eventually and positively succeed. But this, at least to me, is not a new message or concept. It is kind of like Forrest Gump says “life is like a box of chocolate” - such is the case with a positive outlook on life – think positively, and even lousy chocolate will taste good. With optimism and a positive outlook, tribulations will still occur, but our reaction to it is what defines us, our team and our end game.
  Gordon tell personal stories – about family, failures, and enlightenment and he shares tales of successful positive leadership, in the locker room and in the boardroom, but even these become monotonous. It’s a bit like watching the movie Rudy on a continual loop – okay, okay, we get it. In fairness Gordon does, in the second to the last chapter, introduce the term GRIT saying “Grit keeps you moving forward through the sting of rejection, pain of failure, and struggle with adversity. When life knocks you down, you may want to stay down and give up, but grit won't let you quit” (p. 170-171). I found this just another way to put a spin on an “if you fall, get up, dust yourself off and keep going,” something my mother used to tell me from the time I was a little girl -before Jon Gordon was born. Ultimately, Gordon, at least in this one of his sixteen books, offers little that is insightful or inspiring.
  
• 
  Jay Hatch

  I received my copy of The Power of Positive Leadership by Jon Gordon on Wednesday and I could not put it down. I finished it on Thursday. I can't wait to re-read it. This book is full of anecdotes, stories, and philosophy that will help anyone live a better and happier life. I recommend this book to anyone who wants to be a better leader in any walk of life.
• 
  Cheryl Zaleski

  page 22: "Research from the HeartMath Institute shows that when you have a feeling in your heart, it goes to every cell in the body, then outward - and people up to 10 feet away can sense the feelings transmitted by your heart."
  
  I'm done.
• 
  Cecilia

  Just a series of anecdotes. No real take away.
• 
  Audrey Monke

  Everyone's a leader whether in your home, your work, or your community. And everyone will benefit from reading this book and understanding how to live your purpose and encourage others. Optimism is where it's at and Jon Gordon has once again proven why. So many great tips and inspiration.
• 
  Kari Olfert

  The Power of Positive Leadership is motivating, not Tony Robbins motivating but if you're in a rut or feeling more down then up, this book is great little read. Also provides good direction for leadership.
  
  It almost reads like a Dale Carnegie or a Napoleon Hill style book, minus the personal addresses of his examples. (They actually used the personal addresses of the people they were providing an example about 😂😮)
• 
  Jennifer Kloczko

  Amazing. Loved it.
• 
  Delair Bolis

  It was a great gift Edival! Thanks for sharing it.
  
  This book is a Great opportunity to refresh, recicle and reinforce our positive leadership. It is a transfers of belief and positively contagious!
• 
  Edival Santos

  Simple but powerful!
• 
  Jeanenne Kinnetz

  What a great book. It is thought provoking and an easy read. I have so many quotes highlighted.
• 
  Cassie

  Read for work. Short and easy read.
• 
  Anthony Thompson

  Power of Positive Leadership is a wonderful book for leaders looking to create a positive culture. The message is contrary to what the world calls us to do. Being positive is not easy, but it is essential in order to live the life we have been called to live. The framework in the book provides the map to starting the journey to the positive life we are supposed to live.
• 
  Kylie Loeffelholz

  The fastest I've read a book cover to cover in a long time. A must read for anyone on their path to leadership. Whether your a new to leadership in the middle of your journey or a season leader their are fabulous lessons and examples that you will take from this book and be able to apply.
• 
  Chris Weatherburn

  Here is my summary is one line: Your Positivity Must Be Greater than All the Negativity.
  
  Longer summary:
  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. “the more you energize people in your workplace, the higher your work performance.” In part this is because people want to be around you, thereby 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. The opposite is also true, if you de-energize others, people won't go out of their way to work with or help you.
  
  Start change at the culture level. Positive leaders drive positive cultures. Culture is not just one thing. It's everything. Culture drives expectation and beliefs. Expectations and beliefs drive behaviours. Behaviours drive habits. And habits create the beliefs drive behaviours. Behaviours drive habits. And habits create the future. It all starts with the culture you create and drive throughout the organization.
  
  If you want the fruit, you must invest in the root. If you invest in the root, you will always receive a great supply of fruit. Of course you should measure your fruit, but you should do so knowing that it's simply a by-product of how well you are nurturing the root. Your culture is your root, and your focus should be on the process that nourishes and produces the fruit. Optimism, positivity, and belief are the fuel that positive leaders need to keep moving forward and drive results.
  
  The author mentions a fair bit about sports coaches, several of whom he met after the success of his previous book ‘The Energy Bus’. An example was when promoting Women's National Basketball Association; if you can show proof of concept and early successes to the next level of believers this and gets them to buy in. One success at a time, gets people to by in and believe. “You have to give people excuses to say yes. Some will be all in based on what you say. Some you need to show.” You must not only be positive but effective too. You can be positive but not effective. It's about deciding the highest and best use of our energy.
  
  Mentions energy vampires, people who suck optimism out of the room. An interesting example using this was an American football club who draw a large picture of an energy vampire on the wall facing the seats where the players sit. If a player or coach acted like an energy vampire, the team took his picture and put it on the wall. No one wanted to be on the wall. It was a message from the coach to the team that they would stay positive through their adversity and challenges.
  
  The best way to deal with energy vampires in your organization is at the culture level, where you set the expectation that people who drain the energy of others will not be tolerated. Talk about the negative impact of negativity. Explain that one person can't make a team but one person can break a team. Talk about what a great culture looks like and how you want everyone to be a positive contributor to it. This may transform energy vampires if doesn't work then remove them.
  
  If you are an emerging leaders in an organization but, don't have the power to hire and fire an energy vampires how should you interact with them? Try to be more positive than the negativity you face. Become a positive force of positive energy that demonstrates to others what real positivity in the form of love, patience, kindness, and care looks like. Lead by example and lead from where you are. Look at every energy vampire as an opportunity to strengthen your positivity.
  
  Being positive won't guarantee you'll succeed but being negative will guarantee you won't. Positive leadership is not just about feeding the positive, but also about weeding out the negative. As a leader you must recognize that negativity exists and you can't ignore it. You must address the negativity in your team. Confront it, transform it, or remove it.
  
  Once you decide the way forward, you execute challenge or opportunity. You can tell yourself a positive story by looking at the events in your life as an opportunity instead of a challenge. Understand that leadership is not just about what you do but what you can inspire, encourage, and empower others to do. Regardless of your circumstances and challenges, there is a future waiting to be created and, with your leadership, optimism, belief, and faith, your team and organization will be the one to create it. On your leadership journey, it will take all your optimism, belief, and positivity to help others become all that they are meant to be. It will also require your ability to develop relationships with them.
  
  Communication builds trust. Trust generates commitment. Commitment fosters teamwork, and teamwork delivers great results. If you don't have communication, you don't have the commitment and trust you need to build a great team and create the future together. As a positive leader, it's important to be a positive communicator and make others feel important by listening to them and truly hearing what they have to say. Decide to be that person who instils a positive belief in someone who needs to hear your encouraging words. Uplift someone who is feeling down. Fuel your team with your positive energy. Rally others to focus on what is possible rather than what seems impossible. Share encouragement. It will help build your relationships. It matters and we all need it.
  
  Servant leadership leads with humility, knowing it's not about you —it's about his team. Remember, it's not about you. It's about committing yourself to others. Many want to be big-time leaders but it's important to remember that being a big-time leader starts with doing the little things to serve those you lead. It's always about the little things. Unity, relationships, and teamwork are developed slowly, one day; one interaction; one moment; one loving, serving, and caring act at a time.
  
  Motivation doesn't last, but purpose-driven motivation does. Purpose-driven goals lead to outcomes that far surpass your numbered goals alone. An idea this book suggests to help you live with purpose is to pick a word at the start of each year and share this with close friends and family, encouraging them to do the same. This well chosen word represents your main goal for that year and will help inspire you to live with more meaning, passion and purpose for that year. We don't get burned out because of what we do. We get burned out because we forget why we do it.
  
  To be a positive leader you need grit, the ability to work hard for a long period of time towards a goal; to persevere, overcome, and keep moving forward in the face of adversity, failure, rejection, and obstacles. Love powers grit, and it also powers you over fear. Fear causes you to worry about what everyone will think if you fail. Love moves you to give your best and not worry about the rest.
  
  VLOG summary:
  https://youtu.be/peFDOimCeVU
  If you found this helpful please check out my website for more
  www.chrisweatherburn.com
• 
  Randy Brown

  I was fortunate to receive a review copy of The Power of Positive Leadership by Jon Gordon. The best part of his writing are the vivid examples and descriptions he gives to make his point. Throughout the book I've made notes of excellent stories that tell the story. I believe a good writer takes the reader along with them and I've always felt that way reading Jon's books!
  This book can change your attitude and way of thinking about daily events in a big way!
  Highly, highly recommend you buy and read!