The Power of Positive Leadership

1 From Negative to Positive 1

2 Real Positive 7

3 Positive Leaders Drive Positive Cultures 13
-Your Most Important Job 16
-Culture Beats Strategy 17
-Know What You Stand For 19
-More than Words 21
-Positively Contagious 22
-Create a Culture that People Feel 23
-Invest in the Root if You Want the Fruit 24
-You Must Keep Building Your Culture 26

4 Positive Leaders Create and Share a Positive Vision 29
-A North Star 32
-A Telescope and Microscope 34
-Dabo Swinney’s Vision 34
-Keep the Vision Alive 38
-Make the Vision Come Alive 38
-My Vision 40

5 Positive Leaders Lead with Optimism, Positivity, and Belief 45
-Believe It and You’ll See It 50
-If You Don’t Have It, You Can’t Share it 51
-Feed the Positive Dog 51
-Talk to Yourself 52
-It’s All How You See It 53
-Tell Yourself a Positive Story 54
-Challenge or Opportunity 56
-Shark or Goldfish 56
-Think Like a Rookie 57
-Defeating Murphy 59
-Inside Out 59
-Distort Reality 60
-Leadership Is a Transfer of Belief 61
-Lead with Faith Instead of Fear 63
-Be an Over–Believer 64
-Don’t Stop Believing 66
-Your Leadership Journey 67

6 Positive Leaders Confront, Transform, and Remove Negativity 69
-Your Positivity Must Be Greater than All the Negativity 72
-No Energy Vampires Allowed 73
-Why Wait? 74
-The First Step Is to Transform 75
-Start at the Culture Level 75
-Remove the Negativity 77
-Sooner or Later 77
-Lead from Where You Are 79
-Implement the No Complaining Rule 79
-Michael Phelps’s Positive Leadership 82
-Don’t Be Negative about Negativity 83

7 Positive Leaders Create United and Connected Teams 85
-Connection Is the Difference 88
-Team Beats Talent When Talent Isn’t a Team 91
-Dabo Swinney’s Seat 93
-Collaborate and Facilitate 94
-Don’t Let Your Reptile Eat Your Positive Dog 95

8 Positive Leaders Build Great Relationships and Teams 99
-Love Does 101
-Love Is the Greatest Leadership Principle on the Planet 103
-Rules without Relationship Lead to Rebellion 104
-Communication Builds Trust 104
-Where There Is a Void in Communication, Negativity Fills It 106
-Leading by Walking Around 108
-Listening Is Communicating 110
-Enhance Your Positive Communication 110
-Be an Encourager 113
-Believe in Others More than They Believe in Themselves 114
-Help Your Team Become Unstoppable 115
-Connect One on One 117
-Be Committed 118
-Serve to Be Great 119
-Doing the Laundry 120
-It’s Not About You 123
-Commit to Coach 124
-Commitment Requires Sacrifice 125
-When You Help Others Improve, You Improve 126
-Elite of the Elite 127
-Positive Leaders Care 128
-Develop Your Caring Trademark 129
-The Sandwich 133

9 Positive Leaders Pursue Excellence 135
-Humble and Hungry 137
-There Is No Finish Line 139
-Demanding without being Demeaning 139
-Love and Accountability 140
-Love Tough 143
-Craftsmen and Craftswomen 144
-The One Percent Rule 145
-Clarity and Action 146

10 Positive Leaders Lead with Purpose 149
-Find and Live Your Purpose 153
-Share the Purpose 155
-Inspire Others to Live Their Purpose 155
-Purpose Driven Goals 156
-One Word 159
-Life Word 160
-Leave a Legacy 161
-Give People Great Stories to Tell 162
-Life and Death 164

11 Positive Leaders Have Grit 167
-Know What You Want 171
-Know Your Why 171
-Love It 172
-Embrace Failure 173
-Keep Doing Things the Right Way: Trust the Process 174
-Ignore the Critics; Do the Work 175

12 Lead the Way Forward 177
-Notes 189
-Acknowledgments 191
-Bring the Power of Positive Leadership to Your Organization 193
-Power of Positive Leadership Resources 194
-Other Books by Jon Gordon 195