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Kindle Notes & Highlights
by
Jon Gordon
Read between
January 16 - January 19, 2018
when it comes to building a positive, high-performing work environment, there was a much more subtle and far more dangerous problem than jerks. It was complaining and more subtle forms of negativity,
Far more dangerous is the kind of cancer that is subtle and inside your body. It grows hidden beneath the surface, sometimes slow, sometimes fast, but either way, if not caught, it eventually spreads to the point where it can and will destroy the body. Complaining and negativity are this kind of cancer to an organization,
That is why one of the most important things we can do in business and life is to stay positive with strategies that turn negative energy into positive solutions.
everything was always more urgent than their employees’ concerns, so negativity kept spreading and morale kept getting worse.
where there is a void, negativity will fill it.
Let go of the past. Stop being disappointed about where you are and start being optimistic about where you are going. Focus on the future. Move beyond yourself. Instead of focusing on your own problems, focus on helping others with theirs.
what we need the most we resist the most.
the biggest problem in business, and it not only affects us as an organization but it affects us individually.”
Negativity costs the U.S. economy between $250 to $300 billion every year in lost productivity, according to the Gallup Organization. And this number is conservative since it doesn’t take into account the ripple effect of complaining and negativity.
Ninety percent of doctor visits are stress related,
#1 cause of office stress is coworkers and th...
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negative employees can scare off every customer they speak with—for good
Too many negative interactions compared to positive interactions at work can decrease the productivity of a team,
Negativity affects the morale, performance, and productivity of our teams.
One negative person can create a miserable office environment for everyone else.
Negative emotions are associated with the following: • Decreased life span and longevity • Increased risk of heart attack • Increased risk of stroke • Greater stress • Less e...
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She knew that there were two main reasons why people complained: (1) because they were fearful and helpless and (2) because it had become a habit.
in life you have a choice between two roads. The positive road and the negative road. The positive road will lead to enhanced health, happiness, and success and the negative road will lead to misery, anger, and failure.
CCs—Chronic Complainers—and they’re not only hurting themselves but annoying everyone else.
‘Don’t complain. Eighty percent of the people you complain to don’t care and 20 percent are glad you have problems.’
complaining doesn’t make us feel better. Maybe temporarily, but in the long run complaining creates a cycle of negativity that feeds itself and grows.
Step 1, you do a No Complaining Day.
start with a day. Then go for a week. Then a month, then a year. Like any bad habit, it’s a one day at a time kinda thing, and remember change begins with you.
Step 2. When you do complain, because you most certainly will—everyone does—use your complaining to your advantage. You see, every complaint has an opposite. If there is something you don’t like, then there is something you do like. If there is something you are not happy about, then there is something that would make you happy. Complaining can actually be a gift if we use it correctly. If we pay attention to our thoughts, words, and complaints, we will learn a lot about what we don’t want and don’t like. We can then use what we don’t want and don’t like as a catalyst to help us determine what
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1. The But → ___ Positive Technique. This simple strategy helps you turn your complaints into positive thoughts, solutions, and actions. It works like this. When you realize you are complaining, you simply add the word but and then add a positive thought or positive action.
Focus on “Get To” instead of “Have To.”
Focus on what you get to do. Focus on feeling blessed instead of stressed. Focus on gratitude.
Turn Complaints into Solutions. The goal is not to eliminate all complaining. The intent is to eliminate the kind of mindless complaining that doesn’t serve a greater purpose and allow complaining that is justified and worthwhile. The opposite of mindless complaining is justified complaining. The former is negative and the latter is positive. The difference is intent. With mindless complaining, you are mindlessly focusing on problems; however, with justified complaining you identify a problem and the complaint moves you toward a solution. Every complaint represents an opportunity to turn a
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it doesn’t matter how many times someone tells you something, often you need to find the answer for yourself in your own time.
“It’s like the root and fruit of the tree. So often we focus on the fruit (results, profits, stock price, etc.), and that’s all well and good since we need to measure them and be held accountable. But if we focus on the fruit too much at the expense of ignoring the root (our people, culture, teamwork, and spirit), then eventually the root dries up and so does the fruit.
It was the company’s leadership’s fault but she also knew that he needed to be let go. He was too focused on the past and unwilling to move forward.
in the process of building a positive culture you had to let some energy vampires off the bus,
one person can’t make a team, but one person can break a team.
Staying positive is not about putting on a fake smile or believing you can do it all yourself. Rather it’s about being optimistic and living with hope and having faith. The measure of our success will not be determined by how we act during the great times in our life but rather by how we think and respond to the challenges of our most difficult moments.
Remember, focus on the solution, not the problem, and be the change. Change begins with us.”
Successful, positive companies with positive employees and positive cultures are created like anything else. Through a set of principles, processes, systems, and habits that are ingrained in the corporate culture and each individual employee. Positive companies aren’t born. They are developed.
Positive energy flows from the top down in our organization. It trickles up and moves sideways, but it flows from the top down. Positive leadership is essential,”
Because people deliver the numbers, people should be our focus, and if we focus on them they will deliver the numbers we want.”
winning is just a goal and not the focus. Winning is the by-product of great effort, leadership, coaching, teamwork, and positive energy.
to spread trust and positive energy throughout the organization we must communicate, communicate, communicate.
As leaders, we need to do a better job of listening to our people and empowering them to create solutions. We need to praise them more instead of always demoralizing them. The key is the power of positive interactions.
work groups with positive to negative interaction ratios greater than 3:1 are significantly more productive than teams that do not reach this ratio.”
if a work group in a company experiences a positive to negative interaction ratio of 13:1, the work group will be less effective. This implies that no one is willing to confront the real problems and challenges that are holding them back.
“With a positive culture that fosters positive communication, we can then use our communication network to become solution and innovation focused. We can listen to our employees and encourage them to share their ideas with us. This includes their complaints. If we listen to them and collect their ideas, we will become a company that harnesses the power of its people. We will turn great ideas into successful innovations, and we will turn problems and complaints into solutions.”
“Once you have your principles in place, then you can align your strategies, actions, and processes with your principles. If we follow the principles, we can identify solutions to enhance our culture in all our departments and business divisions,
Playing to win requires a commitment to yourself that even if you fail, you will never give up and never let your goals and dreams die.
the rule generated the kind of positive energy and culture that attracts higher caliber employees who want to work in a positive environment. It also helped weed out negative employees since they just didn’t fit in anymore. The company also spent less time kicking people off the bus, since most of the “wrong” people just got off by themselves. Even better was the fact that most of the wrong people stayed off the bus in the first place. Because managers talked about the No Complaining Rule during the hiring process, it scared most of the “wrong” people away.
created a card with five things to do instead of complain.
Five Things to Do Instead of Complain 1. Practice Gratitude. Research shows that when we count three blessings a day, we get a measurable boost in happiness that uplifts and energizes us. It’s also physiologically impossible to be stressed and thankful at the same time. Two thoughts cannot occupy our mind at the same time. If you are focusing on gratitude, you can’t be negative. You can also energize and engage your coworkers by letting them know you are grateful for them and their work. 2. Praise Others. Instead of complaining about what others are doing wrong, start focusing on what they are
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1. Trust in a bigger plan. 2. Find strength in adversity. 3. Failure today leads to success tomorrow. 4. The worst event in life is often a catalyst for the best. 5. Positive or Negative. The choice is ours.
