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Kindle Notes & Highlights
by
Jon Gordon
Read between
May 5 - May 19, 2018
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.
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.
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 drives expectation and beliefs. Expectations and beliefs drive behaviors. Behaviors drive habits. And habits create the future.
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?
once you know what you stand for, decisions are easy to make. When your culture dictates your decisions, you are on the right path to positive results.
The rules you set with your example are what your organization is really all about, so make sure you live and breathe the values written on the walls.
Feeling is more powerful than hearing. You can't just create a culture where people hear about what's important. You must create a culture where people feel what's important.
A positive leader sees what's possible and then takes the next steps to rally and unite people to create it.
to rally people to follow you, you must be able to articulate and communicate your vision in a simple, clear, bold, and compelling way.
We can speak truth to the lies and fuel up with words, thoughts, phrases, and beliefs that give us the strength and power to overcome our challenges and create an extraordinary life,
Anyone pursuing anything worthwhile will fail and fail often.
you can dwell on the past or look forward to making the next opportunity great.
Those who see themselves as victims stay down. But those who see themselves as heroes get back up and, armed with optimism, courage, and faith, they move forward and take action to create a brighter and better future.
curse of experience. This is where they long for the good ole days, complain about the way things are, and are unwilling to change.
Leading with optimism, positivity, and belief comes down to leading with faith instead of fear.
Galatians 6:9, “Let us not become weary in doing good for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.”
One of the biggest mistakes leaders make is that they ignore the negativity within their team and organization.
You must address the negativity. Confront it, transform it, or remove it.
Gandhi said, “I will not let anyone walk through my mind with their dirty feet,”
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.
the first step in becoming a better leader is becoming a better you.
You are not allowed to complain unless you also offer one or two possible solutions.
The more united and connected a team and organization is, the more they are able to accomplish together.
A team and organization that's not connected at the top crumbles at the bottom.
make sure you are connecting with everyone in your organization. A lack of connection between leaders and their team leads to a lack of commitment, below-average teamwork, and sub-par performance and results.
As a leader, you can't allow people to stay isolated. You can't allow the disease of me to infect your organization.
It's important to create unity and wholeness. It needs to be a priority and it doesn't happen without intentionality and action.
If you want to build a great team, business, family, school, or organization, love the people you lead and work with.
Andy Stanley once said, “Rules without relationship lead to rebellion.”
research shows that when principals have a relationship with their teachers, engagement rises;
Communication builds trust. Trust generates commitment. Commitment fosters teamwork, and teamwork delivers great results.
Without great communication, negativity fills the void and it breeds and grows, resulting in negative contagious energy that quickly spreads.
conduct a weekly family meeting, like the one my family holds on Sundays. We talk about our family mission statement, our challenges from the past week, upcoming challenges, and anything that's on our hearts and minds.
“shout praise, whisper criticism.”
Several studies have demonstrated the benefits of physical contact
you can't truly coach someone to grow unless you know and have a relationship with them. Connection and relationships are what drive real growth.
You can't just talk about your commitment. They must feel your commitment.
When the people you lead see and feel your commitment, they will be more committed to you and each other.
When leaders become focused on the fruit instead of the root, when they worry about the outcome instead of the process of developing team members, they may survive in the short run, but they will not thrive in the long run.
The big questions you must ask yourself each day are: What am I doing to serve my team and the people I lead? How can I serve them to help them be the best versions of themselves? How can I demonstrate my commitment to them?
Maya Angelou said, “A leader sees greatness in other people.
If you don't love, you don't care, and if you don't care, you won't make the time to unite, communicate, encourage, connect, commit, serve, or sacrifice.
in addition to writing notes to graduates he also sends each student in Prosper ISD a note on their birthday. He can often be seen opening car doors and greeting students in the car line each morning before school. Sometimes he leaves messages of encouragement on whiteboards in the classrooms while the teachers and students are at lunch. And every Monday morning he sends all the educators and staff in the district an email with words of wisdom, encouragement, and praise.
A caring leader unites, connects, encourages, and transforms teams and organizations and changes the world.
real positive leadership is about serving others by doing the little things with a big dose of selfless love.
Positive leaders are humble and hungry. They don't think they know it all. They are life-long learners who are always seeking ways to learn, improve, and grow. They are always open to new ideas and strategies to take their life and work to the next level.
Love and accountability. That is how great teams, organizations, relationships, and results are created.
you have to love your people, but you have to make sure you hold your team accountable to the plan, the process, the principles, and the values of the culture.
Love without accountability means you'll have great relationships and be a loving family, but you won't be a great team.
