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

“Being positive doesn’t just make you better; it makes everyone around you better.”

Gordon will make this point over and over throughout the book. It encapsulates several of his most important points: that positive leaders build a culture of positivity, that they must genuinely care about the people they lead, and that their vision must inspire those people. All these practices enhance the lives of the people in an organization and make the organization itself more successful, in line with Gordon’s contention that Establishing a Positive Culture is paramount.

“We are not positive because life is easy. We are positive because life can be hard.”

Gordon consistently juxtaposes his definition of positivity against what he calls “Pollyanna positivity,” or the attempt to find something to be optimistic about in every situation, good or bad. Rather, his positivity includes resilience in the face of adversity, along with vision, belief, purpose, and other characteristics that help the positive leader overcome challenges. Here, Gordon concisely expresses his vision of positivity via a paradox—that hardship not only necessitates but also facilitates positivity.

“Culture is not just one thing; it’s everything.”

Chapter 3 explicitly establishes one of Gordon’s major themes—the idea that culture is everything. The most important job of an organization’s leader is to establish a positive culture. This will energize and encourage team members, foster relationships among them, and give them a chance to grow. In addition, the culture will drive the expectations and beliefs of the team.