The Power of Positive Leadership. Gordon Jon

You are broadcasting either negative energy or positive energy, apathy or passion, indifference or purpose. Research from Harvard University also supports the idea that the emotions you feel are contagious and affect the people around you.8 Your team is just as likely to catch your bad mood as the flu and, on the flip side, they will catch your good mood as well. As a leader your attitude, energy, and leadership is contagious, and it has a big impact on your culture. Great cultures and teams are built with positive, contagious energy, so it's essential that you share those types of feelings. When you walk into the office or the meeting, or onto the field, you have a decision to make: Are you going to be a germ to your team or a big dose of vitamin C? Please know that you don't have to be an extrovert to be positively contagious. Sharing positive energy doesn't mean you have to be a rah-rah leader and bounce off the walls. It means that from the heart you simply broadcast the love, passion, positivity, and purpose that you have for your team, organization, and mission. It comes more from your essence than it does your words. When Winston Churchill was leading Great Britain during WWII in its fight for survival against Hitler, people commented that Churchill looked 20 years younger than he did before the war. During Great Britain's darkest hour, Churchill was energized by the seemingly impossible task before him and his country, and he inspired his nation with passion and contagious energy. His famous words and speeches were a manifestation of his inner strength and conviction.

      1

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      2

      Seligman, M.E. & Schulman, P. (1986). Explanatory style as a predictor of productivity and quittin

1

Puri, M. & Robinson, D. (2007). Optimism and economic choice. Journal of Financial Economics, 86, 71-99.

2

Seligman, M.E. & Schulman, P. (1986). Explanatory style as a predictor of productivity and quitting among life insurance sales agents. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 50(4), 832–838.

3

Fredrickson, B. (2001). The role of positive emotions in positive psychology: The broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions. American Psychologist, 56, 218-226.

4

Goleman, D. (2011). Leadership: The power of emotional intelligence. Florence, MA: More Than Sound Publishers.

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Gottman, J. (1994). Why marriages succeed or fail. New York, NY: Simon & Schuster.

6

Baker, W., Cross, R., & Wooten, M. (2003). Positive organizational network analysis and energizing relationships. In J. Cameron, J.E. Dutton, & R. Quinn (Eds.), Positive Organizational Scholarship: Foundations of a New Discipline (pp. 328-342). San Francisco, CA: Berrett-Koehler Publishers, Inc.

7

McCraty, R., Atkinson, M., Tomasino, D., & Tiller, W. (1998). The electricity of touch: Detection and measurement of cardiac energy exchange between people. In Karl H. Pribram (Eds.), Brain Values: Is a Biological Science of Values Possible? Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 359-379.

8

Fowler, J. & Christakis, N. (2008). Dynamic spread of happiness in a large social network: Longitudinal analysis over 20 years in the Framingham Heart Study. British Medical Journal, 337(no. a2338), 1-9.

8

Fowler, J. & Christakis, N. (2008). Dynamic spread of happiness in a large social network: Longitudinal analysis over 20 years in the Framingham Heart Study. British Medical Journal, 337(no. a2338), 1-9.