The Positive Leadership Approach to High Performance in Business

The Positive Leadership Approach to High Performance in Business

Positive Leadership: Gary Player's 10 Commandments

Gary Player is one of the greatest golfers of all time. He has lived his life based on the following commandments, enabling him to realise success achieved by very few.

1. Change is the price of survival.
2. Everything in business is negotiable, except quality.
3. A promise made is a debt incurred.
4. For all we take in life we must pay.
5. Persistence and common sense are more important than intelligence.
6. The fox fears not the man who boasts by night but the man who rises early in the morning.
7. Accept the advice of the man who loves you, though you like it not at present.
8. Trust instinct to the end, though you cannot render any reason.
9. The heights of great men reached and kept were not attained by sudden flight, but that while their companions slept were toiling upward in the night.
10. There is no substitute for personal contact.

Positive Leadership: Gary Player's 10 Commandments

Positive Leadership: Winning

“It’s impossible,” said Pride.

“It’s risky,” said Experience.

“It’s pointless,” said Reason.

“Give it a try,” whispered the Heart.

Positive Leadership: Winning

Positive Leadership: The World As Steve Jobs Saw It

When you grow up you tend to get told the world is the way it is and you're life is just to live your life inside the world. Try not to bash into the walls too much. Try to have a nice family, have fun, save a little money. That's a very limited life.

Life can be much broader once you discover one simple fact: Everything around you that you call life was made up by people that were no smarter than you and you can change it, you can influence it, you can build your own things that other people can use. 

Once you learn that, you'll never be the same again

 

Positive Leadership: The World As Steve Jobs Saw It

Positive Leadership: Global Leadership Forecast 2011

The Global Leadership Forecast 2011 is the largest and most comprehensive study of its kind. Over 2,600 organisations across 74 countries have provided perspectives on the current state of leadership in their organizations and future talent-related needs. The study is based on data from 1,897 HR professionals and 12,423 leaders.

 

Positive Leadership: Global Leadership Forecast 2011

Positive Leadership: Life Lessons Through Sport

As Stanford University Quarterback Andrew Luck awaits Saturday's Heisman Trophy ceremony, his father, Oliver, a former NFL quarterback and current athletic director at West Virginia University, shares his thoughts on life lessons through sports:

 

Positive Leadership: Life Lessons Through Sport

Positive Leadership: Is an Organisation Values Driven?

What do US companies, Zappos, Ben and Jerry’s, and Southwest Airlines have in common? They are all financially successful, values-driven companies.

A lot of companies claim to be values-driven. They publish their values and use them in marketing messages. However, this does not necessarily mean their values guide decision-making and behaviours company-wide on a day-by-day basis.

To know for certain, you can investigate whether leadership practices and company policies are aligned with their published vision and values. But there’s a simpler and quicker way to tell: pay attention to your own experience as a customer.

Here are five quick ways you can tell if an organisation is really values-driven.

1. Employees remember what the company’s values are.

Ask three employees what the values of the company are.

Can they quickly recall them?

Do they repeat the same values?

2. Employees can describe specific activities and behaviours that demonstrate what the values look like in action.

Ask the employees to give you examples of how the values they listed are lived in the company –what behaviours or actions do they see that exemplify each of the values?

It’s not enough to just have a list of values. The same words can mean different things to different people. 

Values like “teamwork” “innovation” or “ownership” need to be clearly defined so they are understood by all and can be implemented consistently.

3. The company’s values are visibly integrated into how they do business and are not just something extra they do on the side.

It is common knowledge that since its inception, Ben and Jerry’s has built a reputation for caring more about people than profit, providing leadership in social and environmental responsibility. And although the company was sold to Unilever in 2000, CEO Jostein Solheim recently provided reassurance that the essence has not changed, stating:

“The world needs dramatic change to address the social and environmental challenges we are facing. Values led businesses can play a critical role in driving that positive change. We need to lead by example, and prove to the world that this is the best way to run a business. Historically, this company has been and must continue to be a pioneer to continually challenge how business can be a force for good and address inequities inherent in global business.”

4. The company’s public message matches your own experience as a customer.

Our advice to companies is Don’t make a claim and then miss the mark, consistently. We consumers resent it and you actually lose credibility.

5. Use your own personal experience to identify the real company values.

Anyone who has flown on Southwest Airlines can tell you without reading their ads that having fun is one of their core values. And indeed, on the careers page of their Website, Southwest Airlines recruits specifically for people who “want the freedom to be creative, dress casually, and have fun on the job.” 

Positive Leadership: Is an Organisation Values Driven?

Positive Leadership: Passion and Attitude

Tiger Woods returned to the winners circle this past weekend and demonstrated in the process why his passion and attitude are so important to both winning and the world of professional golf!

Positive Leadership: Passion and Attitude

Positive Leadership: Everyone Can Learn

Do you know people who talk about children who can learn and ones who can’t? Or, children who can be helped and ones who can’t? Well, they are wrong, and we will tell you why.

Some 30-odd years ago, the great Japanese teacher, Dr. Suzuki, who taught over 20,000 children to understand and play the violin like virtuosi, had some words of wisdom to share with us. He said, “People today are like gardeners who look sadly at ruined saplings and shake their heads, saying the seeds must have been bad to start with – not realising that the seed was all right, and that it was their method of cultivation that was wrong. They go on their mistaken way, ruining plant after plant. It is imperative that the human race escape from this vicious circle.” These words have value even today.

You see, Dr. Suzuki did not believe that some children were gifted while others were not. He believed that every child could be superior, and that every child could be educated. Talent, he believed, was no accident of birth, but a purposeful effort, a powerful creation.

Let’s teach our children to understand that when they see someone of ability, they see a person who has been carefully taught, and who has worked hard to realize their unlimited potential. Let’s teach them that they have the same unlimited potential. And let’s teach them to believe in sustained effort, self-discipline and self-determination.

We have the opportunity and the ability to raise an entire generation of superstars every day. Why would we settle for less?

Positive Leadership: Everyone Can Learn

Positive Leadership: Identifying Future Leaders

One of the best ways to identify a potential leader is to ask people: “Who do you enjoy working with?  Who do you respect in the workforce?”  The names you hear in answer to those questions are the kind of people you want to identify as potential leaders and promote.

Great leaders are great because their people trust and respect them, not because they have power. So think about it: Who do people trust and respect in your workplace? Who do people go to for advice who might not be a leader now?  Those are the ones you want to identify. Those are the ones who have the potential to be leaders, because people are already attracted to them.

Positive Leadership: Identifying Future Leaders

Positive Leadership: Congratulations to Macfarlane Gray!

Positive Leadership is delighted to work with Macfarlane Gray, winners of the Best Independent Firm in Scotland award for practice excellence at the recent British Accountancy Awards Dinner in London.

The judging panel quite rightly said “Macfarlane Gray has achieved success driven by constant innovation and won with the development of client focused programmes, which allows it to provide bespoke and targeted service. It is clear that its success over many years has been based on its motto “growth through quality”

Congratulations to everyone in the Macfarlane Gray team!

Positive Leadership: Congratulations to Macfarlane Gray!

Positive Leadership: Winning On and Off the Field

The most outstanding player in college football this generation, Stanford senior quarterback Andrew Luck has redefined his position by being the coach on the field and consistently putting the Cardinal offense into the perfect play. Andrew's individual QB success, the offense's success and the team's success at Stanford are incomparable. He is a true winner on and off the field!

 

Positive Leadership: Winning On and Off the Field

Positive Leadership: What Makes Silicon Valley Different?

As a partner at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Dana Mead supports entrepreneurs and innovators seeking to make major impact through life science technologies and ventures. In this lecture, Mead talks about Venture Capital, offering great insights about Silicon Valley and life as a venture capitalist.

 

Positive Leadership: What Makes Silicon Valley Different?

Positive Leadership: Inspiration

Two great motivational speeches from British Lions coach, Jim Telfer in South Africa in 1997:


 

Positive Leadership: Inspiration

Positive Leadership: Playing to Win

There was a time in most of our lives when we had no fear-that feeling when we jumped from the jungle gym and slammed our little bodies to the ground. Perhaps it was when we went on our first fairground ride, or when we were in school or university and felt that there was nothing we couldn't do. No goal was unattainable. We were an unstoppable force that would think of something and then make it happen. 

Then, as time goes by, the world tells us more frequently that we can't do what we want. The doubters laugh at our goals and try to persuade us from going after our dreams. They say, "You're crazy. It's too hard. Why don't you do this instead? You should play it safe." They act as if dreams were meant for others but not people like us. They surround us with negative energy and try to instill their own fears and insecurities in us. We not only begin to know the word "fear," we start to understand what it's like to be fearful. With so many people telling us we can't do something and so few telling us we can, it's hard not to let fear into our lives. Unfortunately this is how many of us go through life.

Whether you are 20 or 50, many of us become so scared of losing what we have that we don't go after what we truly want. We play it safe and hold on so tight to the status quo that we never experience what could be. We believe the doubters and don't take chances that will move us one step towards our dreams. We call this "playing to lose." We see this in sports all the time when a team has the lead. They start to think about how not to lose instead of how to win. They hold on so tight to their lead that they start playing safe and scared. You can see it in their energy and body language. As a result the other team takes chances, plays with no fear and eventually gains the momentum and wins.

To live a life filled with positive energy we must learn to repel the energy of fear. Whether it comes from within or from another person, we must overcome fear and adopt a "Play to Win" mindset. 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. Those who play to win know that success is not given to us. It is pursued with all the energy and sweat we can muster. Obstacles and struggles are part of life and only serve to make us appreciate our success. If everything came easy we wouldn't know what it felt like to truly succeed. Obstacles are meant to be overcome. Fear is meant to be conquered. Success is meant to be achieved. 

They are all part of the game of life and the people who succeed play to win and never give up until the game is over.

Positive Leadership: Playing to Win

Positive Leadership: Leaders with Values

Management thought leaders share their ideas on values in business.

Featuring:
Arturo Condo, professor, INCAE Business School
David Rock, founder, NeuroLeadership Institute
Buie Seawell, professor, Daniels College of Business, University of Denver
Erin Lehman, senior researcher, Center for Public Leadership, John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University
Christopher Adkins, director, undergraduate program, Mason School of Business, The College of William & Mary
Maj. Gen. Frederick B. Hodges, US Army
Susan Clancy, associate professor, INCAE Business School
Jonathan Gosling, professor, University of Exeter Business School
 

Positive Leadership: Leaders with Values

Positive Leadership: Global Entrepreneurship and Successful Growth Strategies of Early-Stage Companies

According to the Global Entrepreneurship and Successful Growth Strategies of Early-Stage Companies report, released by the World Economic Forum in collaboration with Stanford University and Endeavor Global, the top 1% of companies from among 380,000 companies reviewed across 10 countries contribute 44% of total revenue and 40% of total jobs while the top 5% contribute 72% of total revenue and 67% of total jobs.

Global Entrepreneurship and Successful Growth Strategies of Early-Stage Companies

Positive Leadership: Global Entrepreneurship and Successful Growth Strategies of Early-Stage Companies

Positive Leadership: How to be a Good Boss

Positive Leadership: How to be a Good Boss

Positive Leadership: The Power of Thank You

In the spirit of Thanksgiving we would like to share with you the benefits and power of two simple words. THANK YOU.

They are two words that have the power to transform our health, happiness, athletic performance and success. Research shows that grateful people are happier and more likely to maintain good friendships. 

A state of gratitude, according to research by the Institute of HeartMath, also improves the heart's rhythmic functioning, which helps us to reduce stress, think more clearly under pressure and heal physically. It's actually physiologically impossible to be stressed and thankful at the same time. When you are grateful you flood your body and brain with emotions and endorphins that uplift and energise you rather than the stress hormones that drain you.

Gratitude and appreciation are also essential for a healthy work environment. In fact, the number one reason why people leave their jobs is because they don't feel appreciated. A simple thank you and a show of appreciation can make all the difference.

Gratitude is like muscle. The more we do with it the stronger it gets. In this spirit here are 4 ways to practice Thanksgiving every day of the year.

1. Take a Daily Thank You Walk - Take a simple 10-minute walk each day and say out loud what you are thankful for. This will set you up for a positive day.

2. Meal Time Thank You's - On Thanksgiving, or just at dinner with your friends and family, go around the table and have each person, including the children at the little table, say what they are thankful for.

3. Gratitude Visit - Martin Seligman, Ph.D., the father of positive psychology, suggests that we write a letter expressing our gratitude to someone. Then we visit this person and read them the letter. His research shows that people who do this are measurably happier and less depressed a month later.

4. Say Thank You at Work – When Doug Conant was the CEO of Campbell Soup he wrote approximately 30,000 thank you notes to his employees and energised the company in the process. Energise and engage your colleagues and team by letting them know you are grateful for them and their work. And don’t forget to say thank you to your clients and customers too.

We hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving.

Positive Leadership: The Power of Thank You

Positive Leadership: Winning Gracefully

In what ended up being a pretty close game, Duke beat Michigan State at Madison Square Garden recently. In the process, Coach Mike Krzyzewski set a record by winning his 903rd Division I basketball game. With the win, he passed his former coach, boss and mentor Bob Knight who was sitting court side calling the game for ESPN. It was a pretty compelling moment made more so by the way Coach K conducted himself in the minutes after the game. As you can see in this interview with ESPN’s Andy Katz, the coach showed grace, gratitude and perspective after setting the record.

  If you’re fortunate as a leader, there will be times when you can see a big win coming up before it happens. In Coach K’s case, it was certain that he was going to break the record this season, it was just a question of when. By thinking in advance how he wanted to handle himself if he won at MSG in front of his old coach, he created an opportunity to show leaders how to win gracefully.

 Here are three lessons from the coach that stood out:

Show grace - When the buzzer sounded, Coach K hugged his staff, walked down the sideline and hugged his long-time friend and rival, Spartans coach Tom Izzo. He then proceeded to shake the hand of every MSU player just like he does at the end of every game. He then walked over to the broadcast table for a long embrace with Bob Knight. Coach K recognized that all the eyes and cameras were on him and conducted himself with grace and dignity.

Show gratitude – When the time came for the post-game interview at centre court, the first question was about what he said to Knight during their hug. Coach K said, “I told him I love him and that I wouldn’t be in this position without him.” He then expressed his appreciation for his circumstance and shared the credit by saying, “When you have really good players and a great school, you’re going to win a lot of games.” On a night when it could have been all about him, he didn’t make it all about him.

Show perspective – One of the last questions for the Coach was after setting this record, winning championships and Olympic gold medals, what are you going to do next? His simple, quiet and immediate response was, “Developing this team. We have some great kids and we want to have a really good season.”

Coach K is clearly a winner and a leader. He’s not perfect. None of us are. That said, he set a good example on Tuesday for leaders who experience a big win.

Positive Leadership: Winning Gracefully

Positive Leadership: The Environment and Happiness

To some extent, each of us is affected by the environment around us. But when your happiness depends on what goes on around you, you are in trouble.

Have you ever thought about what happens when we let what goes on in our environment determine how we feel on the inside?  When things are going well, we feel good, cheerful, positive, and full of enthusiasm.  But when the least little thing goes wrong, we start to come un-glued.

If this happens, we can start feeling like a victim, and when we feel this way we give up control of our lives.  

If you are not having problems, you are missing an opportunity for growth; an opportunity to take charge of how you respond and what you do, regardless of what is happening in your environment.

You know, there is only one thing in life over which we have complete control, and that is what goes on inside our minds. When you choose to take charge of your thoughts, of the things you tell yourself, you become very powerful. Certainly, you may feel disappointment when things go wrong, but you can choose to see all the setbacks as temporary. You can choose to use them as opportunities to grow, and you'll develop the ability to quickly bounce back when you hit an obstacle, as well as the incredible strength that comes from standing up to adversity.

The choice really is yours to make - it has been, and will continue to be.

Positive Leadership: The Environment and Happiness

Positive Leadership: Great by Choice

‘When the moment comes – when we’re afraid, exhausted, or tempted – what choice do we make? Do we abandon our values? Do we give in? Do we accept average performance because that’s what most everyone else accepts? Do we capitulate to the pressure of the moment? Do we give up on our dreams when we’ve been slammed by brutal facts?

What is clear about great leaders is that they care as much about values as victory, as much about purpose as profit, as much about being useful as being successful. Their drive and standards are ultimately internal, rising from somewhere deep inside.

We are not imprisoned by our circumstances. We are not imprisoned by the luck we get or the inherent unfairness of life. We are not imprisoned by crushing setbacks, self-inflicted mistakes or our past success. We are not imprisoned by the times in which we live, by the number of hours in a day or even the number of hours we’ve granted in our very short lives. In the end, we can only control a tiny sliver of what happens to us. But even so, we are free to choose, free to become great by choice.’ 

Jim Collins & Morten Hansen

Positive Leadership: Great by Choice

Positive Leadership: Clutch!

When asked, are you clutch? Author of Clutch, Paul Sullivan answers: “Yes and no. (…) I’ve been clutch in my personal and professional life, and these have been the areas that have mattered most. But not in golf. What I learned, alas, was that since being clutch isn’t a mystical ability that can be bestowed on somebody, it takes work. But at least for me I know what to do now.”

These are the five traits of people who are 'clutch':

• Focus
• Discipline
• Adaptability
• Being present
• Plus the push and pull of fear and desire.

In this video, Paul Sullivan explains what it means to be Clutch, and how you too can thrive in high pressure situations.

Positive Leadership: Clutch!

Positive Leadership: How Organisations can Demotivate their Employees

Jim Collins — the author of the legendary Good to Great and co-author of the new and equally compelling Great by Choice – has an insightful 3-minute video describing three ways organisations demotivate their employees.

 

Positive Leadership: How Organisations can Demotivate their Employees