Profit from the Positive

Proven Leadership Strategies to Boost Productivity & Transform your Business

Starting with the injunction, "you've tried everything, now try something that works", this book offers some realistic ways of making productive changes, translating research findings from positive psychology into actionable tools.

4 areas of leadership

The authors identify four areas where leaders must lead themselves before they even think about leading others.

1. Productivity:

• replace 'just do it' with 'just plan it' - creating a plan rather than diving into a piece of work increases productivity
• intriguingly, research (the Zeigarnik effect) shows that you'll be more likely to complete something you've already started, so leave a piece of work partly finished so there's something to work on immediately the next morning
• set yourself tiny steps - ask yourself, 'if I only had 5 minutes, what would I do?'
• develop habits of routine tasks so that you do them automatically - the authors call this 'outsourcing yourself'

2. Resilience:

• give up being the expert and develop a learner's mindset, willing to be confused
• win debates against yourself - by focusing on evidence and disputing negative absolutes like "I'm always useless", you can stack up your defences for when things don't go well, instead seeing setbacks as a temporary blip

3. Emotional management:

• emotions are contagious; mirror neurons in the brain literally 'catch' another's mood (particularly the leader's), much like catching a cold. To avoid spreading your negative mood:
• label the emotion which helps to control it (e.g. I'm feeling frustrated)
• go for a walk or blow off steam speaking with a trusted person
• don't be a control freak - people work better when they feel autonomous

4. Strengths:

• capitalise on what's right rather than focusing on what's wrong
• engage in performance pre-views rather than retrospective reviews - focus on how to optimise the application of people's strengths going forwards
• find solutions, not faults - help your team to learn to find solutions by asking them questions that allow them to take different perspectives and feel empowered rather than fearful
• know your own strengths, and use them appropriately

"No matter what the situation,
remind yourself, "I have a choice"