The Power of Positive Leadership

Chapter 6Positive Leaders Confront, Transform, and Remove Negativity

Being positive won't guarantee you'll succeed but being negative will guarantee you won't.

Positive leadership is not just about feeding the positive, but also about weeding out the negative. As a leader you must recognize that negativity exists and you can't ignore it. One of the biggest mistakes leaders make is that they ignore the negativity within their team and organization. They allow it to breed and grow, and it eventually sabotages the team and organization. You must address the negativity. Confront it, transform it, or remove it.

I remember getting a call in 2007, shortly after The Energy Bus was published, from Jack Del Rio, who was the head coach of the Jacksonville Jaguars at the time. A friend had given him the book; he read it, and called to ask if I would meet with him. Keep in mind that I had just written the book. It wasn't in U.S. bookstores yet, although it was big in South Korea. I had never worked with a sports team before, never mind a professional sports team, and never spoken to a leader of his stature before. Now, as I sat across from him he told me that he was allowing energy vampires to get to him and the book helped him realize that he needed to deal with the negativity. It also reminded him to be more positive than the negativity he was facing. He asked me to speak to the team, and for some reason I boldly said I would if he gave the players a copy of the book. He agreed, and as ...