The Power of a Positive Team

A book about teams to help teams become more positive, united and connected.

Worldwide bestseller — the author of The Energy Bus and The Power of Positive Leadership shares the proven principles and practices that build great teams - and provides practical tools to help teams overcome negativity and enhance their culture, communication, connection, commitment and performance.

Jon Gordon doesn’t just research the keys to great teams, he has personally worked with some of the most successful teams on the planet and has a keen understanding of how and why they became great. In The Power of a Positive Team, Jon draws upon his unique team building experience as well as conversations with some of the greatest teams in history in order to provide an essential framework, filled with proven practices, to empower teams to work together more effectively and achieve superior results.

Utilizing examples from the writing team who created the hit show Billions, the National Champion Clemson Football team, the World Series contending Los Angeles Dodgers, The Miami Heat and the greatest beach volleyball team of all time to Navy SEAL’s, Marching bands, Southwest Airlines, USC and UVA Tennis, Twitter, Apple and Ford, Jon shares innovative strategies to transform a group of individuals into a united, positive and powerful team.

Jon not only infuses this book with the latest research, compelling stories, and strategies to maintain optimism through adversity… he also shares his best practices to transform negativity, build trust (through his favorite team building exercises) and practical ways to have difficult conversations—all designed to make a team more positive, cohesive, stronger and better.

The Power of a Positive Team also provides a blueprint for addressing common pitfalls that cause teams to fail—including complaining, selfishness, inconsistency, complacency, unaccountability—while offering  solutions to enhance a team’s creativity, grit, innovation and growth.

This book is meant for teams to read together. It’s written in such a way that if you and your team read it together, you will understand the obstacles you will face and what you must do to become a great team. If you read it together, stay positive together, and take action together you will accomplish amazing things TOGETHER.

JON GORDON's bestselling books and talks have inspired readers and audiences around the world. His principles have been put to the test by numerous Fortune 500 companies, professional and college sports teams, school districts, hospitals, and non-profits. He is the author of 15 books including 5 bestsellers: The Energy Bus, The Carpenter, Training Camp, You Win in the Locker Room First and The Power of Positive Leadership. All published by Wiley. Jon invites you to visit and connect with him at JonGordon.com or on Twitter @JonGordon11.

No One Creates Success Alone 1

1 The Power of Positive 7

2 Positive Teams Create Positive Cultures 13

Create Your Culture 16

Culture Is Dynamic, Not Static 17

Make Your Bus Great 18

Make Your Culture a Priority 18

Invest in the Root 19

Decide to Be Vitamin C 21

The Power Is on the Inside 22

What Do We Want to Be? 22

3 Positive Teams Work Together toward a Shared Vision with a Greater Purpose 25

Shared Vision 28

Greater Purpose 28

Purpose-Driven Goals 29

Vision + Mission 31

Telescope and Microscope 32

Creating Billions and Winning Gold 32

The World’s Largest Family 34

The Table 35

Keep Your Vision and Purpose Alive 36

Make Your Vision and Purpose Come Alive 37

One Word 38

Make Sure Everyone Is on the Bus 39

Everyone Means Everyone 40

4 Positive Teams Work Together with Optimism, Positivity, and Belief 41

Stay Positive Together 43

Believe Together 44

Encourage Each Other 46

Feed the Positive Dog 47

Talk to Yourself 48

Replace Have To with Get To 49

Make the Next Opportunity Great 50

L.O.S.S. 50

Shark or Goldfish 52

Think Like Rookies 52

Defeat Murphy 53

Inside Out 54

Distort Reality 56

Fear or Faith 56

The Positivity Experiment 57

Don’t Stop Believing 59

The Best Is Yet to Come 60

5 Positive Teams Transform and Remove Negativity 63

No Energy Vampires Allowed 66

It Starts at the Culture Level 67

The First Step Is Transformation 68

Remove the Negativity 68

It’s Not Okay to Be Moody 70

Implement the No Complaining Rule 71

Weed and Feed 72

Positive Conflict 73

6 Positive Teams Communicate and Connect 77

Connection Is the Difference between Good and Great 80

It Starts with Communication 82

Where There Is a Void, Negativity Will Fill It 83

Fill the Void 84

One-on-One Communication 85

Why Don’t We Communicate? 85

On a Scale of 1 to 10 87

Listening Enhances Communication 88

Communicate to Connect 89

Team Beats Talent When Talent Isn’t a Team 89

Team + Talent 91

Team Building 93

It’s Worth It 97

Team Grit 99

7 Positive Teams Commit and Care 101

Play Your Notes 104

Team First 104

We before Me 107

Commitment Recognizes Commitment 109

Committing Makes Everyone Better 110

Serve to Be Great 111

Commit to Your Team 112

Do You Care? 113

Care More 114

Craftsmen and Craftswomen 115

You Can’t Fake It 116

8 Positive Teams Are Always Striving to Get Better 119

The One Percent Rule 122

Own the Boat 122

Elite of the Elite 123

Love and Accountability 124

Family and Team 125

Love Tough 127

Positive Discontent 127

Tell-the-Truth Mondays 128

Have the Difficult Conversations 129

Like versus Love 130

Forged in the Fire 132

9 We Are Better Together 133

Meraki 140

Are You a Real Team? 143

11 Thoughts about Teamwork 145

References 147

Let us help you build a Positive, United,and Connected Team 149

Power of a Positive Team Resources 151

Positive U 152

Other Books by Jon Gordon 153

The New copy of this book will include any supplemental materials advertised. Please check the title of the book to determine if it should include any access cards, study guides, lab manuals, CDs, etc.

The Used, Rental and eBook copies of this book are not guaranteed to include any supplemental materials. Typically, only the book itself is included. This is true even if the title states it includes any access cards, study guides, lab manuals, CDs, etc.