第 1 章
The Power of Positive Teams: Unlocking Extraordinary Performance
In a world obsessed with individual achievement, Jon Gordon's "The Power of a Positive Team" arrives as a refreshing counterpoint, reminding us that our greatest accomplishments often happen together. Since its 2018 release, the book has become a staple in corporate leadership programs and sports team development, with organizations from Fortune 500 companies to Olympic teams adopting its principles. What makes this work particularly compelling is Gordon's unique position at the intersection of business and sports psychology-having consulted with teams like the Los Angeles Dodgers and companies like Southwest Airlines. His approach resonates with leaders seeking to transform group dynamics because it's grounded in both research and real-world application. The book's popularity surged during the pandemic when remote teams desperately needed connection principles, making it a timely resource for our increasingly collaborative world. As Brene Brown noted, "Jon Gordon doesn't just identify what makes teams work-he shows us how vulnerability and positivity create the foundation for extraordinary results."
第 2 章
The Competitive Advantage of Positivity
Positivity isn't just about making work more pleasant-it's a competitive advantage that transforms team performance. Gordon draws an important distinction between superficial "Pollyanna positivity" and authentic optimism. True positive teams don't ignore problems or challenges; they acknowledge reality but maintain the belief that together they can overcome obstacles.
This approach is backed by compelling research. Duke University studies demonstrate that optimistic people consistently outperform their pessimistic counterparts in both business and sports settings. Similarly, relationship research reveals that marriages thrive when positive interactions outnumber negative ones by a ratio of at least 5:1. This same principle applies to teams, where positive energy creates virtuous feedback loops that elevate collective performance.
Positive teams don't happen by accident. They require deliberate culture-building, a shared vision that aligns everyone's efforts, and genuine optimism that fuels persistence through challenges. Most importantly, they demand communication that builds trust, creating an environment where team members feel safe to contribute their best ideas.
The most successful teams I've worked with understand that positivity isn't about avoiding difficult conversations or pretending everything is perfect. Rather, it's about approaching challenges with the fundamental belief that together, solutions can be found. This mindset creates resilience in the face of setbacks and fosters innovation when confronting obstacles. Teams that maintain positivity during adversity ultimately develop a psychological advantage over competitors who succumb to negativity when facing similar challenges.
第 3 章
Culture: The Foundation of Team Excellence
Culture isn't just one aspect of team performance-it's everything. It forms the living essence of what a team believes, values, and does. Culture drives expectations and beliefs, which drive behaviors, which create habits that ultimately determine a team's future. As Apple demonstrated with their culture of challenging the status quo, "Culture beats strategy" isn't just a catchy phrase-it's a fundamental truth about organizational success.
Gordon illustrates this through his personal experience playing lacrosse at Cornell. During his sophomore year, the team consistently won close games, while his senior year team lost similar matchups. The difference wasn't talent but team culture. The dynamic nature of culture means it's constantly being shaped by what team members say, think, share, and do every day.
Even within negative organizational environments, individual teams can create their own positive cultures. USC's tennis team demonstrated this by winning four national championships (2009-2012) after developing a culture centered on love, accountability, and respect. Similarly, UVA's talented tennis team repeatedly fell short until coach Brian Boland shifted focus from outcomes to culture in 2013-after which they won four of five championships.
Miami Heat coach Erik Spoelstra transformed his approach from focusing solely on X's and O's to emphasizing culture. Gordon uses a powerful tree metaphor: too many teams focus on the fruit (outcomes, numbers, profits) while ignoring the root (culture, people, relationships, process). Yet it's the root that produces sustainable fruit-culture drives numbers, not vice versa.
Your energy as a team member is contagious, with research showing emotions broadcast physically to those around you-up to 10 feet away. Each day presents a choice: be a germ spreading negativity or Vitamin C boosting team health. Creating culture requires identifying what you stand for and want to be known for, as Southwest Airlines demonstrated when declining to charge baggage fees despite consultant recommendations, because it contradicted their purpose of providing low-cost air travel.
The strongest teams build culture from within rather than expecting external forces to create it. When you know what you stand for, decisions become clearer, and your internal strength helps withstand external pressures.
第 4 章
United by Vision, Fueled by Purpose
Positive teams unite around both a shared vision that guides their direction and a greater purpose that fuels their journey. When team members know both why they exist and where they're going, obstacles become surmountable. Alan Mulally demonstrated this principle when turning around Ford Motor Company with his "One Ford" approach-uniting everyone around one purpose, one plan, and one goal.
Research confirms that people feel most energized when using their strengths for something bigger than themselves. Understanding why the team exists and the difference it makes elevates collective energy and passion. Superfeet president John Rauvola's team purpose of making "a positive difference in people's lives by establishing a strong foundation" led to their selection by HP for an innovative footwear project.
Purpose-driven goals prove more powerful than numerical targets. Organic Valley focuses on supporting farmers, sustainability, and providing healthy products rather than sales targets. While they track numbers for planning purposes, they view financial outcomes as byproducts of living their purpose-and their numbers consistently grow as a result.
Successful teams need both a telescope and microscope perspective. The telescope helps keep eyes on the long-term vision and greater purpose, while the microscope focuses on immediate steps needed to realize that vision. With only a telescope, you'll dream without taking action. With only a microscope, setbacks will discourage you because you've lost sight of the bigger picture.
Hollywood writing team Brian Koppelman and David Levien created hits like "Billions" by staying mission-focused and purpose-driven. They prioritized making each project great while serving the work itself, keeping egos in check. Similarly, Olympic gold medalists Kerri Walsh Jennings and Misty May-Treanor succeeded through their shared vision of greatness and deep commitment to each other.
Perhaps the most inspiring example comes from Charles and Esther Mully, who have rescued over 13,000 abandoned Kenyan children since 1989. After experiencing childhood abandonment himself, Charles became wealthy through business but gave up everything to help street children. Their Mully Children's Family has transformed thousands of lives, with many former street children becoming successful professionals who return to help the next generation.
For vision and purpose to truly work, each team member must personally connect with it. At Palmetto Health, every employee Gordon interviewed could not only recite the organization's vision but explain what it meant to them personally. A vision comes to life one person, one team at a time.
第 5 章
The Power of Belief: Transforming Challenges into Opportunities
Teams that believe together achieve together. While facing challenges and adversity, positive teams don't give up but instead work with optimism, positivity, and belief to create their vision. They understand that obstacles are no match for a team with faith, love, and hope working toward their shared purpose.
Clemson football coach Dabo Swinney transformed his team by instilling belief, bringing signs reading "I can" and "Believe" to his first team meeting. This belief transferred to his players, who then inspired belief in each other. During the 2016-17 national championship, quarterback Deshaun Watson rallied his offense with "Let's be legendary" before their game-winning drive with seconds remaining.
Dr. James Gills, who completed six double triathlons (the last at age 59), advised: "I've learned to talk to myself instead of listen to myself." When listening to himself, he heard reasons to quit, but by talking to himself with encouragement, he could finish the race. Similarly, teams shouldn't believe every negative thought, especially those rooted in fear.
A simple shift from saying "have to" to "get to" can transform a team's approach. Instead of viewing work as obligation, appreciate the opportunity to make a difference, learn, grow, and work together. This shift changes a complaining voice to an appreciative heart, elevating both individuals and teams.
The author challenged baseball teams' view that baseball is "a game of failure," suggesting instead it's "a game of opportunity" where players can make the next play great regardless of past performance. Similarly, in life and work, teams shouldn't dwell on failures but see them as growth opportunities.
L.O.S.S. stands for "Learning Opportunity Stay Strong." A British study of 500 successful people found they all faced significant challenges but shared the ability to turn misfortune into fortune. During the recession, Dwight Cooper's company responded to lost business by identifying new opportunities, founding three new divisions that led to greater success.
Many teams suffer from the "curse of experience," longing for the past and resisting change. Teams should let experience provide expertise while maintaining a rookie mindset that fuels optimism and creates "good ole days" in the present rather than dwelling on the past.
The ultimate daily battle teams face is between fear and faith. Both believe in a future that hasn't happened yet-fear believes in a negative future while faith believes in a positive one. Teams must inspire each other with faith to counter the doubt and uncertainty members experience. If you believe your best days are behind you, that becomes your truth. If you believe your best days are ahead, that becomes your truth instead.
第 6 章
Addressing Negativity: The Essential Counterpart to Positivity
Being a positive team isn't just about feeding the positive-it's equally about weeding out the negative. One of the biggest mistakes teams make is ignoring internal negativity, allowing it to breed until it sabotages the team. After publishing The Energy Bus, Jon Gordon worked with Jacksonville Jaguars coach Jack Del Rio, who recognized he needed to address the energy vampires affecting his team. The book helped the team make the playoffs for the first time in years by giving them tools to deal with negativity.
When teams decide not to allow negativity to sabotage them, transformation follows. After Georgia football lost their first two games in 2011, coach Mark Richt texted Gordon that "the guys are still on the bus" and unlike previous years, they wouldn't allow energy vampires to ruin the team. Richt had an artist draw a large energy vampire on the wall in the team meeting room, and any player or coach who displayed negativity had their picture placed on the wall. No one wanted this public accountability, and the team went on to win ten straight games.
Addressing negativity works best at the culture level by setting clear expectations that energy-draining behavior won't be tolerated. When you build a culture so positive and strong that negativity can't breed or spread, people either adapt or self-select out. One school principal found that after creating an overwhelmingly positive environment, a negative teacher resigned, saying she felt "run over by positivity."
Before removing energy vampires, try transforming them. No one truly wants to be negative-they're likely that way for a reason. Listen with empathy, understand their perspective, and coach them toward positivity. Martin from Seventh Generation put a sign on his door: "Energy vampires welcome. Expect to be transformed." If transformation fails, removal becomes necessary. A school principal who documented her efforts to help two negative teachers ultimately had to let them go, resulting in dramatically improved morale.
The no complaining rule transforms toxic cultures by prohibiting complaints unless accompanied by solutions. This eliminates mindless negativity and empowers teams to focus on solutions rather than problems. Companies like PPR (voted one of the best places to work) and sports teams like the Atlanta Falcons have seen improved morale and performance by focusing on solutions instead of complaints.
Weeding out negativity doesn't mean eliminating healthy conflict. Great teams fight, but they do so constructively. Teams need conflict to challenge the status quo, ask difficult questions, and push each other to improve. The difference is in how conflict occurs-with trust, respect, and love as the foundation.
第 7 章
The Communication-Connection Cycle: Building Team Bonds
Beyond positivity, great teams must communicate, connect, commit, and care to build meaningful relationships and unity. Connection is the key differentiator between good and mediocre teams. Organizations not connected at the top inevitably crumble at the bottom.
Google's Project Aristotle revealed that their most productive teams weren't necessarily those with the smartest individuals but those with the strongest connections between members. The study found that emotional safety, empathy, and genuine interest in teammates' ideas created environments where people could do their most creative work. Though Google's A-teams had their top scientists, their most important innovations came from B-teams with superior team dynamics.
Communication builds the foundation for team connection. It generates trust, which creates commitment, fosters teamwork, and ultimately delivers results. NASCAR champion Jimmie Johnson's crew chief Chad Knaus attributes their success to the quality of communication between himself, Johnson, and the crew-it's literally the difference between winning and losing.
Team breakdowns often stem from poor communication. Despite having more communication tools than ever, we communicate less meaningfully. Without proper communication, negativity fills the void-rumors, gossip, and complaints breed and spread. When communication suffers, people assume the worst and operate from fear rather than trust.
Teams must prioritize filling communication voids intentionally. Dwight Cooper holds 8:31 AM Monday meetings to discuss challenges and goals. Some sales teams use daily conference calls, while virtual teams benefit from regular video conferences. Communication doesn't happen accidentally-you must make time for it, both collectively and one-on-one.
Despite communication's importance, busyness and stress prevent effective team connection. When stressed, we activate our "reptile brain" focused on survival rather than connection. This "cortical inhibition" happens when the amygdala hijacks the neocortex-the rational, loving part of our brain. Fortunately, we have a quarter-second to override this reaction by taking deep breaths and practicing gratitude.
The best communicators aren't necessarily eloquent speakers but exceptional listeners who process information and use it for the team's benefit. Award-winning coaches like Mike Smith, Erik Spoelstra, Sean McVay, and Dabo Swinney excel at listening to their teams and remaining open to advice.
Communication must go beyond superficial small talk to create true connection. When teams communicate to connect-with meaning, authenticity, and transparency-they build bonds, develop trust, strengthen relationships, and increase commitment. Florida basketball coach Billy Donovan recognized his team repeatedly reached the Elite Eight but struggled to make the Final Four because they weren't sufficiently connected. By investing heavily in team connection, Florida became a family rather than a collection of individuals.
第 8 章
The Heart of Team Success: Commitment and Care
Every successful individual stands on the shoulders of a committed team. Behind every award winner, champion athlete, or innovative product are countless people working selflessly behind the scenes. These unsung heroes commit themselves to collective greatness, making individual success possible.
Championship marching bands exemplify perfect teamwork. As Shaun Gallant of the world champion Santa Clara Vanguard explains, members must perform complex music while marching rapidly in all directions. Each person must excel individually while trusting teammates to do the same, creating synchronized movement and music.
Former Navy SEAL Nick Hays describes Hell Week as the crucible that forges the SEAL team-first mentality. During this grueling test, candidates run over 200 miles, carry heavy equipment, and function on just 2-4 hours of sleep over five days. Most quit between Sunday and Tuesday night, but after Tuesday, quitting stops completely. The transformation happens when individuals shift from "you, you, you" thinking to focusing on their boat crew-singing songs, telling jokes, and fighting for each other rather than themselves.
The power of prioritizing team over self transforms ordinary groups into extraordinary teams. Jon Gordon witnessed this principle through his father's brotherhood as a NYC police officer, where partners protected each other above themselves. The LA Rams embodied this principle under coach Sean McVay, improving from a 4-12 record to 11-5 division champions by adopting a "We not Me" culture that permeated their organization.
When college tennis star Steve Johnson chose to stay at USC for his senior year instead of turning pro and making millions, even Navy SEALs sought him out to shake his hand in recognition of his sacrifice for the team. His commitment inspired greater dedication from his teammates, ultimately leading to their fourth consecutive national championship.
Swen Nater exemplifies how commitment to others improves yourself. Though recruited to UCLA primarily to challenge star center Bill Walton in practice, Nater's daily focus on making Walton better transformed his own skills. Despite never starting a collegiate game, Nater became a first-round NBA draft pick, ABA Rookie of the Year, and enjoyed a 12-year professional career.
Caring underlies every principle of team success. Without genuine care, team members won't make time to communicate, connect, commit, serve, or sacrifice. Great teams care deeply about their collective work, each other, and their performance. Insurance adjuster Kathy Norton exemplified extraordinary care, continuing to help her workers' compensation clients even after receiving a terminal cancer diagnosis. Rather than pursuing bucket list experiences in her final months, she devoted herself to helping injured workers rehabilitate and rebuild their lives.
Positive team members approach their work as craftsmen rather than mere carpenters-investing extraordinary care, time, and effort to create masterpieces rather than simply completing tasks. You can't fake caring-it comes from the heart. As Mark Zuckerberg said, Facebook became what it is because he and his team were the ones who cared enough to make it work.
第 9 章
The Pursuit of Excellence: Always Getting Better
A team that cares commits to getting better for each other. Like the Spartans who relied on the strength of their neighbors' shields, positive teams are made up of people who excel at their jobs for themselves and their teammates. They pursue excellence, challenge the status quo, and chase greatness together.
The One Percent Rule helps teams create excellence: give one percent more time, energy, effort, focus, and care today than yesterday. When a college women's lacrosse team of 35 players all implemented this rule, they realized if each person gives one percent more daily, that's 35 percent improvement daily. Over time, this produced incredible team growth.
Marilyn Krichko runs rowing team-building programs with a key tenet: "Everyone on the team owns the boat and is responsible for what happens." The visual of a crew rowing in unison perfectly represents teams-each person must row to their best ability while staying in sync with teammates. As you strive to be your best, you elevate everyone around you.
A Special Forces leader explained that SEAL Team Six doesn't just select high performers-they look for those who, while performing at the highest level, also make their teammates better in the process. If you want to be elite, you can be a high performer, but to be the elite of the elite, you must be a transformational positive team member who elevates others.
The two most important keys to improving your team are love and accountability. Team members must know you love them before you earn the right to challenge them. Rules without relationships lead to rebellion, but when teammates truly love each other, they'll want to be their best for each other. Great teams hold each other accountable not to rules but to standards of excellence.
Positive teams maintain positive discontent in their quest for excellence. Whether they succeed or fail, they're always looking to improve. Even after winning an account, meeting a deadline, or winning an award, great teams ask, "What can we do better?" They're never satisfied because they know improvement is always possible.
Pete Carroll at USC created "Tell-the-Truth Mondays" where the team would gather after games to discuss what went wrong, how to improve, and what needed to change. These sessions weren't about blame but about getting better together. Great teams have difficult conversations in honest, transparent ways that are demanding but not demeaning, then move forward together.
Steve Shenbaum points out that teams are held back when members prioritize being liked over sharing truth. In today's social media world focused on "likes," team members avoid difficult conversations to prevent dislike. This misconception equates positivity with constant smiling and conflict avoidance. Difficult conversations are necessary but should be conducted with positive intent to improve the team.
第 10 章
The Meraki Effect: Leaving a Legacy Together
When we join a true team, we discover collective greatness beyond what we could achieve alone. Brandon Farrar's leadership group of high school students demonstrates this-young men who became "brothers" supporting each other through hardship. Teams form everywhere: some row boats while others design them; some teach while others create curriculum; some compete for championships while others broadcast them.
Meraki-the Greek concept of putting love, soul, and creativity into your work-captures what positive teams can accomplish together. They leave behind legacies that transform industries, traditions, and lives. The 2017 University of Maryland lacrosse team exemplifies this spirit. After 42 years without a championship and four recent finals losses, they approached their championship run differently-playing not for themselves but for fans, past players, their coach who had lost his mother, and Fionn, a child battling cancer. By focusing on others rather than feeling pressure, they found inspiration and purpose.
Being on a team doesn't automatically make you a real team. Real teams differ fundamentally from groups that merely share a label. On real teams, members prioritize collective goals over individual ones, commit to improving both themselves and others, desire to serve the team rather than be served by it, and make communication essential for building trust. Real team members prioritize time together, actively cultivate trust and respect, and grow stronger through disagreements because of their foundation of trust and love.
Teamwork means sometimes being the star and sometimes supporting the star. True greatness requires working as hard at being a great teammate as at being a great individual performer. What teammates value isn't superstar status but super team membership. Each person controls their attitude, effort, and actions daily. While one person can't make a team, one negative person can break it, so maintaining positivity is essential.
When teams make it about "we" instead of "me," they transform from average to special, leaving behind something meaningful for those who follow. They face a daily choice between mediocrity and greatness-the path they choose determines their success. As filmmaker Ryan Coogler notes, "Filmmaking is a team sport." From Tom Brady and Bill Belichick to the Beatles, greatness emerges through partnership. We can pinpoint the moment when a group transforms into a real team-whether through shared crisis or through gradual commitment to serving others rather than themselves.
