The Joy of Leadership

The difference between flourishing and floundering is 10X. The difference between quantity and quality is a factor of 10. The difference in levels of engagement is exponential. People functioning at the highest level are what the authors call 10x leaders. Research on these leaders consistently brought up five major strengths. This book teaches readers to become a 10x leader using these five key areas, the SHARP framework.

* Strengths: 10X leaders stop trying to eliminate weaknesses and learn to focus on their strengths

* Health: 10X leaders stop trying to eliminate stress and learn how to integrate periods of restoration

* Absorption: 10X leaders stop waiting for the lightning of focus and creativity to strike and learn how to achieve consistent engagement and presence

* Relationships: 10X leaders stop trying to exert power and control and learn to cultivate healthy relationships through positivity and authenticity

* Purpose: 10X leaders stop grinding out tasks and learn how to find meaning and commitment in everything they do

The 10X elixir of peak performance comes not from focusing on just one of these areas, but from learning to light the fire of all five aspects of SHARP and functioning naturally with them on a daily basis. If you just cultivate one or two aspects of leadership skills you are unlikely to succeed. If one of the five isn't taken care of it affects the performance of the whole. But if you focus on all five areas, you will not only be more likely to find what helps you most, you have the best chance of enjoying the synergy of performance multiplication.

Acknowledgments ix
Part I The Disaggregated World 1
Chapter 1 The 10X Effect: Performance Multipliers to Achieve Lasting Success and Fulfillment 3
Chapter 2 Giving Way to the New: The Boundaryless Twenty-First-Century Work Environment 15
Chapter 3 Myths of Happiness and Leadership: Making the Case for SHARP 29
Part II What 10x Leaders Do 41
Chapter 4 Strengths: Making the Most of Your Gifts 43
Chapter 5 Health: Injecting Energy into Life and Work 67
Chapter 6 Absorption: Revealing the Extraordinary in the Ordinary through Mindful Engagement 87
Chapter 7 Relationships: Forming Authentic and Positive Bonds 107
Chapter 8 Purpose: Meaning and Commitment are the Path to Joyful Leadership 129
Chapter 9 The Balanced Approach: SHARP and Cascading Success 149
Part III How to Change-And Stay Changed 159
Chapter 10 Obstacles-and Pathways-to Lasting Behavioral Change: Neuroplasticity and the Possibility of Joyful Transformation 161
Chapter 11 Creating New, Durable Pathways to Joyful Leadership: Tools and Tactics for Making SHARP Changes 177
Chapter 12 Finale: The 10X Effect Revisited and Becoming the Sum Total of Who You are 191
Notes 197
Index 215