“In business, our optimism is a competitive advantage,” nationally acclaimed leadership speaker Jon Gordon told a crowd of more than 700 business leaders in Baton Rouge today.
Some of the city’s highest profile leaders, including Mayor Sharon Weston Broome and Police Chief Murphy Paul, were also in attendance at Business Report‘s Elevate Your Leadership and Your Team event today at the HPC Arena.
Gordon has written 16 books on leadership, team building and success. His most recent book, Stay Positive, is a collection of quotes and messages centered on his years of work motivating leaders to take on daily challenges, pursue goals, and create positive momentum.
Gordon’s speech centered on using optimism to become a strong team, a strong company and focus on the future, not the past.
“As a leader, it’s so important that we lead with that optimism, that we lead with belief,” Gordon says. “If you don’t have it, you can’t share it.”
That all starts with culture, he says, and positive leaders driving positive cultures. Leaders are responsible for creating the best environments to feed a positive culture, where employees feel empowered to fulfill the company’s mission. He encouraged business leaders to openly talk about their vision of the company with employees and motivate them to share that vision.
“People need hope, they need something to hope for, to long towards,” Gordon says. “That vision is the North Star.”
Gordon talked about his four C’s in good leadership: communicate, connect, commit and care.
He encouraged the audience to connect with one person a day “in a meaningful way” to build great relationships over time.
“We lead from the inside out. This is not easy, it is challenging,” Gordon says. “That’s why we need a bigger purpose to give us something to be positive about.”
