The Positive Energy Workplace

As we navigate the new business and world environment of today, we'll need to focus more deeply on things we may have been able to dismiss, de-emphasize, or put off, in the past. I've spent the last twenty years building out the IEP Method® (Intentional Energetic Presence®) body of work, writing books and creating programs devoted to leadership and culture, and working deeply with organizations who wanted to have healthy high-performing positively contagious cultures for happy people and solid business results.

While writing CONTAGIOUS YOU* last year, I spent time digging deep into data, science, research, and case studies. I wanted to help bridge the gap people often come to the edge of when tying the IEP leadership work (often seen as the "soft stuff") to tangible business costs and outcomes.

Of course everyone knows that being more present, healthier, clearer, kinder, and trustworthy is a nice to have, but does it really net a financial impact? Is it really good business? After all, people say it is, but I've found that when it comes to learning how to do it — which requires leaning into the "soft stuff" — people often disappear into some version of, "We don't have budget, we don't have time, we've got work to do" or my favorite "Isn't that a little woo woo?"

After having done this work for more than twenty years with a spectrum of organizations, business leaders, humans, and industries, I knew the answer to "Does it really net a financial impact and is it good business and is it worth tending to?" was a HUMONGOUS “YES.”

(So do you, if even only intuitively right now.)

And turning myself into a researcher validated my beliefs. 

We had the final Contagious Culture Book Club meeting today. I love these sessions as the people who show up -- show up, the questions they ask make me think in new ways, the situations shared are real, and the dialogue is rich. Of course, as with so many of my client calls, a GOLD nugget question or "aha" gets brought up RIGHT at the END of the session. Today was one of those days. 

We are in a new era of leadership. Many of us thought we were in a new era in the last few years (I guess we were), and oh... wow... little did we know. What is required NOW as we navigate the present moment and lead into the future, is similar in some ways (after all, we're talking about human beings, human dynamics, connection, and leadership), and also will require more -- and in new ways.

One of the greatest things we can do right now for those we love and lead is to be able to hold and command our space, bring a solid and loving presence to our lives, and take care of ourselves so we can show up as our best and create a safe and trustworthy space for them. It starts with us.

Each of us individually create an energetic field for ourselves -- this is contagious (ie. Contagious You) -- and, at the same time, we create an energetic field as a culture -- which is also contagious (ie. Contagious Culture).