Leading with Gratitude: Eight Leadership Practices for Extraordinary Business Results - Audiobook (Unabridged)

Showing gratitude to employees is the easiest, fastest, most inexpensive way to boost performance. Case in point: When the leadership of the Disneyland theme park gave thousands of managers training in expressing gratitude to their employees, the park saw a double-digit percent increase in revenue. Recent research shows that gratitude boosts employee engagement, reduces turnover, and leads team members to express more gratitude to one another—strengthening team bonds. On top of that, a host of studies have shown gratitude is phenomenally good for those expressing it. It’s one of the most powerful variables in predicting a person’s overall wellbeing—over-and-above the most commonly cited influences such as wealth, good physical health, and optimism. Yet despite all these benefits, the authors have seen through hands-on experience in coaching thousands of executives that dismally few are making effective use of this simple tool. New research reveals "people are less likely to express gratitude at work than anyplace else." Meanwhile, 81 percent of working adults say they would work harder if their boss were more grateful for their work, and a whopping 96 percent of men and 94 percent of women acknowledge that a boss who expresses gratitude is more likely to be successful. What accounts for the staggering chasm between awareness of gratitude’s benefits and the failure of so many leaders to do it … or do it well? We call this the gratitude gap, and we’ve teamed up to find the answers—identifying eight widespread and pernicious myths about managing others that cause leaders to withhold their gratitude. In LEADING WITH GRATITUDE, bestselling authors and "apostles of appreciation" Chester Elton and Adrian Gostick make a case for the importance of gratitude and walk readers through how to add more gratitude to their workplace. They debunk ingratitude myths and then introduce nine simple ways to do an expert job of showing employees that they are valued, including stories of how many of today’s most successful leaders—such as Alan Mullaly of Ford and John Noseworthy of the Mayo Clinic—incorporated gratitude into their leadership styles. Showing gratitude isn’t just about being nice, it’s about being smart—really smart—and it’s a skill that everyone can easily learn. Read Less