Jon Gordon & the Energy Bus

I had the opportunity to hear speaker Jon Gordon. I was not familiar with him, but an acquaintance told me I needed to listen to him. I was happy I did. He has an uplifting message. Based upon his talk I bought his book called The Energy Bus which I read quickly. His book(s) are a best seller.  It is an easy read (about an hour and a half) but I like the message. I will leave it to you do discover more about his positive energy message.

However, wrapped into his story were 5 powerful leadership lessons. These leadership lessons are written to get your employees (or passengers as Gordon calls them) more motivated, energetic, productive and successful.  Gordon’s lessons are:

• Make time for them– You have to nurture relationships with your employees and get to know them individually. While you are with them be in the moment.

• Listen to them– In this case listening means actually “hearing” them. Many bosses “listen” without hearing. And by the way, many parents do the same thing. Listening also requires looking them in the eyes.

• Recognize them– Nothing big is required. But it needs to be personal and occasionally public.

• Serve them– Serve their growth, their future, their career, and their spirits. It echoes the concepts of Servant Leadership.

• Bring out the best in them– Help each person discover their strengths and provide an opportunity for that person to utilize them. As Gordon says “When you create a system that provided a way for your people to shine you not only bring out the best in them but in the rest of the team and company as well.”

Pretty powerful stuff that works time after time. Jon Gordon reminds us that leadership isn’t about luck.  I think if we all think back to a boss we genuinely admired that boss exhibited these traits. So if it worked for them it can certainly work for you as well.

Michael (Mike) D. Haberman, SPHR is a consultant, writer, speaker and co-founder of Omega HR Solutions, Inc.  He has been in the field of HR for 30 years as both practitioner and consultant. He specializes in compliance issues for his small business clients. He is the author of the blog HR Observations which can be found at www.omegahrsolutions.com and he has been writing blog posts on a full spectrum of HR topics for almost seven years. He is an active user of Twitter and can be found at @mikehaberman or @HRComplianceGuy. He has been an instructor in HR for 14 years and has helped many people achieve their PHR or SPHR during that time.