Kathryn D. Cramer - Lead Positive: What Highly Effective Leaders See, Say, and Do

I stood up to take on the Jeopardy Challenge and build Watson when the vast majority of technical leaders at IBM stated it was impossible, fantasy, and that Ferrucci was a dreamerand when the executives backing the project insisted that Watson had to win to save the IBM brand. I look back at what made me successful in the face of such extreme doubt, high stakes, and extraordinary stress, and it was exactly what Kathy Cramer suggests in Lead Positive: my ability to honestly reflect and acknowledge challenges and limitations in myself, my team, and current technology, and then summon the courage to focus on what was possiblewhat could be done with the assets I had in hand and what greatness would be if we built the smartest machine in the world. In retrospect, the ideas in Lead Positive enabled me to stay focused, conquer seemingly impossible tasks, and keep the team motivated. I may have acquired them innately, but this book makes the attitudes, ideas, thought processes, and behaviors underlying leadership explicit and accessible to anyone. Had I just dwelled on everything we could not do and our weaknesses, rather than working with our assets, Watsonand its impact on science and businesswould have never happened.

David Ferrucci, artificial intelligence scientist and research lead responsible for Watson, IBM

The concepts Kathy Cramer has introduced in Lead Positive will be as dynamic a tool in the workplace as her previous books about asset-based thinking (ABT). I found ABT to be such a powerful concept that I have distributed copies of her last book to all my employees. I look forward to sharing Kathy's new book with them.

Louisa Jaffe, CEO and president, TAPE

Kathy Cramer's Lead Positive connects many previously unconnected aspects of the work of the leader. By showing readers how what they see, say, and do positively impacts themselves, others, and their current situations, she connects their intrapersonal potential with the interpersonal practice of leadership.

Peter J. Dean, founder and president, Leaders By Design; author, The Coachable Leader

If we all lived by Kathy Cramer's five-to-one principle (five positive thoughts or actions for every one negative), our world would be a better place. Every leader and potential leader needs to read Lead Positive to learn all the ways they can increase their positive impact.

Barbara B. Grogan, founder and past CEO, Western Industrial Contractors

Lead Positive confirms what I believe and have experienced as a community leader. Leaders who are geared toward potential and approach their work with abundance are far more likely to rise above the scarcity and barriers that prevent us from moving forward. Kathy Cramer provides us with a personal roadmap toward a very positive future!

Kelly Pollock, executive director, Center of Creative Arts (COCA)

The strategies and practices that we have learned from Kathy Cramer over the last twelve years have transformed our work as educational consultants. Now, Lead Positive offers everyone the chance to understand effective ways to lead others, building on a foundation of strengths and assets. Kathy has written a compelling and positively practical book for our time.

Louise Cadwell and Ashley Cadwell, cofounders, Cadwell Collaborative LLC

Lead Positive is one of those rare books that can change lives by combining simple, yet profound insights into human motivation with actionable tools. Kathy Cramer has made an immensely valuable contribution to the study and practice of leadership.

Bryan Mattimore, author, Idea Stormers

Just when you thought you had heard the last word on leadership, this revolutionary new book reframes, renews, and reenergizes the act of leading. Lead Positive is more than a feel-good bookit equips leaders with a foundation and a compass for being more compelling, more courageous, and more compassionate.

Chip Bell, author, The 9 Principles of Innovative Service

Yes! There is much more to say about leadership, and Kathy Cramer says it! Lead Positive is a life-changing playbook for transforming yourself into an uplifting, engaging, optimistic, magnetic, courageous, and effective leader. Supported by compelling research, brilliant insights, and powerful stories, Kathy provides concrete tools for embracing the mindset and the actions that make you an inspirational, positive force in your organization and your life.

Wendy Leebov, president, Language of Caring

The most powerful leadership tool is reflection, which leads to positive and deliberative action. Lead Positive is a deceptively simple yet high-impact methodology for achieving successful outcomes.

Susan Lucia Annunzio, president and COO, The Center for High Performance; author, eLeadership and Contagious Success

Kathy Cramer's asset-based thinking approach to leadership is exactly what our overly cynical, negative, and critical world needs to mobilize our people to perform optimally. A refreshingly new and optimistic perspective on leadership at any level.

Molly D. Shepard, founder and CEO, The Leader's Edge; cofounder and former president, Manchester Inc.; author, Breaking Into the Boys' Club

Lead Positive really works to maximize leadership effectiveness. It helped us change our team's mindset from negativity bias to a focus on the positive, and taught us to really listen to each other and to be able to collectively articulate our vision.

Mary Alice Ryan, president and CEO, St. Andrew's Resources for Seniors System

Lead Positive is the owner's manual for ABT Leadership, filled with easy tools and step-by-step instructions to be used every day, in any situation.

Gifford Booth, cofounder and CEO, The TAI Group

Lead Positive is one of those rare leadership books that I am recommending not only to my work colleagues but also to my friends and family. It is one thing to tell someone to lead from a positive approach, and another to give them the tools and methods to put it into action. Lead Positive does both and more. It is a must-read for anyone wanting to raise their leadership skills to the next level and have a positive influence on the people around them.

Mark Wagner, vice president, global sales, DuPont

Kathy Cramer's Lead Positive shows you how to get the most out of yourself as a person so that you can be the best leader possible. Her insights and tools on how to leverage the positive dynamics of any situation are critical to making each moment count.

Jason W. Womack, founder, YourBestJustGotBetter.com

Lead Positive is a terrific roadmap for the personal journey of leadership transformation. Kathy Cramer's insightful step-by-step process serves as a guide for putting your leadership intentions into action. As you transform, so will your organization. Mine did!

Joyce M. Dear, operations leader, Equifax Workforce Solutions

I found Lead Positive to be easy to read, with great examples and guidance of how others have been successful applying asset-based thinking. I found the material on substance, sizzle, and soul to be particularly interesting and helpful.

Mark Engel, vice president, division marketing, Express Scripts

Kathryn Cramer's Lead Positive is a refreshing break from much of today's psychobabble about leadership. Lead Positive is a treasure trove of guidance for the kind of authenticity that truly engages people's heads, hearts, and hopes.