As promised, I have decided to write a monthly book review and today I am going to share my thoughts on a great book by Adrian Gostick and Chester Elton titled “Leading with Gratitude.” I do this with great pleasure because one of the authors, Chester Elton, is a dear friend that I have known for almost forty years and that has shared some important moments of my life when he was in Italy providing service to my fellow Italians.
Adrian and Chester have written numerous books to help companies and organizations excel in what they do. All these books, which are centred on research and extensive discussion with many leaders, have in common the fostering of positive values that have a long lasting effect in the success of ethically-based leaders. As you know, ethical leadership is my area of focus and so reviewing Adrian’s and Chester’s books is a highlight of my writing, “The Carrot Principle” is one of the first books I read of them, in fact one that began my own “orange” revolution towards a better and more trustful and compassionate leadership style.
In “Leading with Gratitude,” the concept of positive and ethical leadership has been pushed to an even higher level where gratitude is considered an essential leadership trait without which an organization may not be able to be sustainable in the long run. This means that organizations that do not practice gratitude as one of their core values, may see higher turnover, fading productivity levels, low morale, and subsequently a fall in meeting the strategic as well as financial objectives they wish to achieve.
The book has an excellent structure. Before getting into the principles of how to apply the value of gratitude at all levels, the authors go through what they call the myths of ingratitude or, in other words the reasons why leaders hold back in practicing gratitude in the workplace. They dedicate 7 chapters to these myths. I have encountered all of them throughout my career, but the first one, “Fear is the Best Motivator,” has deeply impacted me when I started to work in Canada. This myth is when the “leader” believes that results can be better obtained through a culture of raised voice and threats, even harassment and bullying. I remember beginning a new job in a large organization that had just gone through a change in leadership. The CEO was new, younger, and ambitious and he believed that in order to achieve results, people should be treated as tools. You can easily recognize these fear mongering leaders because they surround themselves with unscrupulous managers whose only purpose is to ensure that the fear system works. As I had been hired by a manager that was not one who would bend to fear and the fear methods employed in the organization, I soon became a target after my mentor was let go. I did my best to fight that culture until, only two years later, I decided to change environment. I will never forget how I felt treated and I promised from that day on that I would never employ what I define a “command and control” leadership style. True leadership is about fostering and encouraging empowerment, and making absolutely sure that people are comfortable in daring, even if it means making some mistakes along the way.
The second part of the book is dedicated to 8 principles that help you practice the value of leadership in the organization. The core of applying those principles is that by making gratitude a fundamental value of your organizational culture a few things happen in the workplace.
First of all, people will feel comfortable in providing feedback and input. This is an important piece of how organizations improve. You don’t know what you don’t know and so feedback becomes very important.
Secondly, by feeling appreciated, people will feel more eager to follow their leaders. Vision becomes more nitid and an integral part of the solution system process. Everything becomes more manageable and morale immediately improves.
There are many other benefits of gratitude in leadership, but if there is one message I take from this great book is this: the value of gratitude must be practiced in every aspect of one’s life. A true leader is one that humbly shows gratitude at home and in other private settings. Because of the challenging times we are living, this is even more important. Entitlement is the enemy of gratitude, and entitlement is marring our society. Without gratitude there is no respect and violent confrontations increase, verbally and sometimes even physically.
Last week I was extremely pleased to adhere to a gratitude challenge launched by the leader of the church I belong to. He said the following: “I have concluded that counting our blessings is far better than recounting our problems. No matter our situation, showing gratitude for our privileges is a unique, fast-acting, and long-lasting spiritual prescription.” (Russell M. Nelson)
I am grateful for my friend Chester and his book. I am grateful for those who read my blogs. I am grateful for the opportunity to practice thankfulness every day. The list is very long so, in other words, I am grateful…
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ASD Innovation 
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