A Year in Positive Leadership - and what’s in store for 2024

Every one of us can make a difference in the world if we develop a positive mindset and commit to being positive leaders. Leadership comes in many different forms: from running a business, to heading a team, leading a community group, creating a start-up, or having family responsibilities. We all find ourselves leading at some point in our lives.

How we lead matters. It’s why I started The Positive Leadership Podcast and my newsletter, so I can share lessons from my life and from the amazing people I get to meet.

We launched the podcast in 2021 and 67 episodes later, we've built an incredible community, driving almost 1 million downloads, with more joining us every day. It's been a privilege to interview leaders from all over the world, from Nigeria to India, Belgium to France, the UK to the United States, including CEOs, coaches, entrepreneurs, authors, changemakers, and leading specialists in positive psychology and neuroscience.

They’ve been incredibly generous in sharing their successes, their mistakes, and key pivotal moments that have shaped their lives. Most importantly, every conversation has been built on the feedback that you have shared with me, and I want to thank you for being so engaged! It’s been the most amazing learning experience for me, and I hope it has for you too. 

We kicked off 2024 with Dr. Martin Seligman, one of my favorite episodes yet, and we have some very exciting guests lined up including psychologists, CEOs, an explorer and a familiar face from Microsoft.

But that’s not all. This week we are launching a new podcast series. Look out for a new bite-sized podcast episode, every two weeks, focusing on each of the 9 Powers of Positive Leadership. Each podcast lasts just 5 minutes. So you can listen and learn quickly and then start to take action straight away.

I feel energized about the positive impact we can create together in the year ahead. In this spirit, I’d like to look back at some of the best insights from my guests in 2023… 

Top Tips from Positive Leadership & Me: Focusing on our personal growth, wellbeing and being positive. 

• Dr Tara Swart on self-belief: If you go through life saying things like that never happen to me or that's not going to work out for me, then that's probably going to become true. So your logic, your emotion, and your intuition have to be aligned. If logic's telling you to do something but in your gut it feels wrong, it's not going to work. 

• Reeta Roy on humility: Keep humility close, because it's an incredible reminder that we do not have answers. We are not the ones who are defining in any way the future of so many millions of talented young people. They are defining their future. They are defining future. 

• Sal Khan on a growth mindset: “A growth mindset is ‘I don't know how good I am at this, and the way I'm going to find out is I keep stepping out of my comfort zone’. I view failure as not a failure. I view it as an opportunity to grow.” 

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Top Tips from Positive Leadership & Others: Connecting with and empowering others to achieve more.  

• Bozoma St John on empathy: Try to recognize authentic emotions in others: look for clues in their body language and facial expressions. Then be consciously empathetic, by focusing on how you can create a more positive environment for others. 

• Doug Conant on trust: Every leader has to demonstrate that they have the capacity to inspire trust. Trust building was job one, not a nice to have; it was a must have. 

• Ranjay Gulati on building moral communities: When people come together around a shared ideal, they unleash tremendous potential from themselves.  

Top Tips from Positive Leadership the World: Having a positive impact on the world. 

• Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka on responsibility: Wherever you climb, make sure you’re not climbing alone. Always lift as you climb. Because it’s very lonely at the top… Remember that you are where you are because somebody else got there first and made it possible that future generations will take it to the next level. 

• Rana Dajani on changing the world: It's about starting small. You don't have to worry about changing the world… Just think, what can I do today? 

• Nandan Nilekani on ambition: Always articulate a vision or make it ambitious, make it audacious, make it bold, but make it plausible. And that gets everybody energised to go towards that goal. 

Thanks again for listening. I hope 2024 brings you joy and positivity! 

jp