It turns out that academics have found “Positivity” to be as important for establishing and maintaining high performance business teams as it is in maintaining great relationships. The focus is on “team dynamics,” “connectivity,” and “emotional fields.” Incredibly enough, consensus is emerging about a specific numeric value, the P/N Ratio required for “human flourishing” in business teams, relationships, and individuals.
The Losada Line defines that minimum level of Positivity and Connectivity that distinguishes teams and people able to reach a complex understanding of others and the objectives/tasks before them. Oh, and the Losada line value is equal to 2.9013 for those of us keeping track to 4 decimal points.
This first 7 minute video is a great introduction to the issues discussed by the book’s author, Dr. Barbara Fredrickson. Don’t be fooled by the video title “Positive Emotions.” The BendTech book club has not been taken over by new age “feel gooders.”
Dr. Fredrickson is a serious academic psychologist and the implications of the Positivity/Negative Ratio for business and technology teams are important and have only begun to be understood. Let’s see if we can’t figure out what some implications are for business teams we participate in.
The rest of this month’s book club video cheats and book summary links follow after the jump…
I thought our book club meetup last night about Free: The Future of a Radical Price was a great one for stimulating thought about what I would like my business to become. We had a good turnout of 10 people. Even better, my threat to not have pizza on hand if it wasn’t eaten was taken seriously and there were only two slices left when I left the meeting early.
We selected two books for the next couple meetups.
In May, we’ll be discussing Positivity, an important book in the emerging literature about the Positive/Negative Ratio I wrote about a few days ago. More on Positivity later. For now, check out the Amazon Reviews.
At the February meetup, we decided to try to put two books in the queue for discussion so we’ll need to come up with two titles at this March meetup. Come with a few ideas about books you’d like to talk about.
Here’s a topic I’d like to discuss at some point this year… The Positivity/Negativity Ratiosignificant for High Performance Teams.
It seems a handful of academics have focused their attention on the dynamics of teams that perform at various levels of “flourishing.” Incredibly enough, consensus is emerging about the P/N Ratio required for “human flourishing” in business teams, marriages, and individuals.
The Losada Line defines that minimum level of Positivity and Connectivity that distinguishes teams and people able to reach a complex understanding of others and the objectives/tasks before them. Oh, and the Losada line value is equal to 2.9013 for those of us keeping track to 4 decimal points.
Seth Godin is out with a new book just today called Linchpin. Lots of reviews are in and they’re great. I’d be interested in discussing at the March book club meeting if others are interested. Here are 3 videos of Seth discussing his book.
More book club video cheats, more often, providing BendTech members with more opportunity to attend book club meetings with less prep time than any other book club in the country?
There is a Mondo Pizza slice or two for all at this Tuesday’s Book Club Meetup…
Robert posted some video cheats for the Innovator’s Solution. Here are a couple more… Be sure to check out the first one running a little over 4 minutes for a unique approach to communicating the essential ideas of the book.
Here’s Christensen on the Charlie Rose Show talking about the book beginning at 41:15 for about 15 minutes.
The author, an associate professor at Harvard Business School, asks why some well-managed companies that stay on top of new technology and practice quality customer service can still falter. His own research brought a surprising answer to that question. Christensen suggests that by placing too great an emphasis on satisfying customers’ current needs, companies fail to adapt or adopt new technology that will meet customers’ unstated or future needs, and he argues that such companies will eventually fall behind. Christensen calls this phenomenon “disruptive technology” and demonstrates its effects in industries as diverse as the manufacture of hard-disk drives and mass retailing. He goes on to offer solutions by providing strategies for anticipating changes in markets.
More about the book including “online video cheats” later…
Hope to see you for the discussion on January 5th, 2010!
Steve Buss
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