Leading with Gratitude: Eight Leadership Practices for Extraordinary Business Results

The influential New York Times bestselling authors--the "apostles of appreciation" Chester Elton and Adrian Gostick--provide managers and executives with easy ways to add more gratitude to the everyday work environment to help bolster moral, efficiency, and profitability.

Workers want and need to know their work is appreciated. Showing gratitude to employees is the easiest, fastest, most inexpensive way to boost performance. New research shows that gratitude boosts employee engagement, reduces turnover, and leads team members to express more gratitude to one another--strengthening team bonds. Studies have also shown that gratitude is beneficial for those expressing it and is one of the most powerful variables in predicting a person's overall well-being--above money, health, and optimism. The WD-40 Company knows this firsthand. When the leadership gave thousands of managers training in expressing gratitude to their employees, the company saw record increases in revenue.

Despite these benefits, few executives effectively utilize this simple tool. In fact, new research reveals "people are less likely to express gratitude at work than anyplace else." What accounts for the staggering chasm between awareness of gratitude's benefits and the failure of so many leaders to do it--or do it well? Adrian Gostick and Chester Elton call this the gratitude gap. In this invaluable guide, they identify the widespread and pernicious myths about managing others that cause leaders to withhold thanks.

Gostick and Elton also introduce eight simple ways managers can show employees they are valued. They supplement their insights and advice with stories of how many of today's most successful leaders--such as Alan Mulally of Ford and Hubert Joly of Best Buy--successfully incorporated gratitude into their leadership styles.

Showing gratitude isn't just about being nice, it's about being smart--really smart--and it's a skill that everyone can easily learn.

Adrian Gostick is the author of such books as The Carrot Principle, Leading with Gratitude, and All In, which have been New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestsellers. His works have been translated into more than thirty languages and have sold 1.5 million copies around the world. He has appeared on NBC's Today show and been quoted in the Economist, Financial Times, Harvard Business Review, Wall Street Journal, and Fortune; and he is a leadership strategy contributor to Forbes. Gostick is the cofounder of the motivation assessment firm FindMojo.com. He is ranked among the Top 10 Global Gurus in Leadership and is ranked the number 3 Organizational Culture expert in the world. Learn more at adriangostick.com.

Chester Elton's work is supported by research with more than one million working adults. He has been called the "apostle of appreciation" by Canada's Globe and Mail, "creative and refreshing" by the New York Times, and a "must read for modern managers" by CNN. Elton is coauthor of The Carrot Principle, Leading with Gratitude, and All In, and has been quoted in publications such as the Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, and Fast Company. A sought-after lecturer around the world, he is ranked in the Top 10 Global Gurus in Leadership and is ranked the number 2 Organizational Culture expert in the world. He is cofounder of FindMojo.com, and 700,000 people follow his work on LinkedIn. Learn more at chesterelton.com.