Man is made or unmade by himself…and [as] the lord of his own thoughts, man holds the key to every situation.
—JAMES ALLEN
Becoming skilled at riding the Mood Elevator requires an understanding of what controls the vehicle.
So, what drives the Mood Elevator? Where do the moods that carry us higher and lower come from? The answer may surprise you because it is not obvious, nor is it what most people think, and simply understanding the answer can have an enormous impact on your life.
Some moods appear to come upon us out of the blue, like an unpredictable change in the weather. We get out of bed and find we have a bit of an attitude—one that makes us feel grouchy and irritable for no reason at all. Moods like this are the source of the old saying I got up on the wrong side of the bed.
But many moods seem to have a more concrete source. One obvious factor is the events in our daily lives. It often appears on the surface that the moods we experience derive from things that happen to us or things that people say to us. Think about my friend John, whose story I told in chapter 1. If asked, John would probably say that his whirlwind of moods was caused by his conversation with Fran, who passed along the rumor about possible layoffs at Tip-Top Products. Most people believe that their moods are caused by external circumstances—and this applies particularly to negative moods, which carry us to the lower floors. Something occurs that we don't like, or someone does something that “pushes our buttons.”
You can think of any number of examples: A loved one makes a negative comment about your clothes or your cooking, or they fail to thank you when you really went out of your way to do something nice for them. The stock market goes down again, putting a hurt on your retirement investments. You step on the bathroom scale and don't like the number you see. Your teenager brings home a date with a few too many piercings for your taste. You accidentally run a red light and get stuck with a costly ticket. Your boss or a colleague blames you unfairly for something you didn't do—or, worse, blames you fairly for something you did do! I think you get the picture.
We all encounter challenges like these on a daily—if not hourly—basis, but they don't really explain where our moods come from. After all, a moment's reflection will tell you that some moods have no apparent connection to outside events. We feel good or bad “for no real reason,” and in fact these moods often end up affecting our behavior and experiences rather than the other way around. In other cases, events that might ordinarily trigger a change in our mood simply don't do so.
Yes, sometimes a critical remark from your spouse can cause your mood to plummet, provoking defensiveness or anger—but on some days you shrug it off or even offer a playful, teasing response that evokes laughter on both sides. Sometimes a stock market plunge may produce anxiety or depression—but other times it compels you to call your financial adviser and schedule a long-overdue conversation about how best to rebalance your investment portfolio. Sometimes a reprimand from the boss triggers hostility and resentment—but other times you use it as an opportunity to figure out how you can improve your work methods so that you won't make the same mistake again.
We're not automatons, reacting mechanically and predictably to outside stimuli. We're human beings, and the ways we respond to circumstances vary—depending not on outside events but rather on what happens inside our heads. There may be events that stimulate our thoughts, but it is the thoughts that determine our moods.
Think back to my friend John. Yes, Fran's comment launched the cascade of feelings that sent him on his wild ride down (and then up) the Mood Elevator. But each shift in the elevator's direction was driven by a thought inside John's head, from his memories of the hard work he'd devoted to Tip-Top Products to his fantasies about a possible future as a rising executive at his buddy Ron's high-tech firm. John's story illustrates the fact that it's not the circumstances of our life that create our moods—it's what we make of those circumstances. The controlling variable between the event and the mood that results is what we make of it—our thoughts.[1]
We see this truth in everyday life. You may end a difficult day feeling tired, a bit overwhelmed by thoughts of what you have to face tomorrow, and a bit discouraged by reflections on the things you didn't accomplish today. Then you get a good night's sleep, rise in the sunshine and take a walk or run, and find that, almost miraculously, life is fine. You head off to a new day at work feeling hopeful, ready to tackle that list of challenges.
Nothing in your life circumstances has changed. The only thing that's changed is your thinking about it.
The same applies to our most intimate relationships. I have five children who range in age from 16 to 52. With my three older boys, who are now in their forties and fifties, I went through all the phases, from changing diapers and sleepless nights; to teaching them to swim, body-board, water-ski, and ride dirt bikes; to college graduations. I remarried more than 36 years ago, and after a number of years Bernadette said she wanted to start a brand-new family. We had Kendra when I was 55 and Logan when I was 65. The age difference between them makes Logan almost like an only child, so I often end up being his playmate—from paddleboarding to water-skiing to zip-lining. And I watch many dawn-to-dusk club volleyball tournaments, since that's his chosen sport.
This unusual set of experiences stimulates a wide range of thoughts that could put me on very different levels on the Mood Elevator. On most weekend or vacation mornings when Logan says, “Let's go, Dad!” I reflect on all the positive things Logan has brought into my life. Because he sees the world through the fresh and curious eyes of a child, he helps me learn and grow. And being his playmate has increased my commitment to health and fitness so that I can keep up with him. I usually respond to Logan's invitation by yelling, “Last one in the water is a rotten egg!” and leading him on a merry chase.
But once in a while, my thoughts travel in the opposite direction. On an occasional weekend or vacation when I'd rather sleep in to relax or recharge, the thought of mustering the energy to go to Wet 'n Wild water park or to jump off the rocks at Waimea Bay provokes thoughts like What was I thinking—adding another kid to the family so late in life?! I could be catching a few more winks or enjoying my favorite book in the hammock instead of wearing myself out. I groan, turn over in bed, and pull the covers over my head (usually in vain, of course).
What has changed? It's the same Logan and the same life I chose. It's what I make of it—my thinking—that makes the difference. Yes, life is what we make of it.
The Movie in Your Mind
A while back Senn Delaney hired a new consultant named Deborah, who had previously worked for a company in Houston. Because our consultants fly to most engagements, they can live wherever they choose, and Deb elected to stay in Houston.
Shortly after Deb joined us and began her training, I scheduled a sales call with the CEO of a major utility company in Houston. I decided to invite Deb to join me. I thought that participating in the meeting would give her a chance to hear how we presented ourselves to a prospective client, and it might yield some work for her in her hometown.
It was an innocent, well-intentioned invitation. I had no idea how it would affect Deb's thinking.
Much later Deb recounted to me the thoughts that had cascaded through her mind:
A sales call with the chairman of my new company!? But I'm so new. I'm just getting to know Senn Delaney. What if I perform badly? I'm not a salesperson; I'm a consultant. What if I say something stupid? What if I embarrass my boss and we lose the sale? I could get fired! That would look awful on my résumé. I took a risk leaving my longtime employer, and I can't go back now. What if I can't get another job? My oldest child won't be able to start college. I could lose my house.
Before she got her imagination under control, Deb had pictured herself homeless, living in a cardboard box under the freeway.
In fact, the meeting unfolded quite differently than Deb had feared. The three of us got along wonderfully—in fact, it turned out that Deb attended the same church as the utility company CEO, and they had mutual friends. Senn Delaney won the consulting engagement, and Deb had an assignment in her hometown to launch her new career. It was later that Deb shared with me the fearful thoughts she'd subjected herself to, and we both had a good laugh over it.
But Deb is far from unique. We all go through life interpreting everything that happens (or doesn't happen) and projecting a story about what it means. It's as though we are making a movie in our heads. We take whatever our thinking is and make it feel as real as our emotions and physical reactions can—just the way a Hollywood special effects department can turn a fantasy into a virtual reality. And thanks to the power of our imaginations, we can take the same event and extend it into a happy ending or a disastrous one.
Sometimes the power of thought even makes us live through things that never happened. Have you ever gotten really mad at someone for something you thought they did—and then discovered they didn't do it at all? Have you ever been convinced that you'd been turned down for a job or diagnosed with some terrible illness—only to learn that the worst had not occurred? You may have spent a day or two suffering needless torment—all because of the incredible power of thought.
When Senn Delaney was considering being acquired by a larger organization many years ago, we went through a period when our people's emotions were roiling based on their thoughts about what might happen if the deal went through. Half of our employees were excited about the added opportunities the merger would bring—increased sales leads, broader capabilities, and added investments that could help us grow faster. The other half were so sure that we'd lose our unique culture that they were practically in mourning, thinking about updating their résumés and seeking new jobs as refugees from the company they'd “lost.” Each group was creating a movie about the future and then reacting to it—all based on little more than the thoughts in their heads.
In the end, that deal didn't take place, and the movie scripts disappeared overnight, replaced by familiar reality. Interestingly, a number of years later we did decide to join a larger firm, Heidrick & Struggles. By then we had trained all of our people to better understand the power of thought and the Mood Elevator, and the transition went smoothly—because no one was distracted by thought-driven mood swings.
Understanding the power of thought to shape your moods can help you control your responses—just as you do when you watch a real movie: You sit in the darkened theater, caught up in the drama and the suspense; the music is playing, and the special effects are making your adrenaline flow. But consciously you know it's just a movie. You know that, if it gets too scary, you can take a break to buy some popcorn; and even if the story is tragic, you know you'll return to your normal life when the picture ends.
When you learn to treat your mental movies in that way, your thinking will begin to have less power over you. You will never let go of your moods completely, but knowing that your thoughts are the source of those moods can provide a little added distance and help you remain in control. It's a powerful first step to learning to ride up the Mood Elevator rather than feeling like a helpless victim of emotional forces you can't control—one of a number of steps you'll learn about in the following chapters.
第5章 Up the Mood Elevator: The Big Payoffs
We are formed and molded by our thoughts. Those whose minds are shaped by selfless thoughts give joy when they speak or act. Joy follows them like a shadow that never leaves them.
—GAUTAMA BUDDHA
As we saw in chapter 2, thought plays a major role in controlling our travels up and down the Mood Elevator. Our thoughts influence all the feelings we experience, from joy to depression. Understanding that our thinking creates our emotional reality is the first step in taking control.
Knowing that our thoughts control our moods gives us a little distance from those moods. It helps us be less gripped by worry, fear, and anxiety and less driven by our emotions to pronounce judgments on other people and on the circumstances of our lives.
This understanding is the first basic principle of riding the Mood Elevator. And it is so powerful that it can have—and has had for thousands of people—a series of enormous payoffs, both in your personal life and in your ability to contribute to any organization to which you belong.
The Personal Payoffs
The payoffs you gain from understanding the power of thought begin with a better moment-to-moment experience of life. When you are no longer buffeted by the winds of moods you don't understand and can't control, you'll find that you can enjoy life much more, with a greater sense of peace and freedom. But the benefits go far beyond that. Learning to control your travels on the Mood Elevator can also help you have a more successful career, a more fulfilling job, a more loving marriage, and healthier relationships. In short, it can help you achieve more success with less stress in your life. This is because when we are up the Mood Elevator, we experience higher-quality thinking. Our thinking is clearer, better focused, more organized, and more flowing.
Think about the last time you felt really rushed, frustrated, bothered, or extremely impatient, with nothing going quite right. It might have been a time when you were late for an important meeting, struggling to finish a complicated project, or dealing with an emergency that was just beyond your competence level.
Recall what your thinking is like in these situations. If it's like mine, it is probably very scattered and unfocused. The morning when I am under the most intense pressure to get to a meeting on time is precisely when I am most likely to misplace something important—like my keys or phone. It's also the time when I'm most likely to fumble seemingly simple tasks. My thoughts race, and answering even basic questions or solving easy problems seems difficult. The same result can occur whenever I get overly excited, emotional, or intense.
The fact is that just as our thoughts drive the Mood Elevator, our travels on the Mood Elevator in turn have a profound effect on the quality of our thinking.
When we are down the Mood Elevator, we suffer from lower-quality thinking. Our thoughts are often circular, going around and around in the same cycle of emotions and feelings driven by anxiety, uncertainty, and confusion. Our thinking is busy and more cluttered. We don't make sense of our environment as well as we usually do. We aren't as tuned in to other people, what is on their minds, or the impact we are having on them.
By contrast, have you ever found yourself wrestling fruitlessly with a complicated problem only to discover that when you let it go, a creative solution occurs to you? Our thinking improves when we travel up the Mood Elevator. This often happens to us when we relax, quiet our mind, change our pattern of thinking, and escape the grip of anxiety—perhaps by exercising, taking a walk, or listening to music. Even a routine chore like vacuuming the house or mowing the lawn can be helpful. In fact, one study found that people reported having the most new, creative ideas while taking a shower! The sound, rhythm, and warmth of the water blocks out the world and the internal noises generated by our thoughts, permitting our quieter minds to return to higher-quality thinking. When we are up the Mood Elevator and have higher-quality thinking, we have full access to the capabilities of our minds.
At times like these, you may feel as though you are “in the zone.” Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, former chairman of the Department of Psychology at the University of Chicago, described this phenomenon in his book Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience. Csikszentmihalyi found that there are “flow times” that all people have when they are absorbed and in tune with what they are doing. During these flow times, people have exceptionally clear, creative, and resourceful thinking; somehow they are able to discover appropriate ways to tackle any problem they are grappling with. These positive responses seem to come to them naturally and effortlessly.
Crucially, in reflecting on my own life and in thinking about the stories others have shared with me, I've discovered that flow times are strongly related to the moods people experience at the upper levels on the Mood Elevator. This means flow times need not be rare moments in our lives. Although no one is always in the zone, a form of flow state can become a habitual way of life—once we learn to travel up the Mood Elevator, not just occasionally and accidentally, but frequently and deliberately.
Reconnecting with your best self. One of my deeply held beliefs and a basic premise of this book is that we all come into this world with the potential for mental and emotional health. Our natural state is to be loving, creative, trusting, forgiving, curious, happy, and desirous of warm, close relationships with others.
We often see this state in very young children. To most youngsters life is a wonder. They are spontaneous and they live in the moment. They get over everyday hurts easily, and they don't hold grudges. They are naturally up the Mood Elevator much of the time. Of course, they sometimes go down the elevator, too. We've all seen children exhibit anger, impatience, and irritation, but kids generally don't stay at the lower levels for long periods as adults may do. In large part this is because children tend to hold their thinking more lightly; they haven't yet decided how things “are supposed to be,” so they are open to taking life as it comes, not as their minds interpret it.
Unfortunately, as we grow up most of us develop thought habits or beliefs that can mask or obscure our innate health. At some point we are hurt by someone, and we may become more guarded or defensive. We are criticized for a mistake, and we may learn to make excuses and blame others, seeking to become less accountable so we don't look bad. We play competitive sports, and we may adopt a self-centered win/lose versus win/win mind-set. We are negatively judged for being ourselves, and we may develop an alter ego that is inauthentic. These thought habits can drive us down the Mood Elevator, causing us to lose touch with the healthy child inside us.
Happily, my work as a consultant has shown me that practically everyone retains that childlike health somewhere inside them. They simply need to be reminded of it, encouraged to reconnect with it, and taught simple techniques that will help make that possible. You'll learn many such techniques in this book. As a result, you'll be empowered to rediscover the healthy attitudes of openness, creativity, and joy that most children exhibit—and that also characterize adults at their best.
One time when I was fishing with my son Logan, we were using a bobber—a plastic ball that floats on the water's surface, with the line and bait dangling beneath it. It's called a bobber because you can see it move up and down when a fish starts to nibble on the bait. The fish periodically pulls the bobber underwater, but the bobber's natural state is to pop back up to the surface. In the same way, our natural state is to be up the Mood Elevator. Thoughts of worry, judgment, and insecurity are like the fish—they nibble at us and pull us under temporarily. But when we quiet our minds and let go of those thoughts, our natural health bobs back up.
Maintaining your mental traction. People who lose their cool at times of difficulty, stress, or conflict are at a distinct disadvantage, especially when it comes to dealing with the inappropriate behavior of other people. I've found that if I can keep my composure when someone I am dealing with exhibits impatience, anger, or hostility, I'll almost certainly come out ahead. But when I respond by losing my mental traction, the situation tends to spiral out of control.
Many years ago I saw an illusionist's act at the Universal Studios theme park. The illusionist invited three of the strongest-looking guys in the audience to come onstage, take off their shoes, and stand in a spot he designated.
Next the illusionist asked a petite woman to join them onstage, remove her shoes, and stand on another designated spot about 10 feet from the men. He then gave the men one end of a rope and the woman the other end and asked them to have a tug-of-war. To everyone's amazement, the woman easily pulled the three large men across the floor.
It turned out that the guys had been placed on a spot where the floor was coated with a very slippery space-age material, so they couldn't get any traction in their stocking feet. By contrast, the woman was standing on a rubber pad with lots of traction. With this advantage it didn't take much strength for the woman to move the men.
When we drop several floors down the Mood Elevator—especially without realizing it and adjusting for it—we lose our mental traction. We can't think clearly, communicate well, or react quickly. Under those circumstances, seemingly modest difficulties can easily topple us.
There are simple steps you can take to maintain your own mental traction. Remember the tug-of-war image the next time you are dealing with a difficult person—someone who's thinking has trapped them in a negative, arrogant, aggressive, or defensive mood. Then take a deep breath and consciously embrace thoughts that will enable you to regain the sense of perspective, understanding, and insight you get from traveling up the Mood Elevator. You'll keep your emotional footing and enjoy a far better outcome.
Having access to original ideas. Another reason why we do better when we're on the upper floors is because we have more ready access to the sources of original ideas.
The fact is that most of what goes on in our thinking is not new or creative. We are usually just reprocessing what's already in our memory banks or sorting new input into categories based on what we already know and have experienced. Think about a typical conversation around the water cooler or at a cocktail party. When you mention children, the people you are talking to will tell you about their kids; when you mention vacation, they will recount their last holiday. Similarly, in most business discussions the ideas proposed are familiar ones that break no new ground. In all of these cases, the underlying dynamic is the same: nothing new has entered the system, so nothing particularly creative or original comes out.
There's nothing wrong with reusing what we already know or with sorting new information into preexisting categories. Both are practical uses of our mental capacity. But original ideas come from the highest levels of our minds, where insight and wisdom reside. Some people would say they even come from beyond our individual experience—from some form of collective intelligence that we can tap into only under specific circumstances. That's certainly how it feels when new, seemingly inexplicable insights pop into our brains.
Original ideas are the source of breakthroughs and inventions—new solutions to old problems and new ways of seeing and doing things. While driving in his 1988 Chevy Blazer on July 4, 1994, a young engineer named Jeff Bezos had just such a novel idea. It occurred to him that the then-fledgling Internet could serve as a distribution system for products to the masses. He pulled over, took out a notepad, and sketched out a business plan for a website to sell books. He named the new business Amazon, after the river with thousands of branches and tributaries, and it led to a retailing revolution.
When we're on the lower floors of the Mood Elevator, original ideas generally elude us. Driven by the negative moods that dominate our minds and emotions, we lose our sense of perspective. The options we perceive as available to us narrow, and our thinking becomes increasingly restricted and memory-based, making us more inclined to cling to the old than to visualize the possibilities of the new. We become less flexible, less resilient, and less open-minded.
By contrast, when we are higher on the Mood Elevator, original ideas are more likely. Few of us have devised new business concepts that revolutionized an industry, but most of us have enjoyed access to original ideas during our moments on the top floors.
Remember that time you were struggling with a project or problem and seeing very few options because your energy was low and you were tired and dispirited? Then you changed your mood—perhaps through something as simple as a good night's sleep, a weekend off, or a change of scenery—and all of a sudden a range of possibilities opened before you. The solution to the problem popped into your brain almost effortlessly. You may have found yourself marveling, How obvious! I wonder why that didn't occur to me before? The effects of the Mood Elevator provide an explanation.
Learning to spend more time on the upper floors can give you enhanced access to the creative, innovative capabilities of your mind. The more you cultivate this phenomenon in your life and work, the more success and less stress you'll tend to experience.
The Organizational Payoffs
Learning to ride the Mood Elevator offers huge benefits for the individual, but it also offers major payoffs for organizations whose employees practice this skill. It's no accident that many of Senn Delaney's clients who teach their employees about the Mood Elevator have appeared on Fortune's list of most admired companies, won J.D. Power awards for best customer service, and earned high rankings on the employee engagement scores measured by the Gallup polling organization.
One of the core beliefs that guides our culture-shaping work at Senn Delaney is that, in a fundamental sense, we don't have to teach our clients anything; we just give them practical ways to reconnect with the best of who they already are. That happens naturally for people and organizations when they are up the Mood Elevator. When leaders and teams operate at their best, their innately healthy behaviors are enhanced, and organizations flourish.
I've already noted that most people, as they grow up, gradually lose the natural mental and emotional health that characterizes many young children. Instead they learn thought habits that make them vulnerable to negative attitudes and behaviors like fear, defensiveness, and inauthenticity. Many of these learned habits show up as dys-functions in the organizations they join. Win/lose political conflicts and lack of trust cause needless rifts and misunderstandings. Departments and individuals blame one another and engage in battles over power, prestige, and resources. As a result, organizations waste time, energy, and money struggling to overcome personal and cultural dysfunctions rather than focusing on productivity, creativity, and growth.
When we perform the Senn Delaney cultural diagnostics with a new client company, the resulting Corporate Culture Profile often yields scores that indicate problem areas. One of the scores most often found in the red zone, indicating serious dysfunction, is employees' not feeling valued and appreciated. That is not surprising. These days most organizations operate at a faster pace than ever before—often dismissing the human dimension. But that's a recipe for trouble because it leads to a lack of employee engagement and a poor customer experience.
Fortunately, we are able to use the concepts in this book to consistently move our clients out of the red zone and toward a healthy, high-performing culture with more positive energy and spirit. It is empowering for our clients to learn that they can return to the productive forms of thinking, feeling, and behaving that elude them when they are down the Mood Elevator—and that they can be highly productive and have employees and customers who feel valued and appreciated. Our clients learn that healthy organizational behaviors are only a thought away—and they learn how to access them.
Values that move an organization up the Mood Elevator. Senn Delaney's work in an organization generally includes a customized off-site session with the CEO and his or her senior team. Toward the end of the session, after discussing and experiencing the modes of behavior they consider most enjoyable, productive, and rewarding, the team members usually find themselves at the top levels of the Mood Elevator, feeling and operating at their best. At that moment we ask them to define how they want to relate to one another once they are back in the office—and how they want to apply the same style of interaction throughout the organization. In response, the leadership team compiles a list of values that define a healthy, high-performing culture.
The Essential Organizational Values
Attitudes and Behaviors Found up the Mood Elevator
Images The foundation: a positive, optimistic spirit based on respect, trust, recognition, and caring (as opposed to pessimism, cynicism, and mistrust)
Images Personal accountability and an intense desire for excellence (as opposed to blaming and excuses)
Images Mutually supportive relationships and teamwork dedicated to the benefit of the entire organization (as opposed to selfishness, turf battles, and win/lose political conflict)
Images Curiosity and an open, learning mind-set supported by encouragement for risk taking and innovation (as opposed to judgment and resistance to new ideas)
Images Integrity, authenticity, and transparency (as opposed to pretense and secrecy)
Images A purposeful connection to and focus on the organization's highest cause or reason for existence (as opposed to cynicism and self-interest)
Over time, having undergone this process with hundreds of organizations, we noticed obvious similarities among the lists of values they developed. We concluded that any group in a healthy place—higher on the Mood Elevator—tends to gravitate toward the same fundamental attitudes and behaviors. We compiled these into a list of what we call the Essential Organizational Values. It comprises all the behaviors that come naturally to people on the higher floors of the Mood Elevator but elude them when they are on the lower floors. We've found that the most successful teams and organizations live these essential values better than others. As a result, the individuals who belong to these groups usually find that they can spend more time on the penthouse floor, and they are happier, more creative, and more productive as a result.
Some companies embody the Essential Organizational Values better than others, but practically every leadership team that takes time for self-reflection recognizes their importance and aspires to live by them. The same values have risen to the surface consistently in our work in more than 50 countries with groups ranging from 100-plus CEO teams of Fortune 500 companies to teams of state governors and university presidents. We believe that the Essential Organizational Values represent universal principles of life effectiveness for individuals as well as organizations.
It is fascinating to see how these principles play out in organizations. One example is L Brands, the parent company of the popular retail chains Bath & Body Works and Victoria's Secret. The Essential Organizational Values show up at L Brands under the rubric of The L Brand Way—the company's own definition of the culture it aspires to cultivate.
In an era when many business organizations have come under fire for unethical behaviors, L Brands has made a fundamental commitment to living its values, not just pursuing profit. In the words of company founder and CEO Les Wexner, business is not just about winning: “It matters how you play the game.”[2] Fortune magazine named L Brands one of the Most Admired Retailers in the world. The company was also recognized by the Center for Effective Organizations at the University of Southern California as one of the most agile in the United States.
When employees of many of the world's best companies were surveyed, L Brands was ranked highest in several crucial metrics:
Images “Decisions and actions reflect customer care.”
Images “I feel valued as an associate.”
Images “I have the opportunity to develop the skills I need to be successful in the future.”
Images “It is easy for people of diverse backgrounds to fit in—and be accepted.”
In explaining these achievements, Wexner commented, “It is our thinking driving our behaviors and our results”—the language of riding the Mood Elevator applied to organizational achievement.
Another CEO who has employed the power of the Mood Elevator to enhance his organization's performance is David Novak of YUM! Brands, which manages 36,000 KFC, Pizza Hut, and Taco Bell restaurants and 1.7 million employees around the world. YUM! Brands has effectively used the Mood Elevator as a tool to shape its culture and the employee and customer experience. YUM! Brands is one of a handful of large global companies that hold the distinction of a decade of annual earnings growth exceeding 10 percent, and Novak was named CEO of the Year by Chief Executive magazine for his accomplishments.
Novak's best-selling book, Taking People with You: The Only Way to Make Big Things Happen, includes a section on the Mood Elevator. In a CEO Show interview, Novak observed, “The worst thing you can do is go to work every day and not have a positive attitude. You've got to at least move yourself up the Mood Elevator and get in the ‘curious and interested’ level to be an effective leader—and you make your best decisions at the top when you are grateful.”[3]
A third leader who has used the Mood Elevator as a leadership tool is General Josue “Joe” Robles Jr., former CEO of USAA, the military insurance and financial services company. A much-decorated officer, Robles was named Innovator of the Year in 2009 by American Banker magazine, and under his leadership USAA was repeatedly ranked number one among all US companies in surveys on customer service and customer loyalty. Robles uses the Mood Elevator to bring out the best in people and teams. As he says, “The concept has been invaluable in all walks of life for people at USAA. It helps us work better together as business colleagues but has equal benefit in personal relationships.”[4]
Robles retired from USAA in 2015 and was promptly asked by President Barack Obama to serve as chair of the Department of Veterans Affairs' newly formed MyVA Advisory Committee, with the mission of making the VA more effective and accessible to the veterans it is intended to serve.
Fewer organizations today are neglecting issues of culture, values, and attitudes. Those that do are driven by thinking that “soft” topics are less meaningful and significant than traditional “hard” factors like strategy and systems. But our experience with organizations in every industry and country has shown that it's the soft stuff that largely determines success in life and in organizations. That's why learning to master the Mood Elevator offers such big payoffs for companies that wisely devote some time and energy to self-reflection.
Images
In chapter 4 we delve further into the secrets of riding the Mood Elevator—beginning with the challenge of recognizing and understanding your own moods so that you can take steps to deliberately alter and control them.
