The Energy Bus: 10 Rules to Fuel Your Life, Work, and Team with Positive Energy (Jon Gordon)

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My main complaint which overrides most of the positives from the book is the same thing with all this author's works--the religious themes that go along with it. If this book is supposed to inspire workers to work hard, then it should not assume us all to be Christian. As a non-believer I see what my company was going for in giving us this book to read, but I can't help but feeling marginalized since it is just ASSUMED in this country that we are all on board with the God thing. When I read self-help books, I like them to challenge and motivate me to think more deeply about a personal or professional issue, rather than be laid out in predictable fashion. When I read a title of a book, I want it to lead me on, grab my attention, entice me to read more. Without that mystique and depth, a book rarely appeals to me. The 25 year old college student about to graduate, who feels lost in life, the 58 year old manager, who’s burned out and lost sight of his purpose at work, and anyone who’s currently going through a major slump.

Jon Gordon | Bestselling Author and Keynote Speaker

There’s a formula for change: E (events) + P (perception) = O (outcome). While we can’t always control events, we can control the way we perceive them. How we perceive them and respond dictates the outcome. The “P” in this formula can also stand for positive energy. Jon is a graduate of Cornell University and holds a Masters in Teaching from Emory University. He and his training/consulting company are passionate about developing positive leaders, organizations and teams. You are responsible for everything happening with your team on in your life. You have to change your own thinking and actions if you want others to join in, lead by example. Find an in-depth guide to the 10 rules from The Energy Bus below. The Energy Bus : 10 Rules for a Better Life His next steps were sharing his vision with his team at work and inviting people to get on his bus. 4) Share Your Vision and Invite People on BoardPositive energy powers your bus while vision and focus point it in the proper path. Negative energy produces waste, whereas positive energy is a high-octane fuel. To be successful, you must live your life with optimism. Negativity will fill any gap, so think positively, feel positive, and act positively to ensure there is no space for it. Your staff will stay on task with positive energy, but you must possess it yourself first. Invite People on Your Bus and Share Your Vision for the Road Ahead When he climbed on bus #11, the driver, whose name was Joy, greeted him enthusiastically despite his obviously bad mood. She soon explained that hers was no ordinary bus—it was “The Energy Bus.” She was an “energy ambassador,” whose mission was to energize her passengers through positive thinking. While this fable has a business setting, it’s written for everyone—the story’s 10 simple rules show you how to create positive energy and enjoy “the ride of your life.” George’s Story

The Energy Bus: 10 Rules to Fuel Your Life, Work, and Team

Emotions are contagious. This rule is about leading from the heart, to infect others with your positive energy and emotions. Rule #8: Love your Passengers Joy gives George a children's book to read, which is named The Energy Bus. [You see, the ironic thing is, George is ON the "Energy Bus" with Joy, so it's like a literal book, a literal bus, but all a metaphorical ENERGY bus. Layers upon layers of metaphors...] When it turned out that George’s car problems required a two-week wait for a new part and he’d have to take the bus during that time, Joy seized the opportunity to share her 10 rules for having “the ride of your life,” the bus ride being a metaphor for how you live your life. Since he didn’t have a better idea and needed to do something, George agreed to hear the rules, which she explained as follows. Rules of the Road The Energy Bus tells the fictional story of George, a depressed middle manager at a lightbulb manufacturing company, whose negativity is ruining his career and marriage. When George encounters an ebullient bus driver things begin turning around, with the help of 10 simple rules. Written by a leadership and teamwork expert, the book (apparently) contains the information needed to excel in personal and professional domains.George’s attitude improves and the team starts to gel. In chapters 21-30, they work overtime for three days to finish their project. They learn rules 7 and 8 (enthusiasm attracts more passengers and energizes them during the ride; love your passengers) along with a five step system for cultivating caring in teams. Rule 9 focuses George on goals bigger than just this presentation by driving with purpose. The first rule of the10 rules from The Energy Bus is to realize that you’re in control of your own life. You can’t control everything that happens, but you can control what you believe about what happens. If you focus on gratitude, solving problems, and learning new things, you’ll always come out on top. Lesson 2: Humans can sense enthusiasm from a distance and it’s what gets people on your bus. Unbelievably cheesy. It's a good book for kids in 5th grade or below, it didn't offer anything that I didn't already know. The two reasons I kept reading it was that the rules were nice refreshers/reminders to have a positive mindset and I finish what I start (no matter how long it may take me, and how painful reading it may be (like this). A man named George is feeling discouraged and disgruntled about both his personal life and his professional life.

The Energy Bus: 10 Rules to Embrace Positive Energy The Energy Bus: 10 Rules to Embrace Positive Energy

In appreciation, he told his team they could take the rest of the day off, but no one wanted to leave—they wanted to celebrate together. So instead, he invited them all to lunch, where they began laying plans for future successes. They were excited about where their bus was going. Enthusiasm is contagious. Over thousands of centuries, humans have evolved to understand emotions from afar. One example is our body language. Jon also quotes a study that showed our heart has its own electromagnetic field, and the waves it sends can be sensed by others, even if they’re up to ten feet away! I think that inspiring workplace productivity in a team requires extreme inclusion for all religious viewpoints and beliefs and find it extremely shortsighted for this author to continue throwing his religious beliefs into his books.

The underlying message of the book is positive, if delivered in a pedestrian manner. Reading this book is like having someone beat you over the head repeatedly with a metaphor.