Shirzad ChaminePositive Intelligence: Why Only 20% of Teams and Individuals Achieve Their True Potential AND HOW YOU CAN ACHIEVE YOURS

This book has profoundly impacted my life. The assessment that is online and the descriptions of each saboteur has been a game changer in understanding why I get triggered so quickly and what I can do about. I recommend this book weekly and we are studying it in our next book club.

I highly recommend Positive Intelligence (book and 6-week program). Here’s why…I hold a Master's in Mental Health Counseling and am an ICF Certified Coach. I’ve lost count of the number of programs, approaches, books, workshops, etc. that I’ve experienced…and I can honestly say Shirzad’s Positive Intelligence (PQ) model is the simplest yet most powerful approach to personal and professional development. The reason is that he gets to the root cause through factor analysis (factor analysis is a technique that is used to reduce a large number of variables into fewer numbers of factors). For example, all colors are created from the three primary colors, right. So Shirzad has used top learnings and discoveries from neuroscience, cognitive psychology, positive psychology, and performance science to synthesize the essence of our core operating system (only 10 factors are responsible for our self-sabotage and 5 core powers that create peak performance and happiness). Think of our brain as the hardware and Positive Intelligence is an upgrade to our operating system – so that every application we run works better.You may have heard this before:An old Cherokee Indian chief was teaching his grandson about life.He said, "A fight is going on inside me," he told the young boy, "a fight between two wolves.The Dark one is evil - he is anger, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego." He continued, "The Light Wolf is good - he is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion, and faith. The same fight is going on inside you grandson…and inside of every other person on the face of this earth.”The grandson ponders this for a moment and then asked, "Grandfather, which wolf will win?"The old Cherokee smiled and simply said, "The one you feed".This is a great example of the two areas of the brain Shirzad focuses on the Sage area (light wolf) and the Saboteur area (dark wolf). We all have both “wolves” in our brains because we all essentially have the same “hardware” in the brain. What Positive Intelligence does is train our brain to “feed” the light wolf, while recognizing that while we can’t eliminate the dark wolf, we can learn to work with it differently.The way we “feed” the Sage in our brain is by intercepting the saboteurs, building up our self-command muscle, and use one of the 5 core sage powers.My favorite part is that we can change our brain in just short 2-minute practices called PQ reps (sort of like mini-mindful moments based on using one of our senses). I do PQ reps while driving, in meetings, before big presentations, with my kids, anytime! For a technical explanation, the PQ rep is activating our parasympathetic nervous system (the rest and digest system) while calming our sympathetic nervous system (the fight and flight system). This balancing of the nervous system promotes greater health, improved immune functions, feelings of relaxation, clearer focus, just to name a few.In short, this book changed my life by calming my saboteurs and activating my sage. It closed the gap between my knowing what I need to do to actually doing it.

A very good book, easy to read. It does what it says it does and it does it well, while remaining easily accessible and, most of all, fun to read. I really enjoyed myself reading it.I hesitated a bit to buy it after reading some of the bad reviews, but after reading it I can only believe that these reviewers did not read it to the end. So here is my (Hyper-)rational meaning about it:What it does for you:- it shows you by which mechanisms your brain tries to protect itself even when it is not necessary, as a result limiting you both in your work and in your everyday life.- it gives you easy, quick and fun techniques to help you reverse that tendency, by getting more conscious of these defense mechanisms. That way they can still defend you when necessary, but they don't get in the way when you need to move forward.- it opens a window to your "feelings" in a no "touchy-feely" approach. Even if you are a very down to earth kind of person (which I am), you should not feel uncomfortable there.- it explains you the fundamentals of the science behind these techniques, and it gives you the references of the books and researches it is based on. That way you do not need to get a Masters degree in cognitive sciences to benefit from this book (but you can get started if you want :).What it does not do for you:- as already mentioned, it is not a complete science compendium. Do not expect hardcore science. Indeed, the author is quite clear as to when his words are the standard in the fields, and to when he is using his own words to summarize something more complex (and then he gives you the references you need to get more details if you want). NOTE: this aspect was at the core of all the bad reviews I read about this book. The tone was like> "it just says the same usual stuff, just with other words". Yes and I loved it. Because that way it speaks my language and the whole thing makes much more sense that a very complex scientific language or a hippie flower power approach (no judgement there, it is not just my preference)> "this or that book explains all that so much better and in more details". True, and the author explicitly explains that it was on purpose he kept it simple. Several of these books that are so much better are indeed referred to, and their contribution acknowledged.> "he's just trying to sell books". Of course he wants to sell books. He's obviously good at what he does so why should he not make money with it?> "it's not a book about work environment, it is a book on self-improvement". Well it is both. It can be useful on a strictly personal level, but almost all examples are work related. Even the ones on a personal level becomes personal only after deviating from an originally professional situation. Indeed if you only want a self-improvement book, you may find that it sounds too professional (seems that we are never happy anyways? What a coincidence! it's precisely what the book is about :-)- it does not go into deep psychological analyses of the feelings it mentions. The feelings involved are described in just enough details to understand the process, to relate to the description (see warning bellow) and to be able to practice the proposed technique.- it does not condemn you to a hard and long process if you want to follow its advice. Indeed, you will probably find out that if you just follow your usual habits with a bit more attention to what you are doing, you are already practicing the proposed techniques.- it does not solve the problem (if you have one) for you either. Just reading the book passively out of curiosity will sure teach you something, but it won't change your life. Reading actively is still necessary.Now a warning:you will probably feel that the book was written just for you. I am generally quite active, confident, and in touch with my feelings, good or bad, without letting them paralyze me or blind me (okay: not too much). My score to the positive intelligence test before reading the book was not bad at all, although still with room for improvement. Still many of the examples of "bad" reactions to the environment sounded terribly familiar. And I mean: terribly familiar, some examples could have been written about me!! My point it, I would bet you will feel the same. So read it with an open mind, when you feel he's talking about you embrace it, play with it, and turn it into your advantage. You never get too many of these.