The Power of Positive Thinking in Business: 10 Traits for Maximum Results [Hardcover]

Scott W. Ventrella (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 15, 2001

One of the most powerful forces in business today is the positive psychology movement -- overcoming self-defeating attitudes and developing our talents and positive traits. Much of the new thinking, in fact, stems directly from the concepts in Norman Vincent Peale's great classic bestseller, "The Power of Positive Thinking," which has been translated into forty-two languages and has sold over 22 million copies.

Now, after years of extensive research and field testing, working in cooperation with the Peale Center and major corporations nationwide, Scott Ventrella has adapted those concepts into a systematic program for people in business to achieve greater levels of personal and professional performance. "The Power of Positive Thinking in Business" provides a practical way for each of us to develop and actually strengthen the ten traits of a positive thinker. Inevitably, our performance rises to new levels when we learn how to overcome negative attitudinal barriers such as fear, lack of self-confidence, and low self-esteem, and instead develop the traits that characterize a positive thinker: optimism, enthusiasm, belief, integrity, courage, confidence, determination, patience, calmness, and focus.

"The Power of Positive Thinking in Business" encourages us to concentrate on objective, rational thinking instead of self-limiting beliefs and negative self-talk. The result is an increased ability to deal effectively with tough situations and difficult people, in both business environments and personal lives. Together, rational thinking and the ten traits of a positive thinker can turn defeatist behavior into productive actions that will overcome the toughest of challenges withpowerful, positive results.

Best of all, these practical yet powerful concepts are applicable to businesspeople at all levels, disciplines, and functions within an organization, and have been adapted to appeal to people of all faiths.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Ventrella, an adjunct professor at Fordham University's Graduate School of Business who works closely with the Norman Vincent Peale Center, adapts the principles of Peale's mega-bestseller, The Power of Positive Thinking, to the workplace. In keeping with Peale's teachings, Ventrella argues that although people often focus on external factors, the only meaningful limitations they face at work are self-imposed. In a logical, plausible text, Ventrella guides readers beyond self-destructive feelings ("It's awful when I make a mistake") and behaviors, arguing, for example, that the people who are willing to make mistakes often make the best decisions. As Peale proposed and Ventrella reinforces, positive thinkers are focused, determined, patient, confident, calm, enthusiastic and optimistic. They trust themselves, others (and, possibly, a higher power), and they have integrity all of which Ventrella illuminates by presenting exercises, posing critical questions to the reader (e.g., "Would I like it if my actions were broadcast for all to hear?") and describing practical examples from the business world (e.g., Levi Strauss's decision not to do business with China because of its human rights violations). While it's doubtful that even the most earnest readers will be able to transform themselves into positive thinkers overnight, most people looking for a fresh perspective on work and life would benefit from reading this highly reassuring volume that makes Dr. Peale's mission ("showing people how to recapture their innate positiveness, especially when faced with adversity or challenge") surprisingly fresh. (May 10)Forecast: This book's old-fashioned, almost religious tone may put off some readers, but it should easily find a wide audience among people hoping to adopt a healthier attitude toward work.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

Review

Mary B. Money Dean, Valhalla University, Pepsi-Cola Company Corporate universities like Pepsi's Valhalla have as a primary focus raising not only technical skills but awareness of the traits that improve performance. Ventrella has pointed to important ways in which managers of technical operations in a competitive consumer business can accomplish that goal. -- Review

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 192 pages
• Publisher: Free Press; 1 edition (May 15, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0743212371
• ISBN-13: 978-0743212373
• Product Dimensions: 8.7 x 5.8 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,200,031 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Helpful Update and Application of Dr. Peale to Business, April 20, 2001

By 

Donald Mitchell "Jesus Loves You!" (Thanks for Providing My Reviews over 109,000 Helpful Votes Globally) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Power of Positive Thinking in Business: 10 Traits for Maximum Results (Hardcover)

The Power of Positive Thinking is one of the best selling volumes of all time. In this book, Professor Ventrella has taken Norman Vincent Peale's work and applied it successfully to business. The principles are consistent wih Dr. Peale's original, the examples will be meaningful to most business people, and the book can readily be applied to diagnose the reader's key issues and improve. I found the book easy to read, even easier to use, and insightful. Anyone who wants to apply the principles of positive thinking to business should read and use the material in this book.

Undoubtedly, one of the reasons the book is successful is because it had the support of the Peale Center. In fact, the foreword is an endorsement of the book from Ms. Ruth Stafford Peale.

The book puts the concept of positive thinking very effectively in context. "[Over] 95 percent of the time, people list internal factors as . . . why people fail to reach their full [business] potential . . . ." These are "attitude" issues like "fear," "low self-esteem," "lack of confidence," and having "no clear goals." Also external factors like "lack," "loss," and "limitations" are also controlled by internal perceptions.

The line that really hit me was that "most people start their jobs with a positive, hopeful outlook." This means the "challenge for managers is to create an environment that constantly reinforces and nurtures positive attitudes."

The book provides a road map for applying its concepts to any situation. You start with (1) define the situation (both in terms of business issue and the emotional gravity), (2) then determine what you are telling yourself, (3) determine your desired outcome (goals, affirmation, and visualization), (4) access your positive traits, (5) rehearse the situation mentally, (6) take action, and (7) assess the results of your actions. This is nicely summarized in the end as a Professional Challenge Worksheet.

The book has a very involved definition of what positive thinking is. I won't try to paraphrase or quote it. The main point is that positive thinking is much more than optimism, and is practially tied to a process for producing results.

The book is well grounded in psychological studies of human behavior. In this section, I was particularly impressed with the list of self-limiting beliefs that almost everyone has. These are tied to self-denigration, intolerance, frustration, and blaming others.

The ten traits are as follows: optimism, enthusiasm, belief, integrity, courage, confidence, determination, patience, calmness, and focus. There is a quiz to help you determine where you are strong and where you need work. Each trait then gets detailed treatment, along with suggestions for how to strengthen yourself appropriately in each area. I found the quiz to be helpful and perceptive.

The book is also well grounded in sports metaphors and stories that will be meaningful to many.

I should share that despite having read many books about affirmations and taken many courses in them, I fail to find them to be very useful when I practice them. Research shows that affirmations can be powerful motivators of the subconscious mind if said with emotional conviction. Maybe that's my problem, because I certainly find it hard to locate affirmations that excite me. I hope you find affirmations more helpful than I do.

You can also take the lessons of this book and simplify them into the perspective of the fiction character, Captain James Tiberius Kirk of the U.S.S. Enterprise. He believed that there was always a solution, and always found one. If you treat your business that way, it can be an adventure rather than an overwhelming burden. Difficulties and setbacks then just become the setting in which to allow you to be more heroic and achieve more.

After you read this book, you should take five business problems that hold the full potential for helping you make breakthrough gains and use this process on them. You have nothing to lose except your pessimism!

Prepare for and live in hopeful expectation of your next business success! Then you will be irresistible!

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Positive Thinking AND Action Oriented Approach to Success., April 16, 2003

By 

Harinath Thummalapalli (Austin, TX United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Power of Positive Thinking in Business: 10 Traits for Maximum Results (Hardcover)

In less than 200 pages, Scott W. Ventrella tries to incoporate the principles behind the Power of Positive Thinking by Norman Vincent Peale into the business world. This original work (Power of Positive Thinking) was translated into forty-two languages and sold over 22 million copies. So, it was inevitable that someone was going to leverage the popularity of this concept and ressurect it. Sure enough, the author Scott W. Ventrella has written this new book as it applies to the business world in cooperation with the Peale Center.

The old concept had come under massive attack in the last decade or so by more recent self-help gurus for its undue amount of focus on positive thinking and not enough on taking action (or how and what kind of action to take). The current book as applicable to modern day business world doesn't make that mistake. There is heavy focus on taking action. This book isn't something you just read through and put away, it is a book that you have to work through and probably refer to several times over the next few years.

The title caught my attention because my very first self-help book was the original 'Power of Positive Thinking' by Norman Vincent Peale. It had given me a lot of motivation to overcome obstacles and achieve a lot of success in life. Of course, even then I recognized that it wasn't enough to think positively. Hence I continued my search for a good self-help book and found 'The Ultimate Secrets of Total Self-Confidence' by Robert Anthony. In that book, the author explores deep into why we are where we are today. It traces everything back to your belief system embedded in your sub-conscious brain and how it manifests itself in your conscious actions during everyday life. These principles of how your belief systems ultimately affect your position in life are absolutely true and will never change. Ventrella combines these two and makes both sets of principles very action oriented. The book gives you a lot of things to do by yourself that will result in success.

This book in combination with other good self-help books (for both business and personal life) should drastically set your path in life towards that of success in business. But one has to really WORK through this book. It is not like the original book by Norman Vincent Peale where you got motivated by just reading the book.

Overall, I felt it was a book worthy of being in my business library collection. It does not provide any paradigm shifting ideas, but instead repackages old theories for today's audience. It does so very effectively and hence it is worthwhile to read and re-read this book till you are satisfied with the business results you are getting. I have already started taking massive action based on these ideas and I am confident that I will see the results. I hope you do too. Good luck!

5.0 out of 5 stars Power of Positive Thinking in Business, August 16, 2009

By 

Qslhassey Associates, Inc. - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Power of Positive Thinking in Business: 10 Traits for Maximum Results (Paperback)

the book was in terrific shape. As for the information, it is what I was looking for.