The Star Factor

About the Author

Dr. William Seidman is a recognized expert on the subject of executive decision-making and performance improvement. He is the co-founder, CEO, and president of Cerebyte. Richard Grbavac joined Cerebyte in 2002, bringing 27 years of experience in sales, product development, organizational development, and consulting. Together, they have crafted a revolutionary approach to leadership development that is grounded in the unique strengths and needs of individual companies. Their collaborative efforts have culminated in the book, "The Star Factor: Discover What Your Top Performers Do Differently – And Inspire a New Level of Greatness in All," which provides a comprehensive guide to unlocking the potential of top performers within an organization.

Main Idea

"The Star Factor" emphasizes the importance of identifying and harnessing the wisdom and behaviors of top performers within an organization to inspire widespread excellence. The book introduces the Affirmative Leadership methodology, a systematic approach to capturing the attitudes, behaviors, and actions of top performers and transforming this knowledge into actionable steps that others can emulate. This methodology is built on the synergy of neuroscience, technology, and the science of positive deviance, providing a framework for creating leadership programs tailored to the unique strengths of each organization.

Table of Contents

1. Introduction
2. The Science Behind Affirmative Leadership
3. Phase 1 – Discover
4. Phase 2 – Prepare
5. Phase 3 – Launch
6. Phase 4 – Guided Practice
7. Motivation and Neuroscience
8. Implementing Affirmative Leadership
9. Case Studies and Real-World Examples
10. Conclusion

Introduction

In every company, a select few produce more, sell more, and deliver better results. These stellar performers consistently outshine their peers and achieve more than most would believe possible. If only these people could be cloned! "The Star Factor" delivers the next best thing: a unique system for unlocking their wisdom, transforming that knowledge into actionable steps, and helping other employees internalize these new attitudes and behaviors, bringing much-needed change to the whole organization.

"The Star Factor and its proven Affirmative Leadership methodology helps executives, managers, and trainers tease out the attitudes, behaviors, and actions that form the core of their stars’ performance." – William Seidman

The book aims to create global programs that feel like local change initiatives and make the learning stick to foster a leadership-rich environment.

The Science Behind Affirmative Leadership

Affirmative Leadership succeeds where other programs fail because it is based on the synergy between new developments in neuroscience, technology, and the new science of positive deviance (the study of people who dramatically outperform their peers). In traditional approaches to leadership, executives and senior managers set the bar for performance. The science of positive deviance suggests a very different and more effective approach. It says that in any group of people, some consistently and systematically outperform others. These are the stars.

Stars’ attitudes, thinking, and behaviors are different. These people drive the success of your company out of all proportion to their numbers. They’re not only great at their jobs; they have a profound, compelling sense of purpose that is always aligned with a desire to improve the world for other people. And they get things done.

Phase 1 – Discover

The first phase of Affirmative Leadership involves identifying your star performers using three simple questions: