Gratitude shifts our mindset, which shifts our actions and interactions. What does it look like to take time to shift the mindsets within our cultures to gratitude?
SHOW NOTES
Jason introduces Season 9 episode 46 of the podcast, Gratitude Shifts Cultures. Welcome back to the podcast on corporate culture and leadership and thank you for listening. We engage thought leaders like CEOs, CFOs, managers, VPs, directors, and more for this podcast. We wish to create content that engages your mind and heart and allows you to step back and think and add some positivity to your life. We deep dive into today’s topic.
We can’t control everything but what we can control is our response. Still a lot of work to do but wanted to remind the audience what is within our control is the temperature we create in the organizations and teams we work with.
Please leave a review for the podcast It really helps the podcast to spread these messages out into the world. Please share this podcast with your organization, on your team, or in your life to help spread these messages. Thank you!
If any of these topics are interesting to you please or you want a deep dive on any specific topics, please reach out to us at info@jasonvbarger.com
Season 9 Episode 46: Gratitude Shifts Cultures
We often relegate gratitude to a personal journal or a holiday dinner table. But what if gratitude is one of the most potent and underutilized strategies for effective leadership in teams? What if it holds the key to unlocking a more positive, productive, and resilient corporate culture?
In this episode of The Thermostat Podcast, Jason Barger explains why gratitude is far more than a soft skill—it’s a “superpower” that can fundamentally shift the way your team thinks, acts, and interacts.
Summary: Gratitude as a Cultural Strategy
This episode explores gratitude as an active, strategic practice for building a compelling organizational culture. Jason Barger explains that the most successful organizations—those with high performance, strong retention, and an ability to attract top talent—share a common, palpable spirit of gratitude.
This isn’t about “fake or cheesy” gestures. It’s about a genuine, embedded appreciation that starts with leadership and permeates the entire team. Barger points to the proven science: a practice of gratitude can lower stress, reduce negativity, and physically change our brain function.
He connects this directly to his core “Thermostat” philosophy. A culture is shaped by how its people think, act, and interact. Gratitude directly influences the thinking part of that equation. As Barger says, “where we look is where we go.” When a team’s mindset is focused on blame, negativity, or excuses, that is where the culture will follow. By intentionally shifting the focus to appreciation, solutions, and opportunities, leaders can actively “set the temperature” and create a more positive and productive environment.
This episode provides a clear examination of how this personal practice becomes a collective, culture-shaping force, moving from a simple thought to a tangible, shared behavior.
Notable Quotes
“Gratitude is powerful for all of us as humans, but it’s also very powerful within our teams and organizations when we practice this superpower of genuine appreciation and gratitude with all around us.”
“I see a spirit in the very best places that there’s a spirit of gratitude. The cultures that seem to be the best, the most compelling, the most that are retaining their best people and attracting others… the spirit of gratitude is often palpable.”
“Where we look is where we go… And how might I enter today with gratitude and thankfulness rather than negativity and finger pointing?”
“Culture is dynamic and is shaped by the way we think, act and interact. So if I can shift my thinking, which then will lead to my actions and my interactions… gratitude is actually shifting the culture.”
“I want to stop it and appreciate the beauty of having a choice, having freedom, an ability to choose what to do next, and who I want to be for others.”
Questions to Ponder
As you reflect on your own leadership and the culture you’re helping to create, Jason leaves us with these questions to consider:
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How could you practice appreciation and gratitude this week?
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What needs your attention this week?
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What and who can be appreciated?
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Where can you practice gratitude?
Links and References
Referenced in this podcast, Traits of Leaders from Gallup, What do people need most from Leaders? – Gallup Link
Follow @JasonVBarger on social media for even more insights and new video content.
For more insights and practical tips, be sure to check out Jason V Barger’s book Breathing Oxygen. This book dives deeper into the concepts discussed in this episode and provides additional strategies for fostering a positive mindset and effective leadership.
By incorporating these practices into your summer routine, you can breathe new life into your personal and professional endeavors. Remember, as Jason says, “The best leaders, teams, and cultures on the planet stimulate progress by recalibrating their thermostat together.”
Please leave a review for the podcast It really helps the podcast to spread these messages out into the world. Please share this podcast with your organization, on your team, or in your life to help spread these messages. Thank you!
If any of these topics are interesting to you please or you want a deep dive on any specific topics, please reach out to us at info@jasonvbarger.com
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Remember, the best leaders, teams, & cultures stimulate progress by recalibrating their thermostat together.
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ABOUT THE THERMOSTAT
Conversations and micro-thoughts to engage your mind and heart.
A thermostat is proactive. It sets the temperature in a room. Controls the temperature. Regulates the temperature. But in today’s distracted, fast-paced and digital world, it’s easy for individuals and organizations to act more like thermometers, slipping into reactionary thinking, becoming scattered and inconsistent. The most compelling leaders, teams, organizations, families, or collection of humans of any kind operate in thermostat mode. They calibrate their mind and heart to set the temperature for the vision and culture they want to create. Jason Barger, globally celebrated author, keynote speaker, and founder of Step Back Leadership Consulting, is the host of The Thermostat, a podcast journey to discover authentic leadership, create compelling cultures and find clarity of mission, vision, and values.