Serial Entrepreneurs Launch High-Tech, High-Touch Company To Improve Lives, Culture and Profits.

CHICAGO, Nov. 1, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- As the economy struggles and organizations struggle to improve profitability, a new venture called Positivity is changing the way companies improve the bottom line.  Headed by Chicago entrepreneur Cary Chessick along with co-founders Dan Baker PhD and Mike Maddock, Positivity is a high-tech, high-touch positive psychology training, education and research center.  Previously working on a client-by-client basis, Positivity opened its doors to the public on November 1^st with a goal of improving lives and profits, one employee at a time.   

Why Positive Psychology?
Research has proven that happiness in the workplace is good business. Companies with positive cultures have higher employee engagement, lower workplace stress, and as much as 3x faster profit growth¹.  In a study of 50 global companies, those with highly engaged employees increased operating income 19% and earnings per share almost 28% year over year, while companies with low employee engagement levels showed declines of 32% in operating income and 11% in earnings per share over the same period². Furthermore, combating job stress alone can save companies more than $300 billion annually³.

"Happy employees = enhanced performance, loyalty, stronger teams, and better health. Unhappy employees = poor performance, disloyalty, infighting, and more days off work. Combine loss stoppage with increased profitability and the ROI becomes significant. Positivity will help the bottom line by way of energizing the top line otherwise known as ROP (return on people)."
- Dan Baker Ph.D, Co-founder

The question is how can companies create a positive culture that drives performance and profits? 

Positivity takes a bottoms-up approach, educating & training employees at every level, not just the executive suite.  Employees are taken through a 20 week research based curriculum.  Each program participant completes one assigned activity, records the activity and then has a one on one call with their coach. Each activity focuses on developing a specific skill founded in the research and science of positive psychology and emotional intelligence. Employees have access to technology-enabled resources to track their activities and to reinforce their positive behaviors. These activities, combined with personalized coaching, turn positive activities into positive habits, improving lives and profits. 

What People are Saying
"I had the opportunity to go through Positivity training and it has changed the way I approach my everyday life. The weekly lessons layer into one another leaving you with the ability to practice positive behavior instinctively. My weekly coach not only showed me how to go about each lesson, but more importantly explained why it's important to practice this behavior.  This program is a refreshing approach to increasing one's positive aspects rather than just a quick fix for eliminating negative behavior! I would recommend this program to everyone around the globe!"
- Andria, Program Participant

"As the COO of our company, I have found the exercises very helpful in discussing any number of situations at work such as: job performance, work quality and attitude issues to name just a few.  I personally feel that I am already a better listener and communicator and I find myself looking for the positive in most situations where I did not do so before. 

We are already planning to put more employees through the program. The program will provide them with tools to improve communication and attitude at the office as well as in their personal lives.

If we can improve our employees' personal outlook and ability to communicate in a positive way, then they will no doubt be happier, better adjusted and more inclined and able to perform in a more positive manner. In our industry, where customer service is paramount… having happier, more positive and well-adjusted employees will provide us with an important advantage."
- Mike Elowe, COO Creative Promotional Products

"As Obama and Romney debate the solutions to the unemployment rate of 7.8%, we should also look at the employment rate of 92.2%.  We have a huge and proud American workforce and we can train our workforce to be more efficient, creative and resilient.  An engaged, efficient, creative workforce results in productivity, innovation and profits.  These all result in economic growth and job creation.   

Positivity is taking research demonstrating the impact of an engaged workforce on productivity and is putting it in the hands of entrepreneurs across America, resulting in improved lives and profits."
- Cary Chessick, Co-founder 

"When you work to drive innovation in companies large and small, it becomes clear that the enemy of creativity is fear. A happy culture knows how to take risks, learn together, smile and fail forward. The best leaders know how to put happiness to work. Since Positivity is designed to be scalable across very large organizations, it will create an innovation X-Factor for companies focused on transformative growth." 
- Mike Maddock, Co-founder

The Positivity Team
Positivity is a team of executives, psychologists, scientists, entrepreneurs, doctors and paradigm changers. Through education and training they are helping employees create a positive company culture from within. Positivity is a philanthropically minded, triple bottom line company.  For every positive activity practiced by an employee, Positivity will give a new soccer, basketball, or football to a child in need, laying the groundwork for daily happiness and positivity into a child's adult life.

Cary Chessick, Co-Founder
In 2004 Cary Chessick read "What Happy People Know" by Dan Baker. He realized there was a better way to work and live. He began practicing positive psychology and teaching and practicing emotional intelligence habits in both his personal and professional lives.

Cary Chessick is the former CEO of Restaurant.com. Cary was Ernst & Young's 2010 Midwest Technology Entrepreneur of the Year. Cary was also an American Business Awards' finalist for Executive of the Year in 2010, and was inducted into the University of Illinois at Chicago's Entrepreneurship Hall of Fame for 2011. Cary was selected by NIU for the 2011 College of Business Honorary Alumnus award for his contributions to business and to the success of the college. While at Restaurant.com, the Chicago Tribune recognized Restaurant.com as one of Chicago's Top Workplaces in 2011, it was ranked #767 on the Inc. 500|5000 list of 2010. Cary founded the award winning Feed it Forward program along with the Social Giving Movement TweetitForward.

Mike Maddock, Cofounder
Mike Maddock is an entrepreneur, an inventor, a writer and a keynote speaker.  Mike's passion for problem solving led him to establish Maddock Douglas, Inc. in 1991. Maddock Douglas has become an internationally recognized innovation consultancy that helps leading corporations invent and launch new products, services and business models.

Mike has launched four successful businesses, including his latest, Ring Leader Ventures, an innovation incubator that has also invested in Positivity's future success.

Mike writes for Forbes, has been a featured innovation columnist for Bloomberg Businessweek and is a best-selling author.  Mike is a frequent keynote speaker and has a passion for inspiring and empowering innovation leaders by helping them build the types of culture and processes that lead to new product success.

Dan Baker PhD, Co-Founder
Dan is an accomplished author, Executive Coach, holds a Ph.D. in Counseling Psychology, and has been a founding director for a number of health centers.  Dan is a pioneer in the study of applied positive psychology and has written three acclaimed books on the subject – What Happy People Know, What Happy Women Know and What Happy Companies Know.  Dan believes that happy employees are the foundation for any successful business and has spent over 20 years teaching businesses how to harness the power of positivity to improve company culture and increase profits. 

¹ Corporate Leadership Council, 2008
² Towers Perrin, 2008 pg. 5
³ Rosch 2011

SOURCE Positivity