Chiswick Marketing Barbara Fredrickson on the link between positive language and business performance:
“We go into companies and transcribe every word that is said in their business meetings. We have done this in 60 companies. One third of the companies are flourishing economically, one-third are doing okay and one-third are failing. We code each sentence for positive or negative words and then we take a simple ratio of positive to negative statements.
There is a sharp dividing line… Companies with better than 2.9:1 ratio for positive to negative statements are flourishing. Below that ratio companies are not doing well economically. This is called the Losada ratio, based on a Brazilan collegaue who discovered the fact.
But don’t go overboard with positivity. Life is a ship with sails and rudder. Above 13:1, without a negative rudder, the positive sails flap aimlessly and you lose your credibility.”