The Energy Bus: 10 Rules to Fuel Your Life, Work, and Team with Positive Energy

That evening George pulls out the Energy Book and reads that golfers, after a game, tend to remember not the blunders but “the one great shot they had that day” (53). This addicts them to golf. However, most people remember their problems rather than their wins. If they were to instead remember the one great thing that happened each day, they would become addicted to life.

George sits with his kids and asks them to relate their biggest success of the day. The kids love this exercise; George resolves that it will become a daily tradition. As he walks his dog George recalls his own success of the day. His boss had noticed George’s newfound energy and complimented him on it. George decides to tell his team the theory of one great golf shot.

On the bus Danny pulls out the fourth rule: “Invite People on Your Bus and Share Your Vision for the Road Ahead” (56).

Joy tells George to invite as many people as possible to get on his bus. He must ask or they won’t know they’re invited. George should ask his work team as well, or he’ll be launching the new light bulb product alone.

George isn’t sure how to go about this. Joy introduces him to another passenger, Janice, a teacher who’s good at getting people to join the Energy Bus. Janice has a website where people create bus tickets and offer them to anyone. George can send tickets to his team with the message: “This is my vision for our team and our product launch and this is where my bus is going and I want to invite you to get on” (58).

Joy admonishes George to clearly tell his team that there’ll be no infighting or ego problems; instead, everyone will come together for a “stellar performance.” She suggests first mailing the tickets without explanation, to generate curiosity, then individually inviting each team member to sign their ticket and hand it to him on Monday at 9:00 a.m.

Joy also suggests that George give a bus ticket to his wife, along with a description of his vision for their future together. He agrees wholeheartedly and realizes he’s glad his car had a flat tire.

Over the weekend George thinks about his hero, Abraham Lincoln, who overcame depression, campaign failures, bankruptcies, and the death of a fiancée to become the president who saved the Union. Lincoln had to wait a long time to learn whether he would win or lose the battle for the country; George realizes that he, too, is unsure of the outcome of his battle at work. Riffling through a favorite book about Lincoln, he’s heartened by a quote from the great president: “I am not bound to succeed, but I am bound to live up to the light that I have” (62).

Monday is tough for George. Two troublemakers, Larry and Tom, surprise him and agree to get on his bus, while three others, Michael, Jamie, and José, refuse. All day, problems crop up as workers argue and criticize each other. George feels overwhelmed.

Tuesday, George feels gloomy. Joy, who usually takes Tuesdays off, is there to support George in case he needs it, and he does. In fact, “most people she recalled had setbacks as they learned how to drive their bus” (67). George tells her he feels knocked down; Joy says that, like the hero of the movie Rocky, George must get back on his feet.

George blames the team members who sabotaged his efforts, but Joy says that’s not the real issue. The problem is negativity, which always exists among people. Marty chimes in that a Gallup Poll estimates 22 million negative US employees cost the economy $300 billion per year.

Joy tells George he’s taking the negativity personally. Instead, he should heed the fifth rule. Danny duly produces a printed sign: “Don’t Waste Your Energy on Those Who Don’t Get on Your Bus” (70).

By focusing on those who refused his invitation, George has drained the energy from his effort to invite others to join him. George sees this at once, but he doesn’t know how to deal with the negative workers who did join his bus.

Joy explains that George needs positive members on his team and that negative members need to get off the bus. Maybe they’re meant for a different bus, but not his. Joy admits this is tough to do, but it’s necessary.

She turns to Danny, who pulls out the next rule: “Post a Sign That Says NO ENERGY VAMPIRES ALLOWED on Your Bus” (74).

George must sit down with the two troublemakers on his bus, Larry and Tom, and explain that only positive people who contribute can stay on. This means that if they don’t change their ways, then they’ll be fired. As for the three who refused his tickets, they should remain at their desks and not be involved in the project. Their jobs can be adjusted later, after consulting with the human resources department.

George wonders why none of this was taught in management training class.

As they approach George’s workplace, Joy offers one final piece of advice, something not listed among the rules: “Your positive energy and vision must be greater than anyone’s and everyone’s negativity” (77). There will always be negative people, so it’s important always to cultivate positivity, exercising it like a muscle that becomes too strong to defeat.

George realizes that his positive energy is still weak. Joy hands him a rock, acknowledging that it’s “all black and dirty, pretty ugly actually, but it’s a special rock that was given to me by my teacher” (79). She tells George to put the rock in his pocket and pull it out often as a reminder to find the value in himself and his team, and to find the value in the rock.

At his office, awaiting meetings with the difficult workers, George feels a nervous energy. He recalls that he felt this way in college just before lacrosse games where he’d performed well. He realizes that “for the first time in a long time he [feels] alive and ready” (81).

Larry arrives, and George bluntly tells him that he must pull with the team or be fired. Larry, who needs the job, capitulates. When Tom shows up, George says he wants Tom on the team, but if he’s disruptive, he’ll have to go. Tom retorts that it’s George’s poor leadership that’s at fault, not anything Tom has done, and that George can’t afford to fire him.

Stunned, George pulls out the rock Joy gave him. Tom calls it George’s Pet Rock. George realizes he’s still taking it on the chin from people around him, and that Tom knows it and therefore holds him in contempt. Emboldened, he announces that though Tom is talented, he’s not worth the trouble he causes. He asserts, “I didn’t want it to be this way but what you just said to me and your attitude give me no other choice. You are fired” (84).

Michael, one of the three who refused George’s bus tickets, barges in and scolds his boss for firing Tom. George tells Michael to put up or leave. Michael quits. Jamie, another refuser, enters and finally agrees to be on George’s team but says frankly that George has become gloomy and negative over the past several years, and that she’s on the bus simply to keep her job. George thanks her for her honesty.

José, the third refuser, appears and tells George that despite all his hard work, George never thanked him and ignored his request for a raise, yet now he wants José to be enthusiastic about getting on the bus. José is shouting with anger. Stunned, George admits that José is right. He says as much.

After all these blows, and feeling knocked down, George picks himself back up. He asks José to give him a chance to make it up to him, saying, “Just please help me with the launch and let me prove to you that I’m someone you feel good about working for. Let me show you I’m here for you” (88). José, surprised, agrees.

The rest of the day goes very well, and the team gets a lot got done.