Contagious You

The much-anticipated follow-up to Contagious Culture shows aspiring leaders how to embody the qualities they wish to cultivate in their organizations.

In Contagious Culture, Anese Cavanaugh proved that it’s possible to create an energized and engaged organizational culture that spreads from person to person. Now, in Contagious You, she hones in on the individual, showing us how each of us is contagious in our own way and stressing the importance of leading with intention to achieve positive results.

As featured on Inc., ​, , CEO.comForbes, HBR, and on stages around the country.
From the creator of the IEP Method®, award-winning speaker, advisor, teacher, and thinking partner to innovative organizations and leaders, the next book is here.

Order Contagious You now!

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For anyone who’s sought to create change, or felt sucked into the drama and chaos of a toxic work environment, this book will advance the notion that everyone at an organization is a leader—for good or for bad—and that leaders have tremendous power to influence those who follow their example. The quality of our leadership is based upon our intentions, energy, and presence. By emphasizing authorship, self-care, and response-ability (not responsibility) as leadership skills and therefore cultural amplifiers, Contagious You shows you how to walk the path of more effective leadership while navigating the road blocks in your way. Whether these road blocks be working with negative co-workers, secret agendas, unrealistic expectations, or just the general “busyness” of life and its excessive demands, this book will take you on a journey to create more space, more courageous leadership, and stronger collaboration to influence others and create the impact you desire.

The common denominator is you. No matter what level you’re on, your intentions, energy, and presence impact your ability to do anything within your life. Contagious You is an invitation to unlock your own power. You set the tone. You are the culture. So show up, lead, and intentionally become the change you wish to see.

Have you read Contagious Culture and want to know how it’s different from Contagious You?

Click here to download “What’s in Contagious You” for an overview.

In this book, you will learn:

  • How to amplify your own energetic state to create positive impact without burning out
  • How to harness the power of intention, ritual, and breath
  • How to protect yourself against negativity and navigate (and even shift) “That Guy/Girl,” (because toxic colleagues are contagious too)
  • How to cultivate a being rather than a doing culture—as foosball tables and corporate values will only get you so far
  • How great leaders enable and encourage positive and contagious energy
  • How to address burnout and self-care from the inside-out and the outside-in
  • Why nourishing our internal state and our mental health comes first
  • How to deal with “that guy” and create boundaries around emotional vampires at work
  • What to do when the lowest energy in the room tries to bring you down
  • Why practicing self-care, self-kindness, receiving, and saying “no” are essential leadership skills
  • How to have difficult conversations with your boss and convert conflict into collaboration
  • How being clear on intention builds stamina, crystalizes how to use time and energy, and is the key to making courage, vulnerability, and action easier
  • And, we’re just getting started…

Any organization is only as good as its leaders—and everyone is a leader. Those who show up with intention, energy, and presence are the ones who create impact that spreads throughout the organization.  Contagious You is an ideal resource for anyone looking to foster connection, achieve great results, and become a force for good in the world.

Early Reader Endorsements!

Contagious You reminds us that each interaction, each choice moment, and each day is paramount in growing as a leader, both now and in the future. Anese Cavanaugh reminds us that we are all leaders in our own way and helps us find and connect with our Essential You. A game-changer for those looking for ways to lead in a way that inspires hope and change.

Marshall Goldsmith

New York Times #1 bestselling author of Triggers, Mojo, and What Got You Here Won’t Get You There

Anese has found the key to a fundamental truth to being human: Your intentions, energy, and presence affect and influence everyone around you. You are contagious. As a leader, this is your most profound responsibility and opportunity. Understanding and working with this truth is the key to building healthy cultures and movements that catch fire. Contagious You will help leaders around the world create the cultures, communities, and impact they envision.

Chip Conley

Founder, Modern Elder Academy; Author of Wisdom @Work: The Making of a Modern Elder; Airbnb Strategic Advisor for Hospitality and Leadership

In an age when honoring relationships is more important than ever, Anese Cavanaugh offers an incredible, accessible guide for anyone ready to show up to relationships as an empathetic, empowered, energetic human, ready to foster connection, lead with intention and serve those around them, no matter who comes into their sphere.

Erica Keswin

Author: Bring Your Human to Work; Founder: Spaghetti Project

With all the challenges of burnout in healthcare today, Contagious You is a critical tool for helping you create and maintain an authentic and sustainable culture of engagement in your organization. From pixie dust to the Neuroscience of trust, Anese empowers us to share our presence, intention, and love for what we do to create a culture of trust which allows us to provide the best team driven approach to deliver amazing integrated care for those who need our services most.

Michael Lalich

MD Medical Director and Chief of Staff for a Large Non-Profit Integrated Health Care Organization

There is something truly liberating in the realization that you have everything you need to be a force for positive impact in the world. The what and how of leading from your authentic self is where we can get lost. Lucky for all of us, Anese has everything we need to connect with our intentions, use our self-awareness meaningfully, and have the impact that is truly “in service of.” Our organization would be lesser without her.

Heather Currier Hunt

Global Head of Learning & Development at IDEO

In a world filled with demands and distractions, it’s easy to feel powerless over your work and your life. Contagious You reminds you that it’s possible to live with intention, and gives you a methodology and tools to help you regain control. Anese’s work transformed my mindset and allowed me to design and live a life that fills me up – and sets me up to have a more positive impact in the world!

Marisa Smith

Certified EOS® Implementer at 87plus

Contagious You is a powerful addition to Anese’s already must-experience books and workshops, taking a deeper dive into unlocking your best-self. This book is a great read for anyone ready for a change (big or small) and willing to invest in themselves. Anese offers a blueprint for understanding and implementing the best version of “you”. For the last several years I’ve studied, implemented and shared Anese’s work with everyone I can. Her teachings are among the most impactful and transformational I have ever encountered!

Katie Turner

Head of Global Talent Development and Org Capability for a Fortune 100 Company

This book cracks the code on human energy. With insights and assessments, tools and practices, wisdom and wit, Anese teaches us how to cultivate and use our energy—the vital resource we all need to thrive in our personal and work lives.

Wayne Baker

Professor of Management & Organizations and Faculty Director of the Center for Positive Organizations, University of Michigan Ross School of Business

We’ve all encountered those special people who light up a room, people we would follow anywhere if they asked. Anese Cavanaugh is one of those people, and Contagious You is her guide to becoming one yourself

Blair Enns

Author: The Win Without Pitching Manifesto

As a 25 year veteran in financial services leading organizations in excess of 5k staff in over 100 countries, I thought I knew what a great leader looked like. And then I met Anese and read Contagious Culture. I am among the many friends and fans who have been asking for more and this is it. There are so many leadership books out there and none of them flip the industry on its head as she does. She makes a powerful business case for the elimination of the term “soft skills,” brings the most important components of being a successful leader together, and then puts it all into action. Leaders serve their teams. The word empowerment is just wrong. This is not a book with sweeping statements and clichés we have all heard. This is the HOW TO reference book that I will keep at my side and the resulting impact is material. If you buy only one book this year, you have found it.

Michelle (Mick) Lee

Managing Director: Financial Services + Hospitality (Fortune 200 Company); Founder: WINiTforWomen.org

WARNING: This book is contagious! Do yourself a favor and buy two copies now. Here’s one you’re going to want to share. There’s no denying it, this book brings me joy. Even after a major Kon Mari book purge session I am making room on my nightstand for Contagious You. It’s that important. Loved that this book crosses the line from leadership skills to personal well-being. That’s what makes it so special. Anese has created practical tools to light your imagination on fire. More than a guide on what to do this is a gift on how to be. After reading it, you’ll show up better, more authentic, and so alive! People will sense that something is different, want what you’ve got, and tell you you’re magic. You’ll routinely hear, ‘what’s your secret?’ The only dust this book will ever encounter is the pixie dust that seeps from every page. This is the magic!

Janette Lampe

CFO (Chief Fun Officer): Corporate Events Manager (Large Health Care Organization)

From Anese…

Want even more on Contagious You?

Order Contagious You now!

Buy at Barnes & Noble
Buy at Porchlight Books
Find locally on Indiebound