February 21, 2013
Dr. Larry Senn, founder and chairman of the culture-shaping firm Senn Delaney, has published a new book, Up The Mood Elevator, that is designed as a simple guide to help people lead more positive lives by consciously striving to experience life in a healthier state of mind. The book is now available on Amazon.com.

Up The Mood Elevator is available for purchase on Amazon.com or by visiting the Up The Mood Elevator Web site.

Read the first chapter of Up the Mood Elevator.

“People all ride the Mood Elevator every day, at their jobs and in their personal lives. When they are feeling are at their best, they are unconsciously experiencing the top of the Mood Elevator. When they are on the lower floors, life looks a lot different, problems seem harder, solutions don't come as easily, and they may react to situations and people in a less than positive way,” says Senn. “Wouldn't it be great if people knew the right button to push to move toward the top of their personal Mood Elevator? Wouldn't it be useful if there were ways to make their visits to the lower levels of shorter duration and less intense?”

Senn founded Senn Delaney in 1978 to help organizations enhance spirit and create healthy, high-performance cultures. He has authored numerous thought papers and books on how to do this, including the book, Winning Teams, Winning Cultures. He says that that journey, as well as his own path in life with its many challenges and rewards, inspired him to write a book that would not only help people professionally, but give them the tools to profoundly change how they experience their personal lives in a more positive way. Up The Mood Elevator is based on Senn's life experiences as well as many lessons clients have learned on their journeys to healthier high performance through the culture-shaping concepts, including the Mood Elevator.

Larry Senn shares more insights about his new book in the following interview.

Why did you write this book?

My purpose in writing Up the Mood Elevator—Living Life at Your Best is to share with people some profound principles, fascinating concepts and practical tools to improve their ride on their own Mood Elevator. My hope is that it will improve people's experience of life, enhance their results, help them to build better relationships and create more success with less stress. “

What is the Mood Elevator?

The Mood Elevator is our moment-to-moment experience of life. We use a visual graphic of those moods, from low to high, and how they encompasses a wide range of feelings. Together these emotions play a major role in defining the quality of our lives as well as our effectiveness.

Where did you get the idea for it?

Many of the notions in this book came to me through the school of life. The Mood Elevator depicted in my book is a hypothetical one. It is based on my own experience and input from hundreds of groups and tens of thousands of people attending seminars designed or conducted by Senn Delaney, the worldwide culture-shaping firm I founded in 1978. The Mood Elevator illustrates what I perceive as the common human condition. While most people immediately relate to the concept of the Mood Elevator when they see it, very few have ever thought about their life experience in this way. That's probably because they assume it's “just the way life is,” and that nothing can be done about the ups and downs. I wanted people to know that there is something they can do and that it can make an incredible difference in their lives.

How can people benefit from reading the book?

The promise of the book is that people can spend more time in the higher floors of the Mood Elevator and do less damage to themselves and others in times they are down, which we all are sometimes. This means they will spend less time worrying, being irritated and bothered and feeling stressed. They will have higher emotional intelligence, have better relationships and a higher overall quality of life.

Why is gratitude at the top of the Mood Elevator?

It has been thoughtfully and intentionally placed there for many reasons. Gratitude is what we might call an overriding emotion. If you think about it, it is almost impossible to be grateful and angry or depressed at the same time. There is a calmness and warmth that comes with gratitude that overrides sadness, impatience, irritation and anger. Because gratitude is an emotion that connects us to a higher spirit, we are more purposeful and present and supportive of others when we are in that state of grace.

Can you share an insight from the book?

I think people will be surprised to learn about what really causes our moods. If you ask most people where their low mood came from, they will say something that happened to them or something someone said or did to them. Most people believe moods are caused by external circumstances. But really, it's their thinking that creates their moods. There may be events that trigger their thoughts but it's important that they remember that they are the thinkers. People create their own moods out of what happens to them in life. Understanding the power of thought and the role it plays in their feelings can be very powerful.

You have spent a lot of time thinking about the Mood Elevator and practicing the principles. Can you share some of your own experiences with it?

One of my personal signals that I'm headed south on the Mood Elevator is when I notice I am becoming more impatient and more easily irritated or bothered. Something that someone says or does might get a reaction from me when I am in a lower state, yet be no big deal when I am in a healthier state.

How has it had a positive impact on your life?

In my personal Mood Elevator, one of the items at the top of my list is gratitude. It is a feeling I often have towards my wife, Bernadette, and our five children when I slow down, quiet my mind and am not preoccupied with the pressures of the day. It is a feeling that wells up in me when Logan, my 12-year-old, says, “I love you, Dad.” or when I see a beautiful sunset with a multitude of colors filling the sky. When I am on the upper levels of my Mood Elevator, I am also more likely to feel creative and resourceful. Ideas and answers come easier, and solutions to problems are more accessible.

I have grown to greatly value the feelings I experience when I'm at my best. I believe my life is richer and my contribution to my family and friends, my church, and my chosen life's work is greater in direct proportion to my feelings of gratitude, love, creativity and curiosity. It's what drove me to want to write a book like this and share these thoughts with the world.

About the author

Dr. Larry Senn is chairman and founder of Senn Delaney, widely known as The Culture-Shaping Firm. He has been referred to in business journals as "the father of corporate culture” based on his field research: the first systematic study ever conducted on the concept of corporate culture. His studies were published as his doctoral dissertation in 1970. This led him to an early personal vision of finding a way to enhance the lives of people, the effectiveness of teams, and the spirit and performance of organizations. That vision became Senn Delaney; the first firm dedicated to shaping the culture of organizations.

Senn Delaney has worked with over 100 Fortune 500 CEOs and their teams, University Presidents, State Governors, and members of U.S. presidential cabinets. Larry is also co-author of several earlier books, including the best-selling book, Winning Teams, Winning Cultures, and 21st Century Leadership.

Larry has a Bachelor of Science in engineering, a Master of Business Administration from University of California Los Angeles and a doctorate degree in business administration from University of Southern California, where he later served as faculty. He was a finalist for Entrepreneur of the Year in Southern California.

Contact Larry Senn: larry@upthemoodelevator.com