Gordon is a motivational speaker and author of 17 books specializing in leadership, teamwork, and positive psychology. His background in consulting for businesses, school districts, hospitals, sports teams, and other groups informs the strategies presented in The Power of Positive Leadership. He is a graduate of Cornell University and holds a master’s degree in teaching from Emory University. 

Gordon’s other books include The Energy Bus (2007), You Win in the Locker Room First (2015), The Power of a Positive Team (2018), and The Coffee Bean: A Simple Lesson to Create Positive Change (2019), among others. Several are specifically geared toward building strong leadership teams, including You Win in the Locker Room First and The Power of a Positive Team, while others, such as The Energy Bus, specifically focus on positivity. Both of these concerns are central to The Power of Positive Leadership, which explores themes of Establishing a Positive Culture and The Importance of Connected and Accountable Teams. 

As Gordon explains in Chapter 1, he grew up in New York, raised by Jewish Italian parents whom he describes as loving but prone to negativity. Consequently, he had to learn positivity later in life—a development that he credits partly to his wife, who told him that his attitude was jeopardizing their marriage.