Glass half full, half empty or smashed over your head?

In other words – how does optimism or positive thinking affect you and your leadership?

OK Karen – a little aggressive there.  So, tell me about how self-isolating is affecting you?  Jokes aside, I’d like to address a really important approach which can really help us not only survive this surreal experience but to thrive.  And not just for now but going forwards.

We all have friends or colleagues who are remarkably upbeat and who are like a jack in the box, always popping up with their cheery dispositions and predictions of sunny outlooks.  Equally, we’ve encountered those who walk around cloaked in doomsday and negativity, eager to shoot down ideas with foretellings of calamity and destruction.  This particular aspect in psychological terms, is regarded as a personality trait, ie it is likely that you were born this way and/or predisposed to have this aspect as part of your core being.  What makes someone tend towards optimism and pessimism also depends on how they process information in front of them; how they perceive what they can or can’t control in their lives; and how you perceive blame – as regards yourself and the role of external factors.

Why does being born optimistic or pessimistic matter?

In many studies, it has been shown that optimism brings about many advantages.  They include:

·      Better physical & mental health such as cardiovascular disease, cancer & pain, as well as lower depression levels

·      Longer life

·      Lower stress levels – as well as experiencing less stress, optimists tend to cope better with setbacks, ie more resilient

·      Greater motivation and performance, believing that their actions will lead to positive outcomes, not just the output

A study on sales people within the insurance industry, conducted by the guru of positive psychology, Martin Seligman, found that optimists outperformed pessimists by 57%, even if they had failed the aptitude tests.

So if I just tell myself and/or pretend everything will be alright, it will?

Sadly it isn’t that easy.  Blind optimism can sometimes be very dangerous and unhelpful indeed.  James Stockdale a Vietnam war vet and POW who survived 7 years in imprisonment had this view on blind optimism.  Here is a snippet of a conversation he had with the author Jim Collins.

"Who didn't make it out?"

"Oh, that's easy," he said. "The optimists."

"The optimists? I don't understand," I said, now completely confused, given what he'd said a hundred meters earlier.

"The optimists. Oh, they were the ones who said, 'We're going to be out by Christmas.' And Christmas would come, and Christmas would go. Then they'd say, 'We're going to be out by Easter.' And Easter would come, and Easter would go. And then Thanksgiving, and then it would be Christmas again. And they died of a broken heart."

The Stockdale Paradox would suggest the following:

"You must never confuse faith that you will prevail in the end — which you can never afford to lose — with the discipline to confront the most brutal facts of your current reality, whatever they might be."

OK, so optimism + reality = success?

Not quite as simple as that but we’re slowly getting there.  I would add another factor in there which is far more effective than the equation there.  Positive thinking.  Optimism can be really helpful but if used incorrectly, it might even be detrimental to your cause.  This is especially true if you are a leader.  As we all know, attitude and perspective are vital to your success. 

Optimism vs Positive Thinking in leadership

A fixed and permanent state or a choice of perspective

Earlier we talked about the fact that being optimistic or pessimistic is pretty much predetermined, ie you either see the world favourably or not.  Positive thinking approaches this in a different way – it brings in agency, ie you get to choose your attitude – to have a positive outlook or a negative one.  Which means that even if you have a pessimistic tendency, you can decide whether to stick with this viewpoint or change it.

What will happen vs how I respond

Optimism presumes a particular viewpoint of the world, ie that things will sort themselves out and come good.  A hopeful approach.  Positive thinking does not presume anything, focusing instead on how one will respond to the situation.  In the workplace (or working from home), this would mean that one does not rely on the odds being in your favour or presume anything else but instead, it focuses on one’s & one’s team’s ability to operate and respond productively.  The Katniss Everdeen model.

Blind or sighted?

Optimists can sometimes wilfully or subconsciously ignore ‘negative’ facts or gaps to support their optimistic tendencies.  This attitude could be detrimental for the team and for the business, especially if red flags are being ignored.  By contrast, a positive thinking leader will consider all the facts of the situation, not hiding behind biases - focusing on obstacles and how to effectively overcome them. 

Optimism like pessimism, can be a strength but like all strengths, if over or inappropriately used, it might actually be a hindrance.  Blind optimism may seem hopeful and the ‘right’ attitude but it can also very quickly create distrust and loss of faith if it is unwarranted.  It also implies psychologically rigid thinking (ie your default and only response) which will result in inflexible actions which may not be appropriate solutions for a variety of scenarios.  Equally, if a pessimistic leader merely focuses on the negative, this can be very demotivating for others, and oneself.

So rather than allowing one’s natural tendencies towards optimism or pessimism to colour all your decisions, perhaps the answer lies in choosing positive thinking – ie how you interpret and process information and what you do going forward.  This kind of agile thinking is a key ingredient to building and maintaining resilience, which in turn promotes sustainable growth and flourishing.  Which will you choose?

This topic will also be touched upon at our online event, ‘Are you robbing yourself of greater success?’ on Wednesday 29th April.  Click here for more details.

Here’s the video from today’s conversation.  If you want to skip the blurb and go straight to Davina’s 5 minute meditation on bringing presence to the body by simply sensing and feeling into the hands, scroll to 18:00 mins.  Remember to check out Davina’s website and you can also find her on LinkedIn.  She is one of our treasured partners and you will learn so much from her and her work. 

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