Pessimists Can’t Lead: 7 Ways to Find Optimism
Don’t imagine you energize others by reminding them they fall short.
Negative leaders bring up opportunities in ways that make people feel like losers. “You should have been doing this all along.”
Pessimists suggest there’s something wrong with you, when they say what they want.
Pessimistic leaders:
- Use what they don’t want to explain what they want.
- Use what they don’t like to explain what they like.
- Bristle when you point out their negativity. They’re trying to help. Negative leaders believe cold water ignites flames. It makes people try harder.
- Believe success is found by not failing. Negative leaders love saying, “I don’t want you to fail.”
If you’re a leader, the possibility of failure is always on your mind.
Challenge: Try going a whole day without saying what you don’t want and don’t like.
Preventing failure:
Leaders stabilize organizations by preventing failure and protecting gains.
Warren Buffet prevents failure when he says, “Rule #1: Never lose money.”
Preventing failure, by itself, doesn’t produce stunning success. You must seize opportunity.
Finding optimism:
Successful leaders instill hope, not discouragement.
- Find gratitude. Make a gratitude-list for every teammate. Write five things they’ve done that inspire gratitude. Share your points of gratitude.
- Find praise. Never allow weaknesses to overshadow character and strength. Make a praise-list for every teammate. Write five praiseworthy qualities by each name. Say them in public.
- Find the future, not the past, when exploring new opportunities. A negative past doesn’t build a positive future. Think about where you’re going more than where you’ve been.
- Find courage. Fear is an opportunity for courage. What will you do to answer fear. The operative word is “do.”
- Find competence. The future is built on things they can do, not things they can’t.
- Find what you like and let yourself enjoy it.
- Find small steps forward.
Leadership requires optimism. Pessimists can’t lead.
What are the marks of pessimistic leadership?
How might leaders find optimism?
This may be my favorite posting so far. I am currently in a very difficult situation where my industry and company are facing major staff reductions. It has been hard to try and be the leader that I want to be in these depressing times. Thank you for this post. You list is something we should all strive to remember and work for. I have a feeling I will be referring back to his post for many years to come.
Thanks Tab. You might be feeling the stress of your challenges, but you took time to encourage me. Thank you.
I’m more of a glass-half-empty guy. The list helps me too. 🙂
I always thought of pessimism as a fear of failure. The opposite being wild optimism – no fear of failure. Maybe we need both (yin and yang) so that we can identify the items that can result in failure (pessimism) and find ways to overcome them (optimism). -J
Thanks J. I think you bring up something that is troubling about the term optimism. We may tend to go to “wild optimism.’
Successful leaders don’t pretend everything is great. They face reality. I’m with you, when optimism is the belief that we magically won’t or can’t fail, it’s not helpful. Thanks for jumping in.
It is all about attitude whether leading or following. A pessimist or pessimistic approach is leading as you indicate in the negative manner. That negative attitude approach does not facilitate growth in anyone or success or survival. Victor Frankl in “Mans Search for Meaning” told stories of those that survived longer or totally in the Concentration camps of Nazi Germany. He indicated that those with a positive attitude were the ones that were successful and survived when others did not. Attitude most notably a positive one is an attribute that only you can control that is given up only by your actions. Keep positive and show being positive to others and they will want to be around you, be led by you and remember you as one who lit up the room and helped both individual and collective growth. It helps along the way that you have a higher calling or value system that drives you on this positive approach.
Thanks Roger. You really nail the power of attitude. Much appreciated.
Attitude, not circumstances, make the difference. Two people can be in very similar situations. One thrives and the other shrivels. One reason is attitude. Cheers
Terrific post, Dan! Love it. I will be using this in some upcoming leadership conversations. Thank you.
Thanks Nate. I love that these post often become conversation points for leadership teams. Even when people disagree with something I said, the conversation is worth it.
Best wishes
Enjoyed the post. We do often find ourselves mired in the critical analysis of those on our teams. We’re often frustrated by the shortcomings of those who we have working with us. To enable some successes by driving home positive attributes seems worthy. Thanks!
Thanks Scott. Nicely put. I find it easy to slip into a focus on things I don’t like. Here’s to refocusing on the strengths on the team
I want to echo what Roger Lauricella said above, and push the ball forward another few yards. Attitude and perspective (what you focus on first) often go hand-in-hand. Being mindful of what you focus on first will make a world of difference.
A corny illustration makes the point: A pessimist says the glass is half-empty; an optimist says it is half-full; an engineer says the glass is twice as large as it needs to be!
So I would add an 8th item to your suggestions: Find new ways to look at the problems that bother you. When you do, brilliant new solutions or previously unseen opportunities emerge.
Thanks Bud. The thing that stands out to me is the term “first.” Where do we focus first, especially when it comes to people?
I hadn’t heard the engineer’s way of looking at the glass. Love it.
Leading isn’t ignoring problems, issues, or weaknesses. Where do we focus first? Very helpful.
When I first transitioned from engineer to manager, I realized that my first reaction to a suggestion was to identify all the ways something wouldn’t work and needed to be better. Luckily this was a very quick lesson learned. I now say nothing for a breath or two to allow all this chatter to run through my brain (and not out my mouth!) and then ask a question. It took a while to learn good, open-ended questions to further the discussion. This has proven very helpful even after many, many years in leadership positions.
Dan, thanks for this post. I feel like part of my issue is maintaining optimism. My supervisor is retiring in a few months and there are some other key leadership positions in transition. We have a new president so there has been a lot of questioning of what to expect. I want to be optimistic and hopeful to be ready for what change comes but it can be challenging.
I guess the best way for my scenario to find optimism is to believe change will be a positive step for the institution and my colleagues.
I’m an optimist, to the point that I’m criticized for it.. its my style and its served me well. … I often think of the Apollo 13 scenario when these discussions arise.. Optimism is not “oh good, we have an explosion”… optimism is — “what do we have that is working, and (oh) by the way we’re still alive and in the game!” Your Seven Finds point us this way..
Thanks Ken, Love the illustration. It’s so helpful to gain what leaderly optimism is all about. Cheers
Thanks Jan. Instability and uncertainty are opportunities to choose optimism, even while facing very real challenges. 🙂 … Do I sound like an optimist?
The thing that came to mind, while reading your comment, was the importance of belief. Believe that you’ll rise up to new challenges and opportunities, even if they are difficult. Believe in yourself.
Optimism feels like belief.
I’m thankful you shared your journey. I hope I didn’t come off as simplistic. Cheers
Love this post and topic. I am more of a glass half full, some say my glass is overflowing, but we all have our moments when we need to remind ourselves to pick it up. I work in public higher education in a state that is challenging, it’s easy to fall into these patterns of behavior as they are all around. We do have a choice each day.
Hi Dan,
Thanks for this interesting post. I’ve met many pessimists and they’re not fun to work with! I’ve also met many optimistic people and they are a joy to be around.