{"id":38465,"date":"2017-10-31T04:45:40","date_gmt":"2017-10-31T09:45:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/michaelhyatt.com\/?p=38465"},"modified":"2017-10-31T04:45:40","modified_gmt":"2017-10-31T09:45:40","slug":"hopeful-realism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fullfocus.co\/hopeful-realism\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Hopeful Realism Beats Mandatory Optimism"},"content":{"rendered":"

One unavoidable piece of advice today is be positive<\/em>. We\u2019re supposed to filter out supposed negativity in meetings, reports, and general conversation because we think positivity produces the results we want.<\/p>\n

Optimism is almost mandatory in some environments. As Dan Lovallo and Daniel Kahneman point out<\/a>, critical feedback is discouraged and treated like disloyalty. \u201cThe bearers of bad news tend to become pariahs, shunned and ignored by other employees,\u201d they say.<\/p>\n

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If I\u2019m honest, this drives me crazy. Instead of being helpful, compulsory positivity is one of the best ways I know to drift into a crisis.<\/p>\n

Swing and miss!<\/h3>\n

We run several new initiatives each year at Michael Hyatt & Co. Most are successful. But at least once or twice a year we run into a problem. Something is off, and sales trend below projections. It could be the messaging, the offer, even the product\u2014maybe all three!<\/p>\n

In the early days that created a lot of anxiety for us. It still creates some. But we treat it differently now. \u201cOkay,\u201d we say, \u201csomething\u2019s not working. Let\u2019s dig in and figure it out.\u201d And we usually do. But only because we are willing to acknowledge something isn\u2019t working.<\/p>\n

Taking a negative view when things aren\u2019t working enables us to ask better questions<\/a>. We\u2019re free to raise issues we never would outside a moment of failure. I\u2019m not sure mandatory optimism would let us do that. Instead, we\u2019d keep trusting things would turn around in the end\u2014until they didn\u2019t and we missed our target.<\/p>\n

The upside of bad news<\/h3>\n

When we think about the strategic leadership advantage of self-denial\u2014or better, frustration tolerance<\/em>\u2014we\u2019re talking about the ability to sit with uncomfortable facts and feelings. Mandatory positivity is the easy out, the supposed quick win that robs us of the benefit that only comes from wading through the difficult realities we face.<\/p>\n

Sometimes we forget that you can only optimize something that isn\u2019t already ideal. Recognizing the deficiencies is essential to improving the product. Working on the underside of a goal keeps us from complacency. It propels us toward innovation and creativity in a way that success never would.<\/p>\n

When we think of areas like planning or risk management, mandatory optimism becomes positively dangerous. We\u2019ve all encountered people living in a story where it all works out okay in the end. The positive story creates an excuse not to act.<\/p>\n

This is when you stop reading your financial statements. You stop checking your bank balances. You stop monitoring the metrics of your business and ignore the people bear all the warnings. \u201cYeah, yeah, yeah,\u201d you say. \u201cIt\u2019ll work out. It\u2019s going to be great.\u201d So, contrary to the story they\u2019re telling themselves, they hit a crisis\u2014or worse\u2014when the right dose of bad news might have saved the day.<\/p>\n

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The last trait you want in your financial analyst is excessive positivity. You\u2019d hit a rough quarter, run out of cash, and never see it coming. And the crash would be all the worse because you would have missed any chance to course correct when it could have made a difference.<\/p>\n

The balance of hopeful realism<\/h3>\n

The important thing to remember is that both extreme negativity and positivity are mechanisms we use to avoid pain. Extreme negativity<\/a> is just a way of gaining certainty in the middle of uncertainty. Yes, it\u2019s bad news, but at least you know, and you can reconcile yourself to it. But extreme positivity is the other side of the same coin. Instead of dealing with the difficulties that arise, we avoid looking at them.<\/p>\n

Neither optimism nor pessimism works. Instead, we need hopeful realism<\/em>. Leaders require an accurate picture of the facts, but they also need to have confidence they can overcome even the worst news. That\u2019s realistic. And hopeful.<\/p>\n\t\t