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KEYZINE: An e-zine for LEADERS:
ABOUT THE PEOPLE PART OF BUSINESS
Volume 31, October 2003
Publisher: © Key Associates, 2003
ISSN # 1545-8873
http://www.mkkey.com
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New contact info for Key Associates:
phone (615) 665-1622/fax (615) 665-8902
(all other info remains the same)
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This Issue: On "Optimism"
Contents:
"Above the cloud with its shadow is a star with its light."
- Victor Hugo
"Man is affected not by his circumstances, but
rather the view he takes of them."
- Albert Ellis re-quoting William James
"Finding temporary and specific causes for
misfortune is the art of hope."
- Martin E.P. Seligman
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WHAT'S HOT IN LEADERSHIP
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SELECTING OPTIMISTIC PEOPLE TO
FILL THE RANKS.
PLACING OPTIMISTIC INDIVIDUALS IN
CRUCIAL NICHES AND HIGH-STRESS,
HIGH-DEFEAT JOBS THAT REQUIRE
PERSISTENCE.
TEACHING OPTIMISM AT WORK.
OPTIMISM IS LEARNABLE.
PURVEYING HOPE--THE OPPORTUNITY
TO SERVE, TO BE NEEDED, TO SEE A
FUTURE.
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MAINTAINING YOURSELF AS A LEADER
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When things go wrong, what do you tell yourself?
Listen to your own internal dialogue. Is it negative,
permanent ("This will ruin my career"), pervasive
("People are always like this"), and personal
(I must be really incompetent")? Begin to dispute
your pessimistic explanations, and talk back to
the little voice. "Well, that was a learning experience."
"This guy must be having a bad day." "No point
in being down on myself--mistakes like this happen
to everyone." Emerge from helplessness, take
control of your thinking, and energize yourself
into action.
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FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
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What role has Pollyanna in the business world?
Mind you, we are not talking about a giddy, foolish
spin on everything, but rather the way people
deal with setbacks and misfortunes. The pay-
offs for business are considerable.
The correlates of optimism have been found to be:
-positive mood and good morale
-perseverance
-effective problem-solving
-academic, military, occupational, and political success
-good health
-long life
-freedom from trauma
Conversely, a pessimistic style has been linked to:
-depression
-passivity
-self-fulfilling failure
-social estrangement
-morbidity and mortality
People seem to be stuck in a "gripe mode."
Suggestions?
Deconstruct the complaint. What's behind it?
What are the specifics? What is changeable?
What are we all committed to, that can guide
us in moving forward?
Have a Whine-and-Cheese party. Get out
the gripes, cull out constructive suggestions,
and declare these whines off-limits after the
party. We are now about the future and the role
we take in changing it.
Do you ever take the advice you dish out?
Just as this e-zine issue was first completed
two weeks ago, my laptop was stolen and many
important items were not backed up. There
went all the work I had done on this issue.
Compounded by physically relocating my office.
I learn as I teach (twice-learned) and I had
been picking up a lot from Martin Seligman
that helped me tremendously. Depression
assaults women twice as often as men, which he
believes is attributable to rumination (women
have a thinking style that contemplates and
analyzes, whereas men tend to act). We are
also better at "learned helplessness"--a belief
that our actions will be futile. Pessimism predicts
who will get depressed, stay depressed, and relapse.
I had to de-catastrophize this situation. This loss
would not ruin my life and my business. This is at
most an inconvenience. Seligman coached:
FOCUS ON THE CHANGEABLE (It was time to
get a better computer--let's shop!), THE SPECIFIC
(It's just a piece of equipment and I recently backed up,
plus I kept all my software elsewhere), and THE
NON-PERSONAL (I didn't do anything to call this
on myself). I got busy, called police, insurance
companies, and gave myself a couple of weeks off
to recover my momentum, plus I kept reading on
Optimism, because I needed to.
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EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITIES
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Seligman's lesson syllabi and unit plans
http://www.psych.upenn.edu/seligman/
The results of a workshop on cognitive coping skills
http://helping.apa.org/mind_body/learned.html
A self test on optimism
http://www.spiritualityhealth.com/newsh/items/selftest/item_236.html
How to become a power optimist
http://www.poweroptimism.com/main/index.asp
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OTHER USEFUL WEBSITES
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Learned optimism is more useful than truth
http://www.globalideasbank.org/1993/1993-38.HTML
Insights on the Wealthy Soul
http://www.wealthysoul.com/?src=overture&OVRAW=optimism&OVKEY=optimism&OVMTC=standard
Pessimists are more often right, but optimists
accomplish more
http://www.ncf.carleton.ca/~an588/create.html
Inspirational quotes on optimism
http://sparkpeople.com/start/quotes_optimism.html
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ARTICLES/PUBLICATIONS
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Aspinwall, Lisa G. & Staudinger, Ursula M.
A Psychology of Human Strengths . APA Books,
2003.
Csikszentmihalyi, Mihaly. Good Business:
Leadership, Flow and the Making of Meaning.
Viking Press, 2003.
Flach, Frederic F. Resilience: How to Bounce
Back When the Going Gets Tough. Hatherleigh Press,
1997.
Keyes, Corey L.M. & Haidt, Johnathan. Flourishing:
Positive Psychology and the Life Well-Lived.
APA Books, 2003.
Peterson, Christopher. "The Future of Optimism."
American Psychologist , January 2000, 44-55.
Reivich, Karen & Shatte, Andrew. The Resilience
Factor: 7 Essential Skills for Overcoming Life's
Inevitable Obstacles , Broadway Books, 2002.
Seligman, Martin E. P. Learned Optimism: How
to Change Your Mind and Your Life. Free press, 1998.
Snyder, C.R. & Lopez, Shane J. Handbook of Positive Psychology.
Oxford University Press, 2002.
Young-Eisendrath, Polly. The Resilient Spirit: Transforming
Suffering into Insight and Renewal. Perseus Publishing, 1997.
