#FALSE OPTIMISM FULL#

They put other people, and money and resources, at risk with their false positives. Overly optimistic leaders are like the mayor. He was either pretending they weren’t there and or ignoring them.

Fish for sharks in the water – Remember in Jaws the constant fear of knowing that that there was a shark swimming under the water but you never knew where it was.

But the dreamer must be awakened so that others can implement. This may take more than one conversation-in fact it may take many – especially as the playing field and the dreamer’s vision changes. If you work for one, ask them about specifics. If you are the dreamer, force yourself to be specific.

The bottom line is don’t let conceptual or hazy explanations about what is envisioned take the place of specific information you need to proceed. This is especially hard when working in a start-up or fast-moving industry. And people working for you need precise direction.

Another problem is that these visions are not exactly concrete. Optimistic leaders have a history of starting new things and then moving on to the next one, without following through. Often it is simply political: support the policy in public knowing and that no one will ever follow-up. Our global research shows that when new plans are announced, 81% will say “OK let’s do it” and then do nothing.

#FALSE OPTIMISM FULL#

Wake up the ‘dreamer’ – Not many will tell the CEO that they’re full of it.So if you are an optimistic leader or work for one who creates false positives, here are 4 ways to avoid also false positives ruin your team: Has optimism at Apple based on past success led Tim Cooke to look past the slipping technological status of Apple in the consumer’s mind ?.Yahoo Chairman Maynard Webb saying he encourages his people to ask “How many people on your team would you rehire if all the positions were open again?””(NY Times Jan 3, Business Day Online), but does he have false hope for Marissa Mayer?.Does Mary Barra offer a false positive when she talks about GM’s creating a ‘new safety focused culture’?.As executives and employees watch the CEO do nothing and avoid the problems that are blocking success, their trust in their optimistic, hopeful, visionary leader erodes.Īnd what about the more public displays of false positives? False positive.įalse positives do as much harm when it comes to personal and interpersonal issues at the executive level, as false positives about customers embracing an inferior product, or false positives about economic conditions.ĬEO false positives about teamwork throw water on the fire of motivation.

The CEO doesn’t say anything about the behavior and just hope that it wont reduce trust and commitment to the leader.

hoping that people won’t see an executive’s immoral personal social behavior.

despite the lack of collaboration between divisions, the CEO thinks that if we just wait long enough and ‘let it play out’ it will all work itself out.

an executive on the CEO’s team – everyone knows the executive screams at and insults people – and the CEO thinks everything will be OK and just change magically without confronting the executive about the problem.

I have seen the damage done too many times when their propensity for optimism turns into a false positives. Here are some real life examples:

The problem is when this optimism undermine CEO’s results on their teams. Being optimistic about market and product opportunities, encourages innovation. Being optimistic in communication about the future helps executives and employees keep motivated. Someone who sees that things are possible and creates vision and hope. The general definition in psychology and in this study of optimism is “I expect more good things to happen to me than bad.” That is what you want in a CEO. In fact 80% are ‘very optimistic’ according to research of over 1,000 sitting CEO’s by Duke’s Fuqua Business School. The research now shows clearly that CEO’s are way more optimistic than the average person. No one can argue with that, or can we? Sometimes the happy face is not warranted, and team managers have to temper it by injecting a dose of reality into the mix. A key aspect of a leaders job is transmitting a sense of positivity to keep the culture enthusiastic and engaged.

False optimism