Bad is Stronger than Good
If the world naturally drifted upward like hot-air balloons, leaders and leadership would be irrelevant.
People wore rose colored glasses in the 60’s when they thought drugs and “free love” would create a New World. Apart from positive intervention chaos reigns. Call it pessimism if you like. Even hot-air balloons require burners to stay afloat.
Downward drift is leadership’s opportunity
for positive impact.
Doom and gloomers, nay sayers, and hand-wringers may firmly grasp the present but they seldom create desired outcomes. 20% of leadership is seeing the downward drift. 80% of leadership is firing the burners.
Research indicates there are “positive energizers” and “negative energizers” (Cameron).
Negative energizers:
- Deplete.
- Devalue.
- Diminish.
- Degrade.
- De-motivate.
Negative energizers live in, focus on, talk about, and wallow on the dark side. Pulling down is easy. Negative energizers are critical, talk in dark tones, don’t engage, and are more self-centered. I know because I’m a natural negative.
Problems, apart from intervention, control our thinking. Bad is stronger than good.
Positive energizers:
- Speak honestly.
- Embrace transparency.
- Support.
- Buildup.
- Focus on others.
- Find solutions.
- Enable performance.
- Give.
- Listen.
- Share.
Positive leadership:
Cameron suggests that positive leaders create:
- Positive climates.
- Positive relationships.
- Positive communication.
- Positive meaning.
Hope:
When I tell people I’m naturally negative they usually say, “I don’t see that in you.” If you see positivity in me, take hope for yourself. I’m a reformed handwringer.
- Address problems with imperfect solutions.
- Adopt positive behaviors that you can define, describe, and employ.
- Pursue best opportunities more than fixing problems.
- Say many more positives than negatives, many more.
- Build positive teams by focusing on what can be done.
What does positive leadership look like to you?
How are you creating positive environments?
Great thoughts today, Dan. My thought would be that maybe bad would be easier than good for some, rather than stronger. However, when your tendencies pull you “naturally” towards negative, perhaps it’s just nature nurturing, developing, and bringing your courage – it takes a great bit of that to overcome, and do things in a different perspective. Now that I think of it, courage would probably be just one aspect of many..
Reblogged this on Jots & Thoughts and commented:
He hit the nail on the head about negative energizers. And he should know — he’s a self-proclaimed natural negative:
Deplete.
Devalue.
Diminish.
Degrade.
De-motivate.
Thanks for this post Dan. As a “currenty trying to reform” hand-wringer, I’ll take the hope actions steps to heart. Positive energizers and hope are much needed in our company culture.
Dan,
You nailed it again. Bad unfortunately does attract more attention than good. In the news business they say, “If it bleeds, it leads.” They know human nature.
Thanks also for revealing your true nature. It DOES give us all hope. We can more easily face and work on our own inadequacies when someone we admire confesses theirs.
Optimism, hope, problem solving and gratitude is something we must ALL work toward. If anyone says they don’t have to work at this, I think they are kidding themselves.
Dauna Easley
I understand and appreciate all aspects of the post. I would only suggest that Bad is not stronger than Good, it is simply easier. I suppose it is the Calvinist in me.
Ying and yang eh? Dark wizards and white wizards. The white swan; then the black swan; and so on; and so on.
Somewhere in the Star Trek back-catalogue is the battle between the good Kirk and the bad Kirk: the Enemy Within.
Somewhere in Superman III is the battle between the out-of-control Superman and the good Clark Kent: id verses super-ego?
In Return of the Jedi, Luke seeks thje good within his father after Emperor Palpatine gives up hope of feeding the bad within Luke.
In Lazy Town, Sportacus takes on Robbie Rotten with the aid of new-in-town Cheer-Leader Stephanie.
And so on and so on.
“Save the cheerleader, save the world”.
Dear Dan,
I like the sentence: problems control our thinking. We analyze in problems. We also look for other options. Actually problems open us to look for alternatives and to dig out our potentials. I agree that bad is stronger than good. Your suggestions are relevant and insightful; however I view it from different perspectives. Being in family and directing family on right direction might seem bad from others perspective but it leads to good results. Similarly, in organizations when leaders are good for everyone, then something is wrong. But when leaders are also bad for someone, then it makes sense. I believe in making positive environment by talking positively, acting positively and showing my own example through positive actions and beliefs. I also believe that being bad is good in a sense that others might show their positive side and also will try to improve. When you say someone that everything is right then where is the scope to improve. But when you say positive but also leave some scope for improvement, it provides some ground to work upon.
Interesting comments. I interviewed Greg Sherrill, Chairman of Tenneco Inc. His thoughts were often young leaders feel overwhelmed in an economic down turn because they do not see beyond the current economic cycle. Seasoned leaders have experience the ups and downs of the economic cycles and take a distant from or rise above the immediate current difficult situation. He also thought that leaders are easier to select when they are confronted with difficulties because they rise above the others (to use your metaphor). Positive energizers (Greg Sherrill played a key role) and seeing the light at the end of the tunnel are key leadership skills.
Yes! Another great post, Dan…
Too often, leaders think their job is to “put out” fires and deal with problems only… while the most successful find a way to START a fire burning and keep it lit in the people on their team…
So true – negatives outweigh positives. This is human nature! We must be cognizant and constantly pushing for the positive!! Thanks for the reminder, Dan!!
I used to have a tendency toward my cup being half empty. Until I realised the negative impact this had on my team and those I worked with.
Now I work hard to keep my cup half full. Positive energy rubs off. I see collaboration where there was once criticism. Problems solved where they were avoided. And disagreement aired.
Deal with mood hovers head on!
I disagree with your premise … “Bad” is not necessarily stronger than “Good”.
It is the energy and direction that WE CHOOSE to accept that makes the difference. Yes, many of us from the 60’s chose to wear rose-colored glasses. Those glasses showed us what COULD be.
For those who may have forgotten or are too young to have lived it, that decade that followed the 60’s initiated significant positive changes in our culture. They showed us that we DO have the power to make a difference.
That era of personal empowerment continues today. We just have to make that choice.
Thank you for reminding us that the choice for positive leadership is ours.