Positivity and Reality Can Go Hand-in-Hand

“Are you positive?”

Depending on how you interpret that question, you could have many different answers. If the inquiry is about the degree to which you’re sure of a response, that’s one thing—your response might fall on a spectrum from “best guess” to “good as gold.” If the inquiry is about COVID-19 test results, that’s another. There’s also a third sense I’d like to consider today: What it means when the inquiry is about attitude or outlook.

I sometimes use the phrase “Negative Nelly”—often about myself, when raising an issue that won’t necessarily receive the most joyful responses from my peers, colleagues or business partners. In reality, there’s a difference between negativity and sensibility. A sensible reality check can bring huge positive changes. Plus, raising an unpopular opinion is something that leaders at all levels must occasionally do to avoid failure.

That’s pretty much the point of Hans Christian Andersen’s “The Emporer’s New Clothes” in which conmen trick an emperor into paying them lavishly for fancy clothes that are invisible to the ignorant and incompetent. The tricksters mime tailoring the clothes, and no official wants to be seen as inept, so they praise the clothes’ magnificence … [Spoiler alert: If you haven’t read this 1837 story, and want to be surprised, skip to the next paragraph] … until, as the emperor parades before his people, a child blurts out that the emperor is wearing nothing—the emperor strutting even more proudly, believing childlike ignorance proves the clothes’ promise.

Leaders want positivity in their organizations. It’s generally a good and helpful attitude in most situations. Optimism can lighten many burdens. What leaders don’t want is an unrealistic stream of false positivity. History tells of wartime leaders hearing advisers’ daily briefings of impending victory, even as defeat approaches.

Nobody wants to work with a grump, and I’m assured that the “Negative Nelly” persona isn’t me, but there’s a vast difference between someone who only sees the dark clouds around every silver lining, and someone who sees a far-off storm cloud and suggests taking an umbrella. In fact, what I’ve seen throughout my career, and especially during the pandemic, is that smart people presented with a challenge, and the reality that “something’s wrong,” results in bright ideas. When a team of bright people works on a dilemma, there’s no telling what their genius will discover or how far they will go.

Of that, I’m positive.