Pessimism and Optimism: How to Rise above Pothole Management
Pessimists can’t lead. They worry about things that won’t work. They don’t try things. But teams lose trust in eternal optimists.
Optimistic plans seldom work. Teams grow weary of starting too many projects and finishing too few.
Pessimists are anchored to the present because the future is filled with uncertainty. But optimists launch into the deep unprepared.
Pessimism works when:
- Failure is catastrophic.
- Organizations are bureaucratic.
- Systems are highly regulated.
Think about what could go right when you dream of going to Mars. Think about what could go wrong when you’re designing the rocket.
Pessimism and optimism – you need both to succeed:
- Optimism: think about possibilities when inventing the future.
- Pessimism: think about difficulties when making plans.
- Optimism: think about what might go right when taking action.
Questions optimists should ask their pessimistic self:
We’re going to Mars …
- What concerns you about the return flight?
- What difficulties do we need to overcome?
When planning, don’t talk about positives until you’ve demonstrated respect for obstacles and difficulties. But whatever you do, rise above difficulties and obstacles.
Hardened pessimists use negatives to prevent progress and innovation.
Rise above pothole management:
Scott Shute, author of The Full Body Yes, explained that pessimists spend their energy and talent on pothole management. There might be miles of good road with one pothole. What does the team do? Obsess about potholes!
Potholes need to be patched, but there’s more to leading than filling holes.
Scott said pessimism keeps us alive in a dangerous world, but it doesn’t bring happiness.
“Optimism expands the aperture of our lives.” Scott Shute
Scott explains the role of pessimism and why developing optimism is necessary.
When does pessimism serve leaders well?
How might pessimists move toward optimism?
Scott Shute on Linkedin and Twitter.
Visit Scott Shute.
Purchase The Full Body Yes.
Dan, Good morning, I see “planning & execution”, with the integration pessimism can move into optimism, we then fill all the potholes.
Thanks Tim. The key is maintaining forward movement, I think.
Always the intentions to move forward, sometimes we idle a bit!
“Think about what could go right when you dream of going to Mars. Think about what could go wrong when you’re designing the rocket.” I love this Dan. Sums up everything in life from the simple to the sublime.
Thanks Imelda. My experience is it’s difficult to navigate both. If I’m good at anticipating problems I’m often lousy at designing solutions. Perhaps knowing our tendency helps.
As Albert Einstein said *you don’t need to know everything; you just need to know where to find it, when you need it”….. Or have access to people who can contribute, steer, execute and hopefully celebrate incremental progress. The unknowns are always tripping us up along the way. Even our losses and failures in life in their own time bring significant gains. Time and patience are a virtue though not always a luxury in these days filled with fast paced agile change.
So what’s the term for a balanced approach – a optimistic pessimist or a pessimistic optimist?
PS – that photo is more than just a pot hole – that’s a sinkhole, which means you’re gonna need a bigger shovel!!!
Thanks John. Pothole pictures that I am allowed to use are hard to find. However, I decided to go BIG. How about responsible optimism?
This post really struck me tonight. This one struck me tonight, because I get focused on potholes… but not because I’m a pessimist (at least I don’t think I am) but because I’m a perfectionist. I know my perfectionism is a thing, and that I have a hard time moving on when I know how we could fix the potholes. How can a perfectionist overcome Pothole Management?
In the UK, potholes are a massive deal, and a serious political topic. This comes from:
The rising cost of car insurance because of damage claims;
The cost of compensation claims to local authorities when drivers sue;
The risk of serious injury to cyclists and motorcyclists.
It has become a touchstone issue about who can or can’t keep the simple, basic things done and done right.
Filling potholes won’t make you happy, but a lot of people are a lot LESS unhappy when you do.
Great thoughts on the idea of needing both pessimism and optimistic. I have always been a more optimistic person. When I am around someone who is nothing but pessimistic, it is very draining. I am sure that same individual has similar feelings when around overtop optimism. I heard a saying once that you can be driving down a road and go too far to one side and be in the ditch. At the same time, if you go too far the other side, you are still in a ditch. Finding that middle ground is very important to ensure you do not end up in the ditch. There are times when a leader needs to have more pessimism than optimism and the opposite is true too. There are times when a leader needs to have more optimism than pessimism. The leader should address the situation and make that decision