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Are Optimists or Pessimists Better Leaders?

Type:

Studio Owner Article

Category:

Self-help and Life Enhancement Tips for the Business Owner

Generally speaking optimist are best suited to be a studio owner. Think about all that you have to deal with day in and day out. If you are always looking at the glass half full it may make a tough business to run even tougher. It is however advisable to have some pessimists around to keep you on your toes and to have that all important balance.

Optimism and pessimism are strong, stable traits that reflect our coping strategies. We live in an uncertain world. To cope with uncertainty, most people basically assume that things will either turn out well (the optimists) or turn out badly (the pessimists).

So here's a question to ponder: Is it better to have an optimist or a pessimist leading your business? As I'll show below, both have their own unique traits that can benefit a business. But they will do it in different ways, with different goals.

Which are you? Here's a quick test. I plunk down two magazines in front of you. One, Time, has Warren Buffet on the cover, under the headline "The Optimist." The other publication is ThePessimist.com, whose tagline is "Expecting the worst. Never disappointed." Which do you pick up first?

Here is the good news, studies show that without optimism or pessimism people don't accomplish as much. These natural traits motivate people to take action, different actions, but at least action.

Are you a pessimist?

If you're a pessimist, you tend to focus on safety and security. Pessimism drives you to seek and find safe havens, establish clear advantages, and protect resources. When pessimistic about needed economic recovery, for instance, families save money and companies build war chests. When the news is bad and likely to get worse, a pessimist is your best ally because pessimists thrive on fixing errors.

To get the most out of the pessimist in your studio, researchers say, you need to provide "targeted negative feedback" from a trusted authority. Pointing out what has gone wrong or what's less than perfect will motivate the pessimist to innovate classes, improve plans and solve problems. For this reason, pessimists can make good operational leaders. But pessimists are less likely to foster a culture of growth, risk taking, and wealth creation.

According to Jeremy Dean, a researcher at University College London, optimists prefer to think about how they and others can advance and grow. Optimists also have larger social networks, solve problems cooperatively, and are more likely to seek help in difficult situations. They make good spouses. People with optimistic spouses were healthier in a 2014 study by researchers at the University of Michigan.

1) To energize an optimist, positive feedback is absolutely essential, because the optimist builds on incremental achievements and a sense of positive movement.

Choose optimists to lead growth activities in your studio. Entrepreneurs, for example, are much more likely to be optimists.

For decades, scientists regarded optimism and pessimism as fixed traits we are born with. But last year, researchers at a German University reported that 18-39 year-olds were more optimistic than people 40-64, and far more than people 65 and older.

2) For reasons we don't fully understand but can appreciate, life experience turns some people into pessimists. By the way, the same study of 40,000 people also found that grumpy people live longer. Their caregivers? You guessed it: Optimists.

Use the power of both traits

Leaders, whatever their orientation, need to learn to harness the power of both traits. "In a striking turnaround," writes Annie Murphy Paul in Psychology Today, "science now sees optimism and pessimism not as good or bad outlooks you're born with but as mindsets to adopt as situations demand."

When testing strategic plans, deploy defensive pessimism, imagining all the things that can go wrong in the future. But when the task requires flexibility and had work toward uncertain goals, build teams with optimists

Author

Steve Sirico

Steve Sirico

Steve is co-founder of Dance Teacher Web the number one online resource for dance teachers and studio owners worldwide.He is Co-Director of the very successful D'Valda and Sirico Dance and Music Center in Fairfield, CT for the past thirty plus years. His students have gone on to very successful careers in dance, music and theater. Originally from Norwalk, Ct, Steve excelled in track and football. He attended the University of Tennessee at Martin on a sports scholarship. Deciding to switch and make his career in the world of dance, he studied initially with Mikki Williams and then in New York with Charles Kelley and Frank Hatchett. He has appeared in a number of theatre productions such as Damn Yankees, Guys and Dolls and Mame in New York and around the country and in industrials and television shows. He was contracted to appear as the lead dancer in the Valerie Peters Special a television show filmed in Tampa, Florida. After meeting Angela DValda during the filming they formed the Adagio act of DValda & Sirico appearing in theatres, clubs and on television shows such as David Letterman, Star Search and the Jerry Lewis Telethon. In 1982 they were contracted to Europe and appeared in a variety of shows in Spain, Portugal, Sweden, Finland, Switzerland and Italy before going to London, England where they appeared as Guest Artists for Wayne Sleep (formerly of the Royal Ballet) in his show Dash at the Dominium Theatre. Author of his Jazz Dance syllabus and co-author of a Partner syllabus both of which are used for teacher training by Dance Educators of America, He has also co-authored two books one for dance teachers and one for studio owners in the "It's Your Turn" Book series. He is available for master classes, private business consulting and teacher training development

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