{"id":7463,"date":"2022-01-06T20:44:21","date_gmt":"2022-01-07T02:44:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.scottcochrane.com\/?p=7463"},"modified":"2022-01-06T20:44:21","modified_gmt":"2022-01-07T02:44:21","slug":"in-a-world-that-values-optimism-when-should-a-leader-be-a-pessimist","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/2022\/01\/06\/in-a-world-that-values-optimism-when-should-a-leader-be-a-pessimist\/","title":{"rendered":"In A World That Values Optimism, When Should A Leader Be A Pessimist?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

As a leader, should you always be an optimist?\u00a0<\/strong>The answer is \u201cyes\u201d\u2026and \u201cno\u201d\u2026and \u201csometimes\u201d\u2026<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n

The reality is, there are times when a leader must be a grim-faced pessimist, while in other times it requires being a cheery-faced optimist.<\/p>\n

How do you know? Here\u2019s a basic guideline to help you navigate this.<\/p>\n

A leader must be a PESSIMIST when\u2026<\/strong><\/h3>\n

\u2026making financial forecasts in a challenging season.<\/strong><\/p>\n

If the current economic climate has pulled the rug out from under your organization, it\u2019s time for the leader to put on the demeanor of a pessimist.<\/p>\n

Perhaps a better word than pessimistic is \u201ccautious\u201d. Any leader who has led a turnaround will tell you that the first step is to stop the bleeding by taking a worst-case scenario approach to budgeting.<\/p>\n

A leader must be a REALIST when\u2026<\/strong><\/h3>\n

\u2026developing the team.<\/strong><\/p>\n

In order to develop each member of the team to their full potential, you need to start with an honest assessment of their current capacity.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Nothing will crush the spirit of a rising leader quite like giving them too much responsibility too soon. Instead, effective leaders must be realistic when it comes to each one\u2019s potential, and then design their role accordingly.<\/p>\n

A leader must be an IDEALIST when\u2026<\/strong><\/h3>\n

\u2026casting vision.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Ideals have gone out of fashion in our culture. But\u00a0 effective leaders must embrace the ideals of their organization\u2019s mission and vision and describe them with authentic passion.<\/p>\n

Why does the organization exist? What difference will it make in the world? These are the organization\u2019s ideals, and the leader must espouse them eloquently and proudly.<\/p>\n

A leader must be an OPTIMIST when\u2026<\/strong><\/h3>\n

\u2026building a healthy culture.<\/strong><\/p>\n

When the going gets hard, the team wants to know essentially one thing: \u201cIs all of this work worth it?\u201d<\/p>\n

The leader\u2019s job is to remind the team that things are going to get better\u2026That the mission is worth pursuing\u2026and that\u00a0a better day will come.<\/p>\n

So, should you as a leader be an optimist?<\/h3>\n

The answer really is, \u201cyes\u201d\u2026or \u201cno\u201d\u2026or \u201csometimes\u201d. Leadership requires understanding the season and the circumstance, and then bringing the most appropriate approach to the table.<\/p>\n

Making these shifts is not being inauthentic.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s leadership.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As a leader, should you always be an optimist?\u00a0The answer is \u201cyes\u201d\u2026and \u201cno\u201d\u2026and \u201csometimes\u201d\u2026 The reality is, there are times when a leader must be a grim-faced pessimist, while in other times it requires being a cheery-faced optimist. How do you know? Here\u2019s a basic guideline to help you navigate this. A leader must be…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":6817,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1033,738,478,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7463","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-authentic","category-effectiveness-2","category-featured","category-leadership"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7463","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7463"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7463\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7464,"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7463\/revisions\/7464"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6817"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7463"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7463"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottcochrane.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7463"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}