| "People often say that this or that person has not | | | | challenge and try harder." |
| found himself. But the self is not something that one | | | | At the core of Seligman's findings are the |
| finds. It is something one creates." - Thomas Szasz, | | | | interconnected concepts of "learned helplessness" and |
| 20th century American psychoanalyst who founded | | | | "explanatory style." Seligman explains, "Learned |
| the 'anti-psychiatry' movement | | | | helplessness is the giving-up reaction, the quitting |
| Effective leaders are "unreasonable" optimists. | | | | response that follows from the belief that whatever |
| Optimists refuse to live in "the real world." They live in a | | | | you do doesn't matter. Explanatory style is the manner |
| world of hope and possibilities. They see an | | | | in which you habitually explain to yourself why events |
| opportunity in every calamity. The pessimist sees a | | | | happen. It is the great modulator of learned |
| calamity in every opportunity. Optimists excite and | | | | helplessness. An optimistic explanatory style stops |
| arouse others to action by helping them see, believe in, | | | | helplessness, whereas a pessimistic explanatory style |
| and reach for what could be. | | | | spreads helplessness." |
| If you haven't already read Learned Optimism, put it at | | | | He goes on to cite research that shows pessimism is |
| the top of your reading list. Learned Optimism was | | | | a major cause of depression, inaction and inertia, |
| written by Martin Seligman, professor of social science | | | | worry, and much poorer physical health (including earlier |
| and director of clinical training in psychology at the | | | | death). He has also found "pessimism is self-fulfilling. |
| University of Pennsylvania. In it, he reports on decades | | | | Pessimists don't persist in the face of challenges, and |
| of pioneering research he and others have done on | | | | therefore fail more frequently - even when success is |
| the effects of pessimism and optimism, ways to | | | | attainable... their explanatory style now converts the |
| assess the degrees of either, and how to change a | | | | predicted setback into a disaster, and disaster into a |
| pessimistic style to an optimistic one. His work adds an | | | | catastrophe." |
| important new twist and depth to understanding the | | | | We can use Martin Seligman's ABCs to assess our |
| timeless principles of leadership action. | | | | explanatory style: any Adversity we encounter triggers |
| He writes, "The defining characteristic of pessimists is | | | | our habitual Beliefs, which determines the |
| that they tend to believe bad events will last a long | | | | Consequences of that situation or those |
| time, will undermine everything they do, and are their | | | | circumstances. Learned Optimism has many useful |
| own fault. The optimists, who are confronted with the | | | | assessment tools to help you understand whether you |
| same hard knocks of this world, think about misfortune | | | | tend to pessimism or optimism and suggestions on |
| in the opposite way. They tend to believe defeat is | | | | how to become more optimistic. |
| just a temporary setback, that its causes are confined | | | | To see beyond what is to what could be, we need to |
| to this one case. The optimists believe defeat is not | | | | become "learned optimists." It starts by working with |
| their fault: Circumstances, bad luck, or other people | | | | our teams or on our own to "reframe" negative |
| brought it about. Such people are unfazed by defeat. | | | | situations and problems by looking for the improvement |
| Confronted by a bad situation, they perceive it as a | | | | opportunities buried in them. |