I was reflecting on a leadership forum I attended a little while ago where the main topic of discussion was ways to deal with people who have difficult personalities. One of the more interesting topics of conversation that emerged from the group was a classification of people called the ‘negatives’. Apparently, negatives are people whose natural stance is one of pessimism and an aversion to risk-taking. These are the ‘glass is half full’ fraternity that view success as something not to be celebrated lest we lose sight of all the ‘things that could go wrong at any minute’.

I have a belief that everybody - and most leaders for that matter - have an obligation to remain positive if not within themselves, then outwardly for the benefit of those they lead. A negative mindset does little if any good for man nor beast. A positive mental state is without a doubt one of the most valued leadership skills there is.

Neuroscientists believe that a negative mind is one that is not ready to take risks in life. Anybody with a negative mindset is not willing to try new things, they are rigid and do not favour adaptation. This behaviour does not translate well to those wishing to lead because, as a leader, you can only influence others positively if you have an open and flexible mindset.

The main issue as I see it, is that humans have evolved to believe the notion that risks should be identified, categorised and mitigated as much as is humanly possible. Now, this behaviour makes perfect sense in the wild but in the modern world, it serves little if any value. I would say that in the business world, it can have a detrimental effect such as poor task-based performance, an inability to form positive relationships with your peers and team members and an inability to handle feedback in a constructive and positive manner.

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When presented with a potentially harmful scenario, the ‘negatives’ tend to reflect upon the catalogue of negative experiences they have amassed. “If it happened before, it can happen again”. This reinforcement, makes them overly sensitive to the perceived risks of a particular course of action causing them to often exaggerate the potential downside without giving the potential upside a fair appraisal. If your modus operandi is to look for problems, then it’s highly likely you will find problems everywhere you look. On the other hand, if you seek out the positives in any given situation and attempt to replicate the behaviour that led to that outcome, you will only ever see opportunity (rather than risk).