What did you weigh more, positive or negative?

Your Friday Trigger Question #119

May 12, 2023

Reading time: about a minute

If you are like me, then you find negativity to be heavy. And you find positivity rather uplifting. (In ourselves and in others.)

And yet, when we face a daunting decision, what do we give more weight to? Rosy information or pessimistic intelligence? The hope of success or the fear of failure? Do we then spend more time on achieving the promising and avoiding the bleak?

My simplistic view is this. Weigh positivity more, and we aim to thrive and expand. Weigh negativity more, and we risk shrinking and fossilizing.

Of course, there is a season for everything, even for ups and downs. But some roles, irrespective of the season, require more hustle-on than slack-off. Roles like management.

As a manager, where do you direct your energy? Do you focus on solving problems and eliminating threats? Or do you focus on exploiting opportunities? Not just any old opportunity, but the one that promises major benefits?

And the correct answer is... Decades ago, Peter Drucker reminded managers that their role is to focus on opportunities. (He had noticed that too often managers instead spent time and energy on dealing with problems.)

Who was Peter Drucker? In case you did not know, Forbes (I think) once described him as the founder of modern management.