Speaker 1: Good morning. This is Laura. Welcome to the New Corner Office,
Speaker 1: the podcast where we share strategies for thriving in the
Speaker 1: new world of work where location and ours are more
Speaker 1: flexible than in the past. Today's tip is that optimism
Speaker 1: pays literally, believing the best about people can lead to
Speaker 1: new opportunities and that can increase your income. So what's
Speaker 1: your general view of human nature? Do you think your
Speaker 1: colleagues and collaborators are, for the most part, on your
Speaker 1: side when you go to job interviews? Do you assume
Speaker 1: the interview panel wants you to succeed? These seem like
Speaker 1: abstract questions, but they might not be. Some interesting research,
Speaker 1: including one study published in the Journal of Personality and
Speaker 1: Social Psychology in looking at income over time, suggests that
Speaker 1: holding cynical leiefs about others can negatively affect financial well being.
Speaker 1: The exact mechanism for this is unclear, but there are
Speaker 1: a few different possibilities. Maybe people who are less optimistic
Speaker 1: about human nature are less willing to rely on or
Speaker 1: trust others, and therefore have a harder time finding economic
Speaker 1: and occupational success in our highly social world. More cynical
Speaker 1: workers also tend to assume that others have hidden negative motives.
Speaker 1: When they reach out with job offers or with offers
Speaker 1: to collaborate, they may be less likely to ask for
Speaker 1: help when they need it, which can undermine their career success.
Speaker 1: Of course, where we all fall on the spectrum between
Speaker 1: optimism and pessimism may be situational. It's also affected by
Speaker 1: our genetics and our life experiences. In particular, negative experiences
Speaker 1: in past economic hardship can strengthen cynical beliefs and make
Speaker 1: us less likely to reach out to others, creating a
Speaker 1: vicious cycle. And let's not be naive. There are some
Speaker 1: work situations where it may not make sense to have
Speaker 1: an optimistic and trusting view of those around you. But
Speaker 1: keeping all of this in mind, there are still upsides
Speaker 1: to optimism. It's pretty exhausting to assume that everyone is
Speaker 1: out to get you. Believing good things can happen makes
Speaker 1: you willing to take risks and follow up on potential opportunities,
Speaker 1: even if they don't all work out, some will. There
Speaker 1: are a few things we can do to become more
Speaker 1: optimistic and less cynical on a day to day basis.
Speaker 1: One idea is to try building trusting relationships with at
Speaker 1: least one or two people, not the whole world, but
Speaker 1: I'm guessing you can find a small number of trustworthy
Speaker 1: souls if you're used to flying solo and don't have
Speaker 1: any built in coworkers. Think about your professional network and
Speaker 1: try to find one or two people in your field
Speaker 1: that you'd like to get to know better. This could
Speaker 1: be a junior person you'd like to serve as a mentor,
Speaker 1: here for a more senior person whose career you'd like
Speaker 1: to copy, or someone who's in a similar position to you.
Speaker 1: You don't have to become best friends, but you two
Speaker 1: want someone whose advice you can trust. You want to
Speaker 1: believe that this person has your best interests in mind.
Speaker 1: These efforts can lead to a positive feedback loop where
Speaker 1: you see that people can be trusted, and this can
Speaker 1: go a long way in helping you to have an
Speaker 1: overall more positive view of human nature and the working world.
Speaker 1: And second, remind yourself of situations where things turned out okay.
Speaker 1: Your neighbor walked over your misdirected packages, a contractor voluntarily
Speaker 1: gave you a discount. Your aunt had a good experience
Speaker 1: buying a used car. I am not saying that these
Speaker 1: things always happen. But when you find yourself saying people
Speaker 1: can't be trusted or everyone is just out for themselves,
Speaker 1: you want to hear a little voice saying, but what
Speaker 1: about Over time, This little contrarian voice can help you
Speaker 1: look at an email from an old colleague about his
Speaker 1: new company and think, well, maybe he's not hiring someone
Speaker 1: just so he can jump ship. Maybe it's worth checking out.
Speaker 1: In the meantime, this is Laura, Thanks for listening, and
Speaker 1: here's to succeeding in the New Corner Office. The New
Speaker 1: Corner Office is a production of I Heart Radio. For
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