Conjecture, Positivity, Negativity and other False Influences

In life and business influences, usually false, overtake realism and diminish innovation and curiosity.

As business consultants (www.theevansgroupllc.com) we see the client, whether a team, or a CEO, or a Board of Directors suffer from these diseases. We define disease simply as a “lack of ease”.

Modern society has created many self-help and be positive coaching and motivational businesses, most whom only inspire or motivate short term, and more often have longer-term negative effects.

Conjecture: this is the sad art of creating inference or judgment without conclusive evidence, also known as “guesswork”.

When an event, situation or projection of what could happen occurs in both business and life logic and history can show “the past” or “what should be”, but neither proves infallible, and is actually seldom used.

Instead, when one conjectures (or a group) they are “guessing outcomes”, pretending the past or logic will give them the best guess, when in reality without conclusive evidence the conjecture often takes the tones of:

- “It’s likely they are taking advantage of me”
- “We did great selling widgets at a loss; using loss to win more clients will work again”
- Every time I/we do this I get the bad end of the stick”
- “What I/we do will come back to you” (Perhaps it may be the next lifetime)?

Positivity: This came into being in late 1800’s in Christian Theosophy first, later sold millions with Napoleon Hill’s book Think and Grow Rich (he did not die rich), or Norman Vincent Peale’s famous The Power of Positive Thinking.
Some even have fully false definitions of positivity, such as:

“Positivism is the philosophy of science that positive facts, information derived from sensory experience, interpreted through rational or logical and mathematical treatments, form the exclusive source of all authoritative knowledge; and that there is valid knowledge only in this derived knowledge. Verified data received from the senses are known as empirical evidence, thus is positivism based on empires.”

Or view Wikipedia, which takes the theosophical overtone out and defines Positivity as empirical:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Positivism

Or, for those studying the reality of positivity and not the clichés or “laws of attraction” theories, one might study this noted Author:

Bright-sided: How the Relentless Promotion of Positive Thinking Has Undermined America by Barbara Ehrenreich, Ph.D.

“Americans are a "positive" people -- cheerful, optimistic, and upbeat: This is our reputation as well as our self-image. But more than a temperament, being positive is the key to getting success and prosperity. Or so we are told.

In this utterly original debunking, Barbara Ehrenreich confronts the false promises of positive thinking and shows its reach into every corner of American life, from Evangelical mega churches to the medical establishment, and, worst of all, to the business community, where the refusal to consider negative outcomes--like mortgage defaults--contributed directly to the current economic disaster. With the myth-busting powers for which she is acclaimed, Ehrenreich exposes the downside of positive thinking: personal self-blame and national denial. This is Ehrenreich at her provocative best--poking holes in conventional wisdom and faux science and ending with a call for existential clarity and courage.”

Negativism: We have been ingrained by religion, positivity, and those that cannot see skepticism as a positive trait, where one is skeptical or resistant to logic, or the suggestions, instructions or orders of others.

Yet, some of the greatest of people that develop innovation, or the curious (a true art) question all rules, all authority and logic. “Question Authority” may be two of the greatest words ever written together and if we as a human race (or business) can question more, we gain. The positivists, by their dogma, may be robbing us of our creativity.

Negativity can be a psychological disorder, as can positivity, and empirical facts can be provided (we can prove anything) proving either are dangerous, or that either are healthy.

Some are so fearful of “negativity” they’ve defined it as: “the practice of being or tendency to be negative or skeptical in attitude while failing to offer positive suggestions or views.”. I believe negativity is best used, strategically, as defensive pessimism.

For clarity a good book on negativity is: The Positive Power Of Negative Thinking by Julie Norem

The review is helpful:

“How often are we urged to "look on the bright side"? From Norman Vincent Peale to the ubiquitous smiley face, optimism has become an essential part of American society. In this long-overdue book, psychologist Julie Norem offers convincing evidence that, for many people, positive thinking is an ineffective strategy--and often an obstacle--for successfully coping with the anxieties and pressures of modern life. Drawing on her own research and many vivid case histories, Norem provides evidence of the powerful benefits of "defensive pessimism," which has helped millions to manage anxiety and perform their best work.

Defensive pessimism is an art. It is not negative, but questions all, and does so to promote realism, positivity and negativity. At our consulting firm we don’t “Look on the Bright Side”, or “Figure out everything that can go wrong”, nor do we promote realistic thinking, as this also diminishes the creative, the curious and the innovative.

Firmly believing anything is absolutism. The only absolute is zero. All else is we know what we know, and not what we do not know.

The true reality is that all is an illusion to what we do not know, so any “locking into a box” with being positive, negative or realistic alone limits us to the true cliché that we know all there is to know.

Chip Evans, PH.D.

President

The Evans Group LLC

www.theevansgroupllc.com