Episode 223 - The Leader’s Mindset - Part Three - Optimistic Outlook
Leadership Today - Practical Tips For Leaders
Release Date: 09/13/2024
Leadership Today - Practical Tips For Leaders
Summary We each have mindsets that we bring to our leadership. In this final of a five part series, we explore Drive for Growth and the role it plays in The Leader’s Mindset. Transcript Hello and welcome to episode 225 of the Leadership Today podcast where each week we share practical tips to improve your leadership. In this final of a five part series, we explore Drive for Growth and the role it plays in The Leader’s Mindset. We are continuing to explore The Leader’s Mindset which has four elements: Goal Orientation, Optimistic Outlook, Options Thinking and Drive for Growth. I...
info_outline Episode 224 - The Leader’s Mindset - Part Four - Options ThinkingLeadership Today - Practical Tips For Leaders
Summary We each have mindsets that we bring to our leadership. In this fourth of a five part series, we explore Options Thinking and the role it plays in The Leader’s Mindset. Transcript Hello and welcome to episode 224 of the Leadership Today podcast where each week we share practical tips to improve your leadership. In this fourth of a five part series, we explore Options Thinking and the role it plays in The Leader’s Mindset. We are continuing to explore The Leader’s Mindset which has four elements: Goal Orientation, Optimistic Outlook, Options Thinking and Drive for Growth. I...
info_outline Episode 223 - The Leader’s Mindset - Part Three - Optimistic OutlookLeadership Today - Practical Tips For Leaders
Summary We each have mindsets that we bring to our leadership. In this third of a five part series, we explore Optimistic Outlook and the role it plays in The Leader’s Mindset. Transcript Hello and welcome to episode 223 of the Leadership Today podcast where each week we share practical tips to improve your leadership. In this third of a five part series, we explore Optimistic Outlook and the role it plays in The Leader’s Mindset. We are continuing to explore The Leader’s Mindset which has four elements: Goal Orientation, Optimistic Outlook, Options Thinking and Drive for Growth....
info_outline Episode 222 - The Leader’s Mindset - Part Two - Goal OrientationLeadership Today - Practical Tips For Leaders
Summary We each have mindsets that we bring to our leadership. In this second of a five part series, we explore Goal Orientation and the role it plays in The Leader’s Mindset. Transcript Hello and welcome to episode 222 of the Leadership Today podcast where each week we share practical tips to improve your leadership. In this second of a five part series, we explore Goal Orientation and the role it plays in The Leader’s Mindset. In the last episode we introduced The Leader’s Mindset which has four elements: Goal Orientation, Optimistic Outlook, Options Thinking and Drive for...
info_outline Episode 221 - The Leader's Mindset - Part One - IntroductionLeadership Today - Practical Tips For Leaders
Summary We each have mindsets that we bring to our leadership. In this first of a five part series, we introduce The Leader’s Mindset and how it will help you to lead more effectively in all areas of your life. This is part one of a five part series. Transcript Hello and welcome to episode 221 of the Leadership Today podcast where each week we share practical tips to improve your leadership. This week we are commencing a five part series on The Leader’s Mindset. As we start our series on The Leader’s Mindset, it’s important to step back and remind ourselves about what...
info_outline Interview - Alexa Chilcutt - Executive Communication and Public SpeakingLeadership Today - Practical Tips For Leaders
Summary In this conversation, Dr. Alexa Chilcutt ( discusses the importance of executive communication and public speaking skills. She explains that anxiety around public speaking stems from the fear of being judged and evaluated. However, she emphasises that with practice and a clear process, individuals can become more confident and effective communicators. Dr. Chilcutt also provides tips for structuring a message, including identifying the purpose, understanding the audience, and breaking the information into three main points. Additionally, she highlights the significance of executive...
info_outline Episode 220 - How To Bend The Rules With IntegrityLeadership Today - Practical Tips For Leaders
Summary Rules can be frustrating. It can be tempting to bend the rules or ignore them altogether, but this can lead to negative outcomes. This week we explore how to work around rules but maintain your integrity. Transcript Hello and welcome to episode 220 of the Leadership Today podcast where each week we share practical tips to improve your leadership. This week we explore how to work around rules but maintain your integrity. Lapses in integrity have ended many leaders’ careers. Breaking the rules is never a good idea. But we often need to be creative and flexible to get...
info_outline Episode 219 - How To Appear Less Nervous in Meetings and InterviewsLeadership Today - Practical Tips For Leaders
Summary Interviewers place a strong emphasis on perceptions of nervousness. But there are practical steps we can take to appear less nervous in meetings and interviews. Transcript Hello and welcome to episode 219 of the Leadership Today podcast where each week we share practical tips to improve your leadership. This week we work through ways to appear less nervous in meetings and interviews. Research demonstrates that anxious candidates perform worse at job interviews, even when their skills and experience align well with the role. Interviewers place an oversized importance to the...
info_outline Episode 218 - How To Boost First Impressions on ZoomLeadership Today - Practical Tips For Leaders
Summary Research demonstrates the background we choose for video calls has a significant impact on how trustworthy and competent we appear. This week we explore how to boost your first impressions on a video call in three simple ways. Transcript Hello and welcome to episode 218 of the Leadership Today podcast where each week we share practical tips to improve your leadership. This week we explore how to boost your first impressions on a video call in three simple ways. Your choice of background on a video call has a greater impact on how you’re perceived by others than you might...
info_outline Episode 217 - How to Be More Real on Video CallsLeadership Today - Practical Tips For Leaders
Summary Research demonstrates a risk of detachment and reduced connection on video calls. This week we explore ways to be more real when we’re not meeting in-person. Transcript Hello and welcome to episode 217 of the Leadership Today podcast where each week we share practical tips to improve your leadership. This week we look at how to be more real on video calls. We make rapid judgements about people based on visual and other information we receive. While this can lead to us making incorrect judgements when we meet people in-person, the risk is increased through video calls. Research...
info_outlineSummary
We each have mindsets that we bring to our leadership. In this third of a five part series, we explore Optimistic Outlook and the role it plays in The Leader’s Mindset.
Transcript
Hello and welcome to episode 223 of the Leadership Today podcast where each week we share practical tips to improve your leadership. In this third of a five part series, we explore Optimistic Outlook and the role it plays in The Leader’s Mindset.
We are continuing to explore The Leader’s Mindset which has four elements: Goal Orientation, Optimistic Outlook, Options Thinking and Drive for Growth. I encourage you to listen to the two previous episodes first and also take the time to complete our free Mindset to Action assessment. This provides detailed feedback on all four areas along with development suggestions. Just go to https://leadership.today/mta
When I talk about mindsets, the most common one that people think of is optimism and pessimism. Optimism has lots of positive benefits, particularly when you combine it with the three elements of hope theory covered in the Mindset to Action assessment. Combining the two overcomes the main shortcoming of optimism, which is its lack of direction and momentum. Just looking at the world in a positive way and expecting good things to happen doesn’t take you anywhere - you need clear goals, openness to options, and the drive to push you forward.
Continuing our journey metaphor, Optimistic Outlook is like the perspective you bring to the journey. A person with an Optimistic Outlook thinks positively about the future, expecting things to go their way. They see the future as positive. A person without an Optimistic Outlook mindset focuses on the negatives and what can go wrong. They anticipate more bad things to happen than good things.
I’m often asked if it’s possible to have too much optimism. The research suggests this is the case, but that it’s pretty rare. For example, with extremely high levels of optimism I may be reluctant to take personal responsibility when things go wrong. What is more common is so-called toxic positivity, which describes a culture where people only focus on the positive and ignore challenges, criticisms and issues. The Leader’s Mindset is all about tackling challenges and making progress, therefore avoiding this potential trap.
The Mindset to Action report provides five ways of building and maintaining an Optimistic Outlook.
- Gratitude Journal: Write down three new things that you are grateful for each day. This will help you to focus on the positive things happening around you that are so easy to miss. Before long, you will have trained yourself to focus more on the positive than the negative in your work and life.
- Consider the Three P’s: Martin Seligman describes three ways in which optimists and pessimists think differently in both good and bad situations - personal, permanent and pervasive.
- When things go wrong, an Optimistic Outlook involves:
- Personal - not automatically blaming ourselves, but rather accepting the outside forces that have contributed to the situation
- Permanent - not extending the bad situation out, but realistically appreciating that this will pass and that other good things are probably happening
- Pervasive - not extending the challenging event to all aspects of our life, but rather compartmentalising it to one aspect of our life
- When things go right, an Optimistic Outlook includes:
- Personal - seeing the role that we played in achieving a good outcome
- Permanent - extending out the good result over time, and making sure we reflect on the good things that are happening in our lives
- Pervasive - using the good result to flow into other aspects of our life
- Tame How You Speak To Yourself: Often the way we speak to ourselves is not very kind. When things go wrong we can quickly become our own worst critic. If a friend spoke to us the way we speak to ourselves in those moments, they probably wouldn’t be a friend for very long. Instead, be generous and kind to yourself. Speak to yourself as a supportive friend.
- Reframe Challenges as Opportunities for Growth: When we expand our horizons and try new things, we build optimism and resilience. Sure, we might make mistakes or find new things hard - that’s to be expected. See these minor setbacks as chances to become wiser, stronger and more capable.
Why not pick one of these to practice over the coming week? In the next episode we are going to explore Options Thinking. Have a great week as you become an even better leader.
Leadership Today On-Demand Special Offer
We have a great deal for podcast listeners on our Leadership Today On-Demand subscription. Just go to www.leadershiptoday.com and checkout using the promo code PODCAST for 25% off an annual subscription.
Leadership Today On-Demand is a video subscription service that allows you to work on your leadership in your own time and at your own pace. It is available online and through our Apple iOS and Android apps for phones and tablets. Our mission is to help you to become an even better leader.
Your subscription brings together all of our video content in one place including:
- Five online courses with workbooks
- Five five day challenges with workbooks
- Nineteen recorded webinars
- A searchable library of 170+ "how to" quick videos on a range of leadership challenges
That's over $4,500 of content for less than the price of a single online course. And there are more videos added each week.
Get Connected
Find out ways to get connected here: https://leadership.today/connect