Being Positive and Acting Positive

There is significant difference in being positive and acting positive. Both are preferable over being negative, with being positive better than only acting positive.

There are nuances to both positives. Early on someone acting positive may be just that -- acting. Acting positive, in and of itself, is a possible charade of what is really happening. Acting positive is attractive to us. We like being around people who seem (i.e., act) positive. Acting positive can serve as inspiration to those who feel less than positive. Acting positive can motivate to stay focused and persevere. Good things happen when we act positive.

The problem develops when in times of assessment we painfully begin to realize that more and more of the time there is little to be positive about. In such times those who are only acting positive begin to lose their effectiveness. Leaders believe that if they act positive, the rest of us will continue to support whatever it is we are supposed to be positive about. It works for awhile and then reality sets in. What we thought was positive becomes veiled in what is really going on. This type of deception can lead to chaos. If this occurs repeatedly over a period of time, leaders quit being leaders, and the masses search elsewhere for direction.

What is needed are leaders who can be positive and not just act positive. This is the distinction: in times of assessment there needs to be clarity about what is positive. There may be much or little to be positive about. What is critically paramount is that we begin to build on what is positive. Confidence will build when strategic work grows from what is positive into something even more positive. There is virtually nothing to be gained from trying to build on something thought to be positive when it is eventually discovered to be a pretense of positive. Rapidly, doubt becomes standard fare for people who question the integrity of their leaders' assessments.

Here's the clincher: There is something positive in everything. How this can be is too lengthy a subject for this post. Nevertheless, being positive while embedded in the negative will produce an optimum that acting positive can never achieve. What is needed is truth and not pretense, facts not fiction, analysis not make believe. Be positive about what there is to be positive about, and cease acting positive when there is precious little or nothing to be positive about. Integrity is at stake.