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Far from possessing the kind of accurate, unbiased foresight that will keep us safe and offer us rewards, humans tend to overestimate the likelihood of positive events, and underestimate the likelihood of negative events. This is revealed in research conducted by Tali Sharot, Research Fellow in Cognitive, Perceptual & Brain Sciences at University College , London, in a paper entitled ‘The Optimism Bias’, published in ‘Current Biology’ in December 2011 (see http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0960982211011912). Psychologists know this as the ‘optimism bias’: the difference between what a person expects and the outcome that follows.

Unless we’re depressed, we tend to underestimate the time it will take us to complete a project and what it will cost, and we tend to overestimate the likelihood of a good outcome to an adverse event or even how successful a holiday will be. About 80% of any given group, observed across gender, race, nationality and age, exhibits an optimism bias. And people maintain overly positive expectations despite a lifetime of experience with reality.

Sharot writes: ‘Expecting positive outcomes reduces stress and anxiety. This is beneficial, given that chronic stress is detrimental to health…. Optimists have been reported to catch fewer infectious diseases and have a stronger immune system [than pessimists]. It has also been suggested that optimism facilitates health-promoting actions [such as] eating healthily and exercising. It seems that the belief in recovery motivates the individual to act in ways that promote it…. Optimists work harder and longer hours than pessimists, which may account for their higher pay. Indeed, optimism has been linked to achievement in education, business, sport and electoral politics….’

More recently ‘The Bright Side of Managerial Over-Optimism’, an INSEAD Working Paper by Gilles Hilary, Charles Hsu, and Benjamin Segal published in July 2013 http://www.insead.edu/facultyresearch/research/doc.cfm?did=52779 shows that managers of firms that have experienced recent successes are more likely to subsequently issue forecasts that are more optimistic than they would otherwise have been. What’s more, managers appear to work harder to meet their over-optimistic forecasts: performance increases as the number of recent prior successes rises. Return On Assets performance over the next four quarters is also positively affected, suggesting that the effect is persistent, at least over the mid-term: in other words, over-optimism can improve managers’ performance, firms’ welfare, and more specifically, firms’ profitability and market value. And producing high quality results is connected with confidence and the willingness to take risks.

Risk-taking is critical for innovation and creativity, for fresh thinking and for adaptability to change. And if there’s one thing that’s constant in this world of ours, it’s change. Organisations and individuals need to ensure continued creativity if they’re to survive, let alone thrive.

I’m intrigued by the apparent paradox in all this: on the one hand our society’s drive for perfectionism, the condemnation of mistakes, and the tendency on the part of managers and leaders (not to mention parents and teachers) to focus on what’s gone wrong rather than what’s gone right. And on the other, humans’ inclination towards over-optimism.

Perhaps this is a partial explanation for why executive coaching works, with its focus on identifying strengths and building on them, and opening windows onto positive new perspectives in thinking and behaving, the conception and evaluation of risky ideas. I wouldn’t consider the philosophy or ethos of executive coaching to be over-optimistic, but it’s definitely optimistic – and the outcomes are invariably improved performance on the part of the coaching client and their team, heightened well-being, reduced stress and greater confidence – all of which are enablers to the continuation and building of high performance levels.

Optimism: a route to high performance

Humans tend to overestimate the likelihood of positive events, and underestimate the likelihood of negative events. Optimists work harder and longer hours than pessimists, which may account for their higher pay - and optimism has been linked to achievement in education, business, sport and electoral politics. This doesn't seem to fit with our society's tendency to drive for perfectionism, condemn mistakes, and focus on what's gone wrong.

Resilience, the bottom line and Ordinary Magic

Research has shown that engaged organisations experienced 11.74% quarterly revenue growth compared to a 6.30% decline in revenue at organisations with less engagement - and resilience helps build engagement. resilience is often the backdrop to my executive coaching, Success isn’t about travelling a smoother road but rather about climbing out of the pothole and bouncing back – and the key to being able to do that isn’t just to keep going, but to keep learning. Also relevant is the work of Ann Masten, on Ordinary Magic: children’s resilience is linked to: connection with competent and caring adults, cognitive and self-regulation skills, positive views of the self, and motivation to be effective - just like leaders in many ways.

Article on coaching that's free of the coach's ego

When I’ve been truly present, when I’m delivering a deep level of listening, when I’m in a relationship of ‘connected separateness’ with my executive coaching clients - without an attachment to the coaching objectives, albeit holding those objectives in focus - the quality of their development and transformation has sometimes been startling.

Self-awareness: the heart of executive coaching

My belief is that leadership is about creating momentum for a better world by inspiring and engaging other people: in other words, enabling human flourishing. If leaders are to get things done through other people they need to create and nurture trusting, vibrant relationships, to inspire with a vision, to persuade and energise, and to engage with other people’s perspectives. This ability to connect with others is crucially dependent on the ability to connect with self: to become aware of one’s own behaviours and thinking, drivers and blockers. Equipping a client to become deeply self-aware is at the heart of executive coaching.

Chaos and organisational life

In the chaos and confusion that sometimes is the hallmark of life at work, while their organisations are demanding big results, what leaders really need is the simplicity and peace to know who they are and that they have the resources to sustain and nourish themselves.

Creativity, innovation and leadership

David Bowie, pop artist and visual artist, was a creative and innovative pioneer. The leaders we need in our turbulent and fast-changing climate likewise value experimentation, creativity and innovation, they read the market and the system, and they have the courage to pioneer.

Career refocus: stepping off the treadmill

Several of my executive coaching clients feel like they're on a treadmill, stressed and under pressure. And yet it's exceptional for any of them to choose to get off the treadmill. Instead, they make career decisions based on a fuller sense of awareness, within a context of well thought-through perspectives, rather than being based on emotion, stress, exhaustion or just not seeing broader horizons

Development and transformation as coaching outcomes

Development is the release of more of an individual's potential and transformation is a fundamental shift in thinking, feeling or behaving. In my experience the shift is often around a previously unresolved issue that an individual has kept carefully guarded for a very long time. When they make their peace with that old issue in a transformational way, the change sticks and the chances are higher that they will become a transformational leader.

Mindfulness: coaching the leader

Mindfulness training and practice enable sustained attention, an improved capacity to regulate emotions and to manage that chatter in the mind that can so inhibit constructive thinking, reduced stress levels and increased resilience and well-being. How will my clients benefit from my training in mindfulness.

Mindfulness, leadership and results

Mindful awareness is about learning to pay attention, in the present moment, and without judgement. It's like training a muscle - training attention to be where you want it to be. It's a valuable tool for impactful leadership.

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