It is fairly well established in management and other fields that beyond a certain point, Intelligence Quotient (IQ) is not a big differentiator – unless you are Albert Einstein, that is! What really matters is your Optimism Quotient (OQ). Optimism has been found to be positively correlated with success and progress. Martin Seligman, a specialist in this field, has done pioneering research in this field and has concluded that optimism can be learnt and enhanced.
Optimist quotient
So, it pays to check out on your Optimism Quotient once a while so that you can chuck out your fear of failure and enhance your hope for success. Anything achieved in the corporate world or in any other walk of life is possible only by and for optimistic people.
Great competence sans optimism does not guarantee success even if you are selling a hot cake!
Optimistic people ask the right questions, believe their efforts will lead to results, can influence colleagues without formal authority and deliver on their commitments.
Two different things
But then, optimism and Chutzpah are two different things.
Chutzpah has to do with behaviour that is seen as “gall, brazen nerve, effrontery and arrogance of very high order.” When your optimism does a pendulum swing and moves towards chutzpah, you are going to be in a difficult situation, making more non-friends (if not enemies at work) than friends.
And there and then begins potentially your roller coaster ride leading to your downfall.
How do you know if you are on your way to acquiring chutzpah? In his popular article titled, Stop overdoing your strengths, Dr Robert Kaplan (of the balanced scorecard fame) advises the following courses of possible action / reflection:
Ask your colleagues three questions: What should I do more? What should I do less? What should I continue unchanged?
Ask yourself, “Do I privately pride myself on being superior to other leaders in any way?” If so, this is clearly an indication you need to watch out
If you are still not sure, ask your spouse whether you are overdoing your optimism? Then you know
Healthy paranoia
A healthy dose of paranoia over your own optimism will do a lot of good to your relationship and reputation at work. Like any other disease, physical and behavioural, cure is faster when you recognise chutzpah as symptoms manifest rather than when the disease becomes deep-rooted.
There is a well-known saying that “nothing succeeds like success.”
However, when we suffer from chutzpah, this saying reverses and becomes: “nothing recedes like success.”
Interestingly, none of us work towards becoming a victim of chutzpah, but as we begin to taste success and earn recognition, we tend to develop a sense of over optimism.
Unfortunately, even our close friends do not give us a hint. Assuming they do, we tend to brush it aside as jealousy. Bad behavioural habits develop slowly and envelop us aggressively over time leaving us no opportunity to reflect in the normal course. Organisational initiatives like 360-degree feedback can help. But nothing like slowing down once a while and seeking help from colleagues who we know as “no nonsense” in their approach. They can help.
Watching out in the mirror can save even the most drenched cases of chutzpah. Watching out the window for excuses will soon have us out the window.
The choice is ours!
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