The Pollyanna Principles

Hildy Gottlieb sent me a copy of her new book The Pollyanna Principles to look over.  It was an honor to have my feedback sought by an author.  So here we go.

What are Pollyana Principles?  Wikipedia provides the following definition:

The Pollyanna principle or Pollyannaism describes the tendency for people to agree with positive statements describing themselves. It is sometimes called positivity bias. The phenomenon is similar to the Forer effect. Research indicates that, at the unconscious level, our minds have a tendency to focus on the optimistic while, at the conscious level, we have a tendency to focus on the negative. This unconscious bias towards the positive is often described as Pollyanna Principle.

The concept as described by Matlin and Stang in 1978 used the archetype of Pollyanna, a young girl with infectious optimism.

Critics of personality tests like the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator argue that the tests are considered accurate by people exhibiting Pollyannaism.

It’s an interesting premise that a positive outlook will generate positive results.  In my work in the non-profit sector, where this book is targeted, I have seen this strategy work wonders.

The great value of the Pollyanna Principles for your organization is that it will provide a framework to break out of the blahs, to seek vision and to recognize that the approach to today is shaping tomorrow.  Hildy does an excellent job linking the big picture, as in the cosmic picture, to whatever small micro-corner of need your group is addressing.  The effect generates the spirit of accomplishing the impossible, of fostering change, of birthing a new world.

All books worth reading need also to go out on a limb in such a manner that we will not easily agree with everything they propose.   Pollyanna Principle #5 provided the greatest bone for my arguing mind.  “Strength builds upon our strengths, not our weaknesses.”  While I agree, my experience has shown me that our weaknesses build upon our strengths as well.  If not attending to these very weaknesses, they can undo us and our organizations.  In true Pollyanna style, that does not get addressed.  Perhaps this book was not the place, but let me explain my point.

In Major League Baseball, home run hitting is a strength.  It’s a valuable part of the star system, the fan appeal, the record books.  Over the last ten years we have seen the steriod scandals undermine this strength and ruin careers.   It’s of interest that simultaneously during this period a renewed interest in all kinds of stats emerged thanks to folks like Bill James.  In many ways this work was strength building upon strength.  Yet today the fan is left viewing all the stats as suspect.  hmm… I’m guess I’m simply too aware of the power of the shadow to dismiss it.

Any book that leads me to ponder like this was worth the read.