me surprising research shows the hiring based on optimism, even when that trait is preferred over more technical skills, results in more success than other standards. Optimists perform better in almost every profession, with the glaring exception of attorneys, who are of course, trained to consider what might go wrong and make sure that they inoculate their clients from disastrous fates.
For example, MetLife hired salespeople based on optimism alone who then outsold their more pessimistic counterparts by 57%:
“…testing revealed that the agents with more optimistic styles sold 37 percent more insurance than those with pessimistic ones, and that the most optimistic agents actually sold fully 88 percent more than the most pessimistic ones. Furthermore, agents who were more optimistic were half as likely to quit as were the pessimists.
This was the answer MetLife was looking for. They decided to hire a special force of agents picked solely on the basis of explanatory style. And it paid off. The next year, these agents outsold their more pessimistic counterparts by 21 percent; during the second year, by 57 percent.”
The Happiness Advantage: The Seven Principles of Positive Psychology That Fuel Success and Performance at Work.
Martin E.P. Seligman, Ph.D., author of Learned Optimism: How to Change Your Mind and Your Life, has researched the optimism advantage in various professions and found that optimism does lead to more success, with the exception of attorneys. The pessimistic attorneys, however, while successful, paid a price in their personal lives with higher rates of clinical depression and divorce then other professions.
December 17, 2018
