“Needs to be outgoing and positive”. This is a phrase most job ads contain in our industry. At first glance one wouldn’t think anything special about it. Why wouldn’t you want positive and outgoing people?

The past couple of days I have been painting our apartment. While doing so I tend to be accompanied by the BBC World Service. The other day there was a mention of a study by Joe Forgas which shows that “Being grumpy is good for you”

The characteristics of positive and a negaitve mood

Professor Forgas’ study showed that a positive mood seems to promote:

  • creativity, flexibility and co-operation
  • a reliance on mental shortcuts

A negative mood trigger a more

  • attentive and careful thinking
  • paying greater attention to the external world

Let’s take this study and apply it to an organization and the beforementioned job advert extract. What happens to an organization which only hires people who are generally positive? Is it good for an organization to always look for positive people, regardless of what kind of position they are looking for?