Scorpions are people too

I've seen a disturbing trend.  This is the trend of the Positive Thinker.  You know the people.  Always excited for the next adventure.  No problem too large.  The person everyone wants at the party.  If you are looking through a job posting, they are 'self starters' and 'passionate'  My problem isn't the thinker themselves if they are genuine.  My problem is the legion of people that are NOT positive people but desperately need you to think they are and probably would like you to be.  The truly positive person is easier to deal with.  Why?  Because the positive person has a length of empathy with bad requests that doesn't require you to be accurate or even timely with what you want from them.  If you seem to be worried and anxious enough, the positive person will go to great lengths to assuage those worries and calm your soul.  They compliment freely and see the good in everything.

I am not a positive person.  I am what a positive person might call a negative person.  I think of myself as not a glass is half empty or full kind of guy.  I'm more of a glass is the wrong size for this much liquid guy.  I try to reflect the reality of my opinions on things instead of the cheery good side.  This often puts me at odds with the artificially positive because they can not withstand my genuine nature against their artificial one.  Truly positive people take negative people in stride because they take EVERYONE in stride.  I believe your nature is who you are and for that moment, you can not change it.  The reason I do not think I am necessarily negative is that I will support what I think is a good idea or good motivation.  I am a team player and will support my team to great lengths and I try to be as genuinely encouraging as I can be without putting on rose colored glasses as I believe this doesn't help anyone.  I try not to lie about my thoughts and feelings about things.  I've found, for the most part, it's better to simply be quiet.  Motivational speakers are often guilty of being fake positive people.  Executives also exude this form of synthetic sweetness.  How can you tell if it's fake?  Easy.  Does the feeling of wanting to do what they need leave with them?  Does the positive air about them come with a price tag that you are expected to pay?  "I think this would be a big win if we could get this 3 days ahead of schedule.  I know it would mean a lot of hard work but I think it would be great!"  Are they only willing to shine a happy light on darkness instead of pick up a shovel and dig through your dirt?  Often you will hear 'How can I help?' that sounds like a tin whistle in an orchestra.  Misplaced and out of tune,  but there for all to hear.  To hear executives try to drum up enthusiasm for a bad idea grates against my nature like finding sand in my chewing gum.

Normally the attitude issue is not a problem.  Where it becomes a problem is when people start believing that not being positive is synonymous with failure.  'You fail at 100% of the things you don't try'.  Is a phrase I've heard often in the motivation camp.  My reply is simple.  I have never tried skydiving.  I haven't failed at it.  There is evidence of failure among those that have.  Just another one sided feel good piece of marketing designed to get you to try things.  I believe that trying things for most people is a good idea and to not let the specter of failure ruin your desire to accomplish things.  However when you see that same sentiment applied to a bad idea that is tried without regard to practicality, I see a problem.  Don't think so?  Fearing failure but forging ahead is a quality of the heroic.  Blindly going forward, anticipating failures will be fixed by others is the attribute of the foolish.

That brings me to two different animals.  

One is the dolphin.  Often thought of as the ocean's friendly mammal.  Closer investigation reveals that dolphins behaviors are surprisingly human.  Causing trouble for other dolphins not in your pod and being a general pain to others.  Dolphins will kill for fun.  Bottom line is dolphins are kind of jerks.  The PR of dolphins however is terrific.  Dolphins have had TV shows and movies made about them.  they have been celebrated as being a friend of man.  Even though they have a fairly dark underbelly.  

The other animal is the Scorpion.  Scorpions kill out of a need for survival. Hunting and eliminating prey is what they do.  The most renowned story about the Scorpion is the tale of the frog and the scorpion that both wish to cross a river in the face of a fire on the side they are on.  The scorpion says.  Frog, take me on your back across the river.  I promise I won't sting you.  Frog says how do I know?  Scorpion says because it would kill us both and I wouldn't want that.  Well the frog takes the scorpion along and gets stung for his good efforts.  Why?  asks the dying frog.  Sorry, I'm a scorpion, stinging is in my nature.  So this little tale tells us that going against the nature of something is a bad idea because no matter what, nature will eventually prevail.  Not only is the scorpion the bad guy, but he's a bit of a scheming horrible animal.  Even though the scorpion is just doing what it does.  It's a bit overstated that the scorpion would lie out of survival, but in business how many of us lie by our Dolphin like acceptance of ideas that rub against us?  

If you leave a scorpion alone, it will continue to do what it does best in the wild; get rid of vermin and other obnoxious creatures.  But everyone wants the dolphin to be their friend.  Who doesn't want that 'can do' attitude?  Of course sometimes you need someone with a 'don't do' attitude.  When it comes to rules and process Scorpions are your creature.  People don't even want to get close to the scorpion because of that stinger.  If they pass the scorpion carefully  they won't get stung.  but scorpions aren't about sloppy work and devil may care preparations.  Instead they view all comers with a skeptical eye.  This increases the probability that that process or rule series will be followed.  

Just because the scorpion isn't the guy you want at the party doesn't mean you wouldn't trust it with your passwords, in fact, they might be the better option.