The Cynic is a Cancer in Your Organization

The effective leader and manager is a realist. But no one is less realistic than the cynic. The cynic is a cancer in your organization. The cynic will always be a victim of circumstances and the creator of excuses, but never the leader who will inspire his staff to achieve that which has not been done. The cancer of cynicism is not limited, however, to the goals and aspirations of the organization. A greater cancer to your organization is the cynicism of team member performance.

A person should never be appointed to a leadership capacity or a managerial position if his vision focuses on people’s weaknesses rather than their strengths. The cynic who always sees what team members can’t do, and not what they can do, destroys the atmosphere of your organization and the morale of the team.

Henry Ford is attributed to saying that if you think you can or you can’t, you’re right. The same applies to what your leader or manager thinks about their employees. If the manager sees the individual as incompetent, they’ll never rise above that. Even their performance successes will be undermined because the excitement of the employee is usually stifled by the knowledge that their efforts and achievements are looked down upon by their manager.