Negativity

I have spent most of my professional life teaching how to grow your influence. I am all for increasing your influence; however, there are people who seek to influence you that might be detrimental to your progress or even disastrous to your well-being. It is important we are able to dissect these influence attempts, and Dr. Philip Zimbardo, who is internationally recognized as a leading "voice and face of contemporary psychology" through his widely seen PBS-TV series, Discovering Psychology, his media appearances, best-selling trade books on shyness, and his classic research, The Stanford Prison Experiment, is a great resource.

Zimbardo has been a Stanford University professor since 1968 (now an Emeritus Professor), having taught previously at Yale, NYU, and Columbia University. He continues teaching graduate students at the Pacific Graduate School of Psychology, and at the Naval Post Graduate School (Monterey).

How Do You, the Influencer, Assess and Resist Negative Influence Yourself?

Here are the first 10 tips of Dr. Zimbardo’s 20 ways to avoid negative influence with my take on each point.

Start today reframing your influence message by sharing the positive end-result of the change you wish to see. Follow the advice of renowned influencer Zig Ziglar, who said, “Your attitude, not your aptitude, determines your altitude.” Be a positive influencer! 

Is it so bad to feel envious or jealous of someone or others’ opportunities?  No. Actually, jealously can be a helpful emotion. It serves as a clue that you need to pay closer attention. It forces you to listen carefully what is behind the green-eyed monster.

When we self-sabotage our own career with negative thoughts or actions, I like to call it a "mind field".  Here are some of the varying levels of devastation and how you can overcome them. 

Sometimes, work relationships can prevent you from focusing on your career or family. How can you tell when a business relationship has become toxic?