“Show Me One Example of a Wildly Successful Pessimist”
The quote above comes from Gary Rogers, legendary entrepreneur and CEO of the Dreyer’s Ice Cream company, where I worked in sales and operations more than a decade ago. He summed up a lot of discussions with this remark, and many of my coworkers and family members would say I do too. I confess—it’s true. But sunny optimism isn’t the big takeaway. Here are three reasons why optimism coupled with persistence wins the day and sets the stage for longer-term success.
1. Staying In The Hunt
It’s simply impossible to be optimistic all the time. Rogers, in fact, started his career with a restaurant business that failed. But rather than resigning himself to pessimism and scaling back his ambitions to find an easier path, he stayed in the hunt. That’s persistence. When he discovered a small local company called Dreyer’s was for sale, Rogers scraped together enough cash from family and friends to buy it. He believed he could build a successful business, and he worked at it. Along with his co-executive Rick Cronk, Rogers helped Dreyer’s become the leading ice cream brand in America, steadily growing in value to the $3.2 billion level that Nestlé acquired it for in 2002.
That’s a big belief. But equally as important are everyday expectations, a multitude of mission-critical minutiae that go into the success of each workday. These details are the exact opposite of empty platitudes and rah-rah sloganeering. Rather, it’s the practical stuff, the things a person should be able to rely on every day with a high degree of certainty.
2. Investing In People, Working Together As A Team
To illustrate this second point, take workplace safety. You probably weren’t expecting me to pivot from the story of a billion-dollar corporate merger and acquisition to protective footwear and safety goggles, but I’m proud of the fact that last year at SpartanNash we had 400 fewer injuries that we did the year before.
That’s a team effort, a company-wide investment in our people that required hiring new safety coordinators, improving training programs and communicating goals and results. In one year at SpartanNash, this kind of persistent effort translated to an injury reduction of more than one person per day, which makes everyone more optimistic and engaged. I’m glad we’re celebrating these wins because they represent the incredible things a team can achieve.
3. Playing To Win, Not To Lose
In the same way that optimism is contagious, persistence is too. In a high-performing organization, everyone in their own way can exemplify leadership by modeling the best ways of working together.
It sounds so simple, doesn’t it? Optimism. Persistence. Belief. But the practical measures building toward success can be incredibly hard to implement. I think we’re all best served to resist the urge to roll out posters of soaring eagles, glorious sunrises and firm handshakes. Optimism and persistence reveal themselves through the actions of people going about their everyday lives, acting on their beliefs and rising to meet the challenges they face. Recently, when SpartanNash swung into gear to send relief to Ukraine, it was because people believed they could help. They drew upon their skills and expertise, and by working together, they found a way. The original ingredient is always belief, the conviction that you can do great work. You’re playing to win instead of playing not to lose.
So show me one example of a wildly successful pessimist. I’m optimistic you can’t. Based on my experience, optimism proves its worth every day, and I’m grateful to the many people over the years who share my belief.