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Embrace the cynical!

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If you work in a team, you’ll no doubt have at least one person that everyone is slightly uncomfortable with.

In a meeting, they’ll sit there quietly, whilst everyone else is enthusing about the latest super-whizzo idea that’s going to reduce costs/save the world/make a million (delete as applicable). Just as you’re all about to reach a frenzied crescendo of exhilarated back-slapping at the sheer, shared, greatness of it all, they’ll calmly point out the things that could go wrong and scupper your revolutionary plans. No-one wants to hear that – it’s nice and sunny in your happy little world, and that natural doom-merchant has just caused the clouds of failure to roll ominously in. It’s about as welcome as a fart in a spacesuit. But, deep down, you know they’re right… damn them.

Meet your natural cynic. They’re the glass-half-empty (and possibly cracked) ones. You could tell them they’ve won the lotto and their first reaction would be concern about whether they are capable of letting joy into their facial expression range. It’s impossible to explain why, but they carry a faint air of sadness with them.

You badly need that person on your team, though. The one that always sees potential problems – even if they might seem outrageously unlikely. Without them, you plough on with all your happy-enthusiastic types in control and fail to spot key potential problems or pitfalls. They’re not popular, they’re gloomy, they foretell doom and disaster. But ignore them and that’s exactly what you’ll get. Their insight, however uncomfortable, will mean your wonder-plan actually works. By listening to them and then acting on their alarm-bells, you might just head off something terrible before it happens.

They don’t get the praise they deserve either. Because you DID begrudgingly heed their sage warning and adapt accordingly it all went smoothly, so it’s easy to fall into the trap of ignoring them next time. Do so at your peril.

They’re the ones making sure your plans actually work; by anticipating the problems and using their doom-laden spider senses to avert disaster. They might not wear a cape, but they may just be the troubled superhero with a dark back-story we all need to save our collective day.

There’s a big difference between cynical and negative. Don’t mix them up.

Negative is bad. But love your team cynics. It’ easy to dismiss them as just out to rain on your parade, but they’re the ones that checked the weather forecast and suggested you bring a brolly. And wellies. And possibly an ark.

They probably loathe their reputation. Who wants to be the party-pooper? But you shouldn’t try to make them change. You need them at their death-around-every-corner sharpest.

Embrace the cynical. You’ll be better off if you do.

We love you, cynical ones. Let us never speak of this again.


(Originally written for LinkedIn. Yup.)

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