Generations of leaders in both the political and business realms have been influenced by Success Through a Positive Mental Attitude by Napoleon Hill and W. Clement Stone and The Power of Positive Thinking by Norman Vincent Peale. The later book popularized the notion that the way to generate positive outcomes was to, well, think positively. It was touted as a kind of superpower: If you imagine something positive, it will happen. Richard Bach's book, Johnathan Livingston Seagull,  posited a similar law of attraction. Negativity should be avoided at all costs.

While there is some real merit to this approach, it's also possible to overuse it. Anything in excess can become a fatal flaw and that includes thinking positively. Believe me, I learned this lesson from personal experience. Let me explain.

As leaders, dealing with bad or negative news is a challenge. No leader likes to share something bad with the team because they fear that it will poison the air and the team's morale. The temptation is to find a way to spin whatever is happening in a positive light.  We have all seen a leader trying to make a layoff sound like a great idea or how a massive failure of a product launch wasn't a big deal.

Please select this link to read the complete article from Inc.