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The post is also focused on content marketing. Many already are in agreement sales and marketing tends to be more positive because, let's face it, most of them

The post is also focused on content marketing. Many already are in agreement sales and marketing tends to be more positive because, let's face it, most of them are still coming in cold with products which are meh at best and terrible at worst. For the majority of people, toxic positivity is a far bigger issue by having things invade their life to the point of having to sell themselves or others as far more positive than necessary, for reasons that do not reflect empirical evidence. Some people noted mass media culture of farming likes and internet points. Job interviews, performances and such are another, where negativity in any way is so taboo individuals now have to learn how to navigate a minefield of "give us criticism but don't you dare give us criticism". Most will even dare scapegoat it under "it's unprofessional to be negative". The world sucks in a lot of ways. Yes, we don't have to keep rubbing in how much it sucks. No, we don't need to decorate it ad nauseam at every corner. The last bit will eventually explode into a counterculture where everyone berates the overly positive status quo. It already has online, just waiting for counterculture to catch up to corporate.

ChrisMarshallNY 4y ago
One of the most amusing things, for me, is watching marketing folks struggling to say "no," or disagree[0]. It seems they are trained to never say no. I tend to keep things positive, and rely on good team dynamics (I don't like team members competing against each other). That's not "toxic positivity." It's just common sense. We don't all have to have kum-ba-ya singalongs, but we need to treat each other with respect, and work together. I was a manager for 25 years, and my team seemed to like the environment I fostered. I think a lot of folks are crippled by cynicism, and that can be just as bad as "toxic anything." It can completely destroy a team. Decent managers can help to defuse that. [0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J34UzHo4G5w https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J34UzHo4G5w
- chrsig 4y ago
  > Decent managers can help to defuse that. Can you share any insights into how it gets defused? I'm a recovering cynic, and so is my manager. Sometimes we get into a feedback loop, which isn't great.
  - ChrisMarshallNY 4y ago
    In my case, I had a team of mature, experienced developers. They all had decades of experience, and at least a couple of them, were smarter than me. I stressed that we respect each other, and I also managed each as an individual. When there was conflict, I generally looked for common goals, and stressed them. I treated them as family. I made sure they all understood that the company's goals were always foremost to me, but that they came second; even before my own needs. I gave them whatever time they needed for family and/or personal reasons. I supported them through life crises, and had their back. I also -and this is important- acted as a buffer between my team and my company's rather rapacious HR. This actually got me in trouble, a couple of times, but was really appreciated by my team (and also by some very highly-placed managers, in Japan). No ridiculous team-building exercises. I used to take my team out for a nice dinner, every holiday season, and my own expense (the company would not cover that kind of thing). This was very much appreciated, and my team did not abuse it. We still get together, once a year (if possible), but these days, it's dutch. The team stayed together and highly functional, for over 25 years. When they finally rolled it up, the engineer with the least tenure had ten years. I'm fully expecting a deluge of fairly nasty and abusive posts about this, but that's my story, and I'm sticking with it.
    - wreath 4y ago
      Holy cow, a team running for 25 years? Thats almost an entire career. I appreciate you being straightforward with priorities/goals (company’s THEN the individuals’). I think an awful lot of managers fail because they try to act like friends with their team and then get hit by the reality of whats expected of them and it gets real awkward at best.
      - ChrisMarshallNY 4y ago
        Yeah. The company didn't pay especially well, so it was important to keep people, and new hiring was always painful. Rigorous Honesty is critical in my management. I need to be honest with myself, my superiors, my coworkers, and my employees. It's quite possible to keep things confidential without lying. I've done it for many years. Another drawback of my style, is the employees become loyal to me, not the company. If I had left, they probably would have lost the whole team, fairly quickly. The company didn't seem to mind that.

ChrisMarshallNY 4y ago

One of the most amusing things, for me, is watching marketing folks struggling to say "no," or disagree[0]. It seems they are trained to never say no. I tend to keep things positive, and rely on good team dynamics (I don't like team members competing against each other). That's not "toxic positivity." It's just common sense. We don't all have to have kum-ba-ya singalongs, but we need to treat each other with respect, and work together. I was a manager for 25 years, and my team seemed to like the environment I fostered. I think a lot of folks are crippled by cynicism, and that can be just as bad as "toxic anything." It can completely destroy a team. Decent managers can help to defuse that. [0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J34UzHo4G5w https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J34UzHo4G5w

chrsig 4y ago
> Decent managers can help to defuse that. Can you share any insights into how it gets defused? I'm a recovering cynic, and so is my manager. Sometimes we get into a feedback loop, which isn't great.
- ChrisMarshallNY 4y ago
  In my case, I had a team of mature, experienced developers. They all had decades of experience, and at least a couple of them, were smarter than me. I stressed that we respect each other, and I also managed each as an individual. When there was conflict, I generally looked for common goals, and stressed them. I treated them as family. I made sure they all understood that the company's goals were always foremost to me, but that they came second; even before my own needs. I gave them whatever time they needed for family and/or personal reasons. I supported them through life crises, and had their back. I also -and this is important- acted as a buffer between my team and my company's rather rapacious HR. This actually got me in trouble, a couple of times, but was really appreciated by my team (and also by some very highly-placed managers, in Japan). No ridiculous team-building exercises. I used to take my team out for a nice dinner, every holiday season, and my own expense (the company would not cover that kind of thing). This was very much appreciated, and my team did not abuse it. We still get together, once a year (if possible), but these days, it's dutch. The team stayed together and highly functional, for over 25 years. When they finally rolled it up, the engineer with the least tenure had ten years. I'm fully expecting a deluge of fairly nasty and abusive posts about this, but that's my story, and I'm sticking with it.
  - wreath 4y ago
    Holy cow, a team running for 25 years? Thats almost an entire career. I appreciate you being straightforward with priorities/goals (company’s THEN the individuals’). I think an awful lot of managers fail because they try to act like friends with their team and then get hit by the reality of whats expected of them and it gets real awkward at best.
    - ChrisMarshallNY 4y ago
      Yeah. The company didn't pay especially well, so it was important to keep people, and new hiring was always painful. Rigorous Honesty is critical in my management. I need to be honest with myself, my superiors, my coworkers, and my employees. It's quite possible to keep things confidential without lying. I've done it for many years. Another drawback of my style, is the employees become loyal to me, not the company. If I had left, they probably would have lost the whole team, fairly quickly. The company didn't seem to mind that.