116 Leading with NLP
This ISG loser’s pattern was studied over 35 years using a
group of healthy and successful members of Harvard Uni-
versity classes from 1942 to 1944. They were tested to see
whether they tended to use the pessimism strategy (ISG) or
whether they were more optimistic. Every five years the
groups had a thorough medical examination. As they got
older, their health tended to worsen, but the gap between
the healthiest and the least healthy got larger as time went
by. Overall, men who used the optimistic strategy at age 25
were healthier later in life. The health of the pessimistic
group showed a marked deterioration, especially between
the ages of 40 to 45, that could not be explained by any other
variable. Statistically, the link was as robust as the one be-
tween cigarette smoking and lung cancer. Surprisingly, we
do not put the same effort into teaching children to gener-
alize optimistically as we do into persuading them not to
smoke cigarettes. Pessimism should carry a health warning.
Leader’s Strategy:
Turning Mistakes into Knowledge
A bad experience is:
a result of their actions and outside circumstances.
feedback to learn from so that it does not happen again.
the result of a mistake. It does not make them an
incompetent person.
a specific and isolated incident.A good experience is:
evidence of good judgement and timing.
something to take credit for and feel good about.
something to learn from and duplicate.
proof that they are a competent person.
the latest in a pattern of success.