Positive thinking vs. Negative thinking? Maybe....

Here is some business sense.

If all I employed were positive thinking people, then most vehicles wouldn't get repaired thoroughly.  I have worked for those types of people in the automotive industry and their response when you point out some trouble with a vehicle is, "Oh it will be OK, send it on it's way."

On the flip side I have worked with some very negative people in this field as well.  Most of the time their response is, "You know, there is quite a lot wrong with this vehicle, we need to rework the estimate for this customer."

I don't like to call them positive thinkers, I like to call them promoters.  People want to feel good about their car and these people help the customer feel good about what they are driving.

I don't like to call them negative thinkers, I like to call them solution detectives.  People are concerned that a shop find important things that need attention, and these people can do just that.

These two people need to work together to drive out of the shop a vehicle that is reliable, but not having repairs that didn't need to be done.-according to the wishes of the customer and his pocket book, so that he feels respected.

In any organization you can't have just positive, people working for you.  You also have to have those who most people think are negative.  Those "negative" people are there to point out problems that could mean your demise if you don't fix them.  Those "positive" people are there to give that good feeling that advances the cause.

There is much more to be said about getting these two types of people to work together, but you can't have one without the other, and you should have both for an organization to run smoothly and successfully.