Page 86 - Roy W. Rice - CEO Material How to Be a Leader in Any Organization-McGraw-Hill (2009)

You Have Fire in Your Belly • 67

There are people who have no interest in being happy or optimistic.
Their negative, self-defeating attitude feeds and grows like bacteria in a
Petri dish. Some people erroneously think that being gloomy and glum
shows a critical and analytical assessment of things. Steer clear of them.
Despair is fine for a poet, but not for a leader. Don’t be guilty or embar-
rassed about being generally upbeat—you need to be if you’re going to
lead others.
Grouches pull you down; cheerful people pull you up.

At first, my people thought I was Pollyanaish because even when
unpredictable things appear, I tend to think it will work out. I paint
a positive picture. The glass will never be full, but it is at least half-
full or more so and is getting filled even more. . .. Things can get
bumpy. Time takes care of it. If you don’t get rattled, most things pass.

Shirley Ann Jackson, president of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
at the University of Rochester, spoke at a graduation ceremony: “I am an
optimist. I am short, and short people can only see the glass as half-full.
So optimize who you are and what you are. Optimize your experiences
and what you have learned. Optimize others. Optimize your opportuni-
ties. Seize them and do meaningful things.”

Work is not to produce; it’s to give value to life. . . . when I go to work,
I tell my wife, “I’m off to the games.” That’s how I view business. It’s
fun, like playing games when I was a boy. You experience winning,
losing, cheaters, gamesmanship, psychological ploys—and most
important, not to take things personally. Even business trips are like
the excitement of going on a field trip in school. Remember how
thrilling it was? That’s how I view what I do every day.

If you went to work at Berkshire Hathaway, optimistic ambition is
required, that is, if you want to keep up with Warren Buffett, who says
that he “tap-dances” to work every morning.
Fire in your belly sustains your ambition when you are around neg-
ative people, experiencing setbacks and disappointments, recovering from
mistakes, and getting feedback. It also inspires and motivates other people
to start a little fire in their bellies too.