In a 1985 study, positive psychologist Martin Seligman studied thousands of salespeople at MetLife Insurance. They were hiring like 5,000 reps per year at that point. He introduced a test to measure and assess optimism levels and they made it part of their screening process. They also tested for aptitude (basically technical and sales proficiency).

Two years after hiring the optimistic employees hold 31% more than pessimistic employees. And more interestingly perhaps, those who failed the aptitude test but scored high on the optimism test did 57% better in the second year.

One of the main reasons for this is optimists cope better with stressors.

It is important to note that Optimism is learned.

REFERENCE

• Seligman, M. E. P., & Schulman, P. (1986). Explanatory style as a predictor of productivity and quitting among life insurance agents. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 50, 832–838.

Keywords & Nodes

• sales
• performance
• business
• Happiness impacts a variety of organizational outcomes.
• 7. Money, Work, & Organizations