During a trip to Italy in May 2007, Margaret Greenberg, President of The Greenberg Group, had the opportunity to visit an innovative company and interview some of its employees. Her discoveries can be found in the June 2007 edition of Positive Psychology News Daily - "Positive Work Environments: How One Company is Putting Theory into Practice".

• It Pays to Be Optimistic: Exploring the Connection Between Optimism and Business Success - Gallup, August 9, 2007
  Optimism, while a nice attribute, isn't necessarily considered a business asset. Optimistic people are more pleasant to be around than their pessimistic counterparts, and an office full of optimists is a more agreeable place to work than one full of sourpusses. Yet somehow, pessimists have all the street cred. The office cynics are thought to be more realistic, rational, and strategic. Optimists may be sweet, but pessimists, though often sour, are deemed shrewd. Optimistic managers may create a sunnier workgroup, but pessimists will prepare it for the worst. Recent research, however, suggests that pessimistic managers may not only plan for the worst, but invite it. Margaret Greenberg and Dana Arakawa, graduates of the Master of Applied Positive Psychology program at the University of Pennsylvania, studied the effects of optimistic managers and found that optimists may do a better job of helping employees reach goals and be more productive. ... [ MORE ]


• The Business Benefits of Positive Leadership: Finding the Connection Between Productivity & Positive Management Behavior - Gallup, May 10, 2007
  The earth circles the sun, gravity makes things fall downward, and germs make you sick. Sure, that's all obvious now, but it took some very smart people a lot of time and effort to prove it. The same is true of management theories -- what seems perfectly obvious today is really just an assumption until someone tests and proves it. That's why Margaret Greenberg and Dana Arakawa have put the theory of positive leadership to test. ... [ MORE ]


• Optimistic Managers and Their Influence on Productivity and Employee Engagement in at Technology Organization - International Coaching Psychology Review, March 2007
  (The article begins on page 78. In addition, editorial comments can be found on pages 7 and 101.)


• Put Your Boredom To Good Use - Hartford Courant, May 27, 2003
  Boredom has a bad rap. It has become an unfortunate catchall for activities we merely don't like or for when we are insufficiently entertained. And so we busy ourselves looking for the next shot of adrenaline when what we need to do instead is sit still. The gift of boredom lies in its pinch of complacency. It is the gauntlet of challenge, an awakening to change, not a demon to flee but a road map for delving beyond. Says Leo Stein, "Boredom is an emptiness filled with insistence." When clients of Margaret Greenberg of the Greenberg Group, an executive coaching practice in Andover, say they are bored, she says, "Good for you! OK, let's use that. Let's discover what's in the boredom." And usually, she says, the clients will find "they are not living fulfilled lives." ... [ MORE ]