
Why Forced Positivity at Work Does More Harm Than Good
By the end of last summer, a product manager named Lila was barely holding it together. Her child had been sick for weeks, her father was recovering from surgery, and a key launch deadline was slipping out of reach. When she finally admitted to her team during a weekly check-in that she was feeling overwhelmed, her manager responded with a smile and said, “Let’s focus on the positives, you’ve got this.” Lila did not feel