Never underestimate the impact of a single rotten apple

Never underestimate the impact of a single rotten apple Never underestimate the impact of a single rotten apple What do you think is more likely to happen when a lazy person joins a highly productive team?Option A:  The lazy person gets inspired by the productive people and their positive mindset. The lazy person automatically gets elevated to their level. Option B:  The productive people in the team become lazy over time.Follow Ladders on Flipboard!Follow Ladders’ magazines on Flipboard covering Happiness, Productivity, Job Satisfaction, Neuroscience, and more!It can’t be scenario B, right?! That’s not how it works. The lazy person is by himself. There’s no way he can influence the whole group!When the lazy person is surrounded by productive people, he’ll be inspired to do more work as well. That’s what most of us  think  will happen.But in my experience, and from what I’ve learned from others, the opposite happens.One  negative person can easily destroy the group dynamic. So why do many of us believe that Option A will happen? It’s because you look at yourself.When you have good intentions…You expect that other people are also like that. I get emails from frustrated readers all the time.Leaders who can’t seem to inspire their team. Men and women who are tired of their partner’s destructive behavior. Parents who can’t watch their child throwing away their future.These problems are serious and happen to every person who aims up in life. If you are positive and try to make the best of your life, you expect that it will rub off on other people.That’s because people like you and I have good intentions. We want the best for others and for ourselves. When you treat yourself with respect, you can’t imagine that others are screwing up their lives.How one person destroys the collectiveI always thought you could pull up people to a higher level. After all, I’ve always lived that way myself. I looked at people who were ahead of me and got inspired by them. I’m still like that.Good people make you better. But that’s not how it works for rotten apples; people who gave up on life. It took me many years to accept that harsh reality about life.In  Poor Richard’s Almanack, Benjamin Franklin wrote this in the  18th century:“The rotten apple spoils his companion.”When you allow a rotten appl e in your life, you are accepting their behavior. It’s not on them. It’s on us.  We  are the ones who enable them. I’ve made this mistake as well. And in fact, in the past, I’ve behaved like a rotten apple as well. That’s how I know it has a such a big impact on people.But because I changed, I thought that you should others indefinite chances. That only screws up the group dynamic. Remember, life is not about you. It’s about the common good.So what happens when you allow a single rotten apple in your group? The group falls apart. One of my friends, who’s the CEO of a mid-sized company, recently told me about making the mistake to hire a negative person. His sales team performed great and posted double-digit growth 5 years straight and he wanted to expand.The guy he hired had a great resume and performed well during the interview process. Within the first 6 months, he even made several sales. But after that, he started slacking off, gossiping, and acting negatively towa rds leadership. And gradually, the other sales execs started doing the same. These were people who performed well before.Over an 18 month period, sales of almost all team members declined. When I talked to my friend recently, he finally had fired the negative person. But it was already too late. He had to rebuild his team. He said that, in hindsight, he should have gotten rid of that person earlier. He ignored many warning signals because he wanted to “give the guy a chance.”Become a student of humanityLook, this is one of the most difficult things in life. I’ve experienced situations like that as well.  A single bad employee can set your company back for years.And how often do you see that a  single  bad relationship screws up all your future ones? Again, it’s the power of a rotten apple.As a realist and  pragmatist, I think we should avoid those folks. But because they are good at acting, it’s difficult to spot them. It’s not like they have a sign on their forehead tha t says, “AVOID ME.”So what  can  we do? First, we must do the right thing and always have a positive attitude. Second, we must become a student of psychology and human nature.I highly recommend everyone to study the work of Robert Greene, who dedicated all his books to this problem. Don’t use books like  48 Laws Of Power or The Laws Of Human Nature  to deceive people and get what you want.No, use the books to SPOT people who try to do that. To fight your enemy, you must know his every move.It’s not all badBut all of the above does NOT mean people are inherently bad. Far from it. People are good. I sincerely believe that.The most successful societies in the world are based on trust. We need to do everything in our power to keep it like that. And we must improve ourselves so our civilization improves over time. Gandhi famously said:“You must not lose faith in humanity. Humanity is an ocean; if a few drops of the ocean are dirty, the ocean does not become dirty.”Even though with social media today, it doesn’t look like it, but the majority of people are still good. Do not forget that. And if  we  are also good, those few rotten apples will eventually only spoil each other.This article first appeared on DariusForoux.com .  You might also enjoy… New neuroscience reveals 4 rituals that will make you happy Strangers know your social class in the first seven words you say, study finds 10 lessons from Benjamin Franklin’s daily schedule that will double your productivity The worst mistakes you can make in an interview, according to 12 CEOs 10 habits of mentally strong people