Unhealthy optimism is harder to identify, but it will kill your team culture as surely as more overtly destructive methods.

It was 2005, and my team was preparing to attend and a mid-sized conference. We purchased some space in the exhibit hall. My boss tasked me with creating a way to boost foot traffic to our booth.

Professor: This is a class about advanced database design. Queries are covered in Intro to MIS and every subsequent class in the major. How do you not know what this is? Seriously. You need to understand this.”

Mark: “Ok.”

Professor: “Don’t you want a high-paying IT job?”

Mark: “No…”