Readers may be pleased to know that despite having at times a difficult week, I remain exceptionally positive in outlook. My mood has been enhanced by the fact that I’m in France, where the weather has been on the whole nice and sunny, unlike the UK, where the recent drought appears to have come to an end with a deluge of almost biblical proportions.
I was asked this week to moderate a discussion on FX; I can’t do it because one of the panellists blackballed me after I wrote negative things about his company. Clearly I can’t go on upsetting people, so I have resolved, after a brief study of attribution theory, to put a positive spin on the news that comes my way. In which case, I’m doubly glad I can’t do the panel; it means I won’t have to seek a fresh way of discussing the normal topics that fill every event you go to. And furthermore, I wouldn’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings by asking awkward questions.
Anyway, back to attribution theory. People have a habit of blaming things on an outside factor – external attribution. An example would be to say: “We are doing badly because of the negative press.”