Optimism Is Now an Essential Leadership Skill

Turn breakthrough ideas into real results at the virtual HBR Innovation Summit on November 12th with top CEOs and master classes on AI and growth. HBR executive subscribers attend free, with exclusive programming November 13th. Learn more at hbr.org slash innovation summit. I'm Alison Beard. And I'm Adi Ignatius, and this is the HBR Idea cast.

So Adi, your reign as editor-in-chief of HBR was very successful, but you also faced very big challenges. You know, there was a rapidly changing media industry, shrinking print advertising dollars, pressures to downsize our workforce. So at times it must have been difficult to put on a happy face for everyone that you were managing, right? Yeah, I mean of course.

Look, to keep things moving in a positive and productive way, you know, it helps to have a vision and purpose so that there's something important you're moving toward directionally, even when there are bumps along the way. And to be honest, I think it helps to have a naturally sunny disposition. I think what you're talking about is what our guest today calls resilient optimism. And that is the ability to acknowledge those bumps, the painful realities that people are facing while still believing and helping others to see that it's possible to chart a positive path forward.

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