Short excerpt from a YouTube video (hosted/created by James Laughlin) in which Laughlin and a second speaker discuss leadership as influence and introduce the idea of "pragmatic optimism"—calling things as they are while remaining optimistic—framed against future risks like climate change and geopolitical terrorism.
Great leadership comes down to influence in a positive and empowering way. So what I'm hearing is a leader's responsibility, moving into the future is that we've got to remind everyone that they're on the boat and part of what happens is down to them. They can impact it. And in fact, all these risks that sit out here, it could happen to them, it could be on their doorstep. Whether it's climate, whether it's geopolitical terrorism, we're all at play here.
That's what we've got to demonstrate. Pragmatic, what I call pragmatic optimism, which is a sort of phrase I think I've coined. I don't. I might have read it somewhere, but it's all about calling it like it is, but remaining optimistic about prospects.
