Leadership is an endless traverse in solution provision. There is no time that a leader is problem-free. He is confronted with one challenge or the other at every point in time and is expected to provide solution to every problem. A leader who does not proffer solutions has no understanding of his calling. But problems come in different shapes, sizes and strengths. While some problems are routine issues which are easily tackled, others take on a life of their own and grow to become an obstruction to the leader’s realization of his vision. But when problems are daunting, a leader should be undaunted. When challenges are seemingly perplexing, the leader should be unyielding in his determination to solve them. And when issues are intractable, the leader should remain resolute. This is why a leader needs a huge dose of optimism.
What is optimism?
Optimism is the refusal to despair in the face of difficulty. It is the determination not to surrender a vision or a dream to hostile situations. It is the resolve to keep at doing what is believed to be the best without losing enthusiasm even when there are no signs of success in the offing. It is the expectation that the tide will turn in one’s favour even when there is nothing in the physical to suggest that. It is a resolve to pursue a task to its logical end with the belief that success would be achieved at the end. It is an expectation of boom when one is surrounded by doom. It is an attitude of seeing opportunities in an adversity-studded environment. It is a mindset of always looking to see the bright side of any damning situation.
Winston Churchill
War-time British Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, still stands out as one of the greatest leaders of that country. The mention of his name evokes nostalgia decades after his demise. The reason is that Churchill was an incurable optimist who infused his people with hope even when hoping was a hopeless venture. During the Second World War, virtually everything that could go wrong had gone wrong with Britain, but the Prime Minister refused to let go of his belief that the tide would turn in favour of his country. European countries were falling like a pack of cards to Hitler’s Germany, yet Churchill refused to capitulate. Rather, he kept raising the hope of the people through the vocalization of his belief.
When the war was raging and it looked as if his country was finally doomed to fall to Germany’s superior fire power, Churchill said, “Hitler knows that he will have to break us in this island or lose the war. If we can stand up to him, all Europe may be free and life of the world may move forward into broad, sunlit uplands. But if we fall, then the whole world, including the United States, including all that we have known and cared for, will sink into the abyss of a new Dark Age made more sinister, and perhaps more protracted, by the lights of perverted science. Let us therefore brace ourselves to our duties, and so bear ourselves that, if the British Empire and its Commonwealth lasts for a thousand years, men will still say, ‘This was their finest hour!’”
At the end, he was not just able to win the hearts of the people through his inspiring words, the tide turned against Germany and Britain was saved from what seemed an imminent defeat. That is the power of optimism.
Between optimism and strategy
Optimism is not a strategy, nor indeed can be. But it fuels and feeds strategy. What keeps the strategic going is the expectation that there would be light at the end of the tunnel, even when all that can be seen is utter darkness. If there is no expectation of an emerging turning point, the energy to continue will be missing. It was optimism that transformed HIV from a dreaded killer to a manageable condition. If there was no expectation of a positive result, the researchers that devoted their time and resources to unraveling the mystery called HIV would not have had the energy to continue with their studies. Optimism, nay hope, is what strategy and vision are sustained by.
Leader and optimism
A leader should never be guilty of running out of optimism. A leader’s optimism is not just about him or for what he does but also for the team’s benefit. If a leader looks confused and undecided because of the weight of the challenges he has to contend with, he transmits the same feeling of hopelessness to his team. A hopeless team loses steam and is unable to tackle challenges. Therefore, the leader must never allow himself to be robbed of his optimism no matter how intimidating the situation turns out to be. The moment a leader becomes pessimistic, he is unable to motivate his team to perform at its optimum level. At that point, failure becomes imminent. It is for this reason that leaders are referred to as dealers in hope.
Speaking on the need for leaders to remain optimistic at all times, Nobel prize-winning economist, Daniel Kahneman, said, “Their confidence in their future success sustains a positive mood that helps them obtain resources from others, raise the morale of their employees, and enhance their prospects of prevailing. When action is needed, optimism, even of the mildly delusional variety, may be a good thing.”
How leaders develop optimism
Optimism does not exist in a vacuum; it is a function of certain factors. Here are some of the factors that engender optimism.
Believe in the vision
Many of the people who fail to accomplish set goals lack firm belief in those goals. A vision is a desired destination. It is that point in the future which is expected to birth a much awaited change. Before leaders embark on the journey to the realization of a vision, what they do is to convince themselves that the pursuit of the vision is worth their time and other resources. It is after their own conviction that they are able to persuade others to join them on the journey. They go on this journey without losing enthusiasm in spite of the challenges they encounter because in their mind’s eye, they can see what the actualization of the vision promises.
Every vision holds a promise of great change, vista of opportunities, new heights, new beginnings, great products, etc. For as long as the leader believes in the promises of the vision, optimism will remain high and no challenge is strong enough to sway him from the pursuit of the vision. But optimism gives way to pessimism and even sarcasm when a leader no longer believes in the promises a vision holds. If he no longer believes in the realization of the vision, he becomes flattened and loses optimism.
So, optimism is sustained through steadfast belief in what the vision is expected to accomplish.
Believe in your ability
When a leader believes a problem is beyond his capacity, he becomes overwhelmed and is drained of optimism. Leaders need to understand that there is no problem that is beyond the capacity of man to handle. What is required in solving problems is the ability to up the thinking. Albert Einstein said a problem cannot be solved at the same level of thinking that created it. The point is that every problem is a product of a thinking pattern. The way of thinking that resulted in a problem cannot be the one that will also solve it. Problems become intractable because the same thinking that produced them is the one deployed to solve them. That is why many organizations go round in circles in their attempt to solve problems. When the thinking changes, problems get solved.
So, instead of getting overwhelmed, what a leader needs to do is to believe in his own ability to proffer solution to the problem. That is the starting point. He also needs to view the issue from a completely different perspective and solutions will become apparent. According to Wayne Dyer, “If you change the way you look at things, the things you look at will change.”
Believe in your team or change it
The strength of a team is its ability to solve problems. Individuals may have weaknesses but a team is not expected to have any because team members are supposed to make up for the weaknesses of one another. So, with a solid team in place, no problem should be unsolvable. Knowing this should kindle the leader’s optimism that no matter how long it takes the team will crack the problem and the vision would become accomplished.
But if a leader consistently nurses doubts about the ability of his team to solve a problem and this affects his optimism, he will be left with no other option but to take another look at the composition of his team. Without a capable team, the realization of a vision lingers.
Believe in your strategy or change it
A strategy is the ladder that links the present experience with the future expectation. A strategy is supposed to take an organization to its envisioned future. With a good strategy, no height is un-scalable.
Leaders need to always pay attention to the strategy they deploy at any point in time because strategies either make or break leaders. Any failure a company experiences is a failure of strategy. Men hardly fail; it is strategies that fail most of the times. Poor strategies are a reflection of shoddy thinking. Leaders should not be flippant about their strategies because strategies hold the key to the success of the venture. But if despite taking time to put a strategy in place a leader still has concerns about the success of his plans, he should start thinking of another strategy.
Last line
A leader should never fail to be optimistic if he hopes to record success because when optimism is lost, not much is left.
and then