Being a Pragmatic Optimist During a Crisis

Being a Pragmatic Optimist During a Crisis – David Curmi

Towards the tail-end of COVID, Daniel Monehin approached me to contribute to his leadership book titled, The Pragmatic Optimist: Six Proven Strategies for Leading During a Crisis and which he had been writing for three years which followed his five-year doctoral research (2014-2019).

Daniel is a leadership keynote speaker and adjunct professor who uniquely combines his real-life multinational executive experience with a rigorous foundation in academic research. He is best known for his research on in organizational research focused on leadership in turbulent times.

The Pragmatic Optimist: Six Proven Strategies for Leading During a Crisis has since been published and is available on all Amazon’s marketplaces. It includes a foreword by Marshall Goldsmith the #1 New York Times Best Selling Author of The Earned Life, Triggers and What you Got Here Won’t Get You There.

Daniel asked me to contribute to an in-depth interview with a diverse group of seven leaders who reflect a diversity of professional and personal backgrounds across the Americas, Europe, Africa and Asia. My interview features in Chapter 10 of the book together with those of Christine Elliot, Chief Corporate Affairs Officer, Moody’s Corp, Thomas Kolditz, Brigadier General (retired) author of In Extremis Leadership, and former head of the Department of Behavioural Sciences and Leadership at the US Military Academy, West Point, Ann Caris, Executive Vice Chair, Mastercard Inc., Caroline Stockman, Chief Executive, Association of Corporate Treasurers and Dr. Johannes Boroh, Airline Captain at Singapore Airline and Course Director of BSc in Aviation Operations at Kingston University, London.

The interview questions were the same for all seven leaders and this was my contribution to Daniel’s book which has since received glowing reviews and endorsements.

Defining a Crisis

“Leaning on my insurance background, I’d describe one type of crisis as an event with a very low probability but a very high impact – they are mostly external in origin, like the COVID-19 pandemic, and the world always resolves it. However, a more concerning crisis, in my view, originates from within and is traceable to extensive mismanagement and a sustained lack of remedial action. I call it the ‘creeping crisis’ because the underlying issues run deep and are multifaceted yet remain unattended until they explode into a crisis.

“A crisis worsens existing difficulties an organization is facing.”

Leaders’ Optimism and Pessimism During a Crisis

“I firmly believe that a leader needs to think positively, both during and after a crisis. A leader needs to think positively throughout. Positive thinking leads to positive results, whether you are in a crisis or not in a crisis.

“The tone at the top is very, very important for leaders. The job of a leader is to inspire and galvanize, not to share distraught thoughts – better to keep those to yourself and meditate and reflect on them and find ways to resolve them.”

Unrestrained Optimism

“Obviously, optimism must be bounded by reasonableness. It cannot be unbounded. There is no point in being too optimistic because that could also lead you into a different kind of crisis. Unbounded optimism is not good because you could be leading people up the wrong part.”

Pragmatic Optimism

“I think human nature motivates people to avoid being overly pessimistic because pessimistic leaders demotivate their people – I frankly don't like it at all. But at the same time, I wouldn't want to follow an overconfident optimist blindly. So, I want to be convinced that a leader’s optimism is based on facts and have considered probable worst-case scenarios. Optimism based on sound arguments, counterarguments, principles, and an understanding of organizational strengths and weaknesses is more believable and thoughtful than building castles in the air.

 “Most successful leaders are in the middle of the pessimism-optimism spectrum. This is how I see it. I think successful people avoid the very high or very low end of the spectrum. I believe we are somewhere in the middle where we have a bit of both pessimism and optimism. So, I think this is a balance that great leaders strike.”

Clarity in Chaos

“A crisis always exposes the flaws and uncovers the flaws and weaknesses of leaders. So, you will be exposed if you decide to fight a crisis on your own. I know my flaws; therefore, I try to always surround myself with the best people who compensate for my weaknesses so that I can listen to them – I don’t see many leaders doing that.

 “I notice several leaders push top-down solutions in erratic and incoherent forms. No matter how strong the leader is, I don't believe one person could run an organization without increasing their risk of failure. And that risk of failure blows up exponentially during a crisis.”

Control Under Fire

“Emotions are a product of human nature. They are challenging and difficult to simply set aside. But in a crisis, it is essential to be very rational and to try to put your emotions under the control of your rational mind. I find that it is a conscious and mindful process.

 “I know of people who took the crises they faced very personally because their emotions took over. They took it to heart and suffered. Their health suffered and they failed to manage the crisis, even though they were in relatively important positions.”

 “In non-crisis situations, you can't let your emotions rule you, let alone in a crisis when everything is so much more pronounced.”

Conviction to Act

“To protect your confidence from eroding, do not be tempted to outdo yourself in response to a crisis. Instead, be sensitive to the difficulties of the crisis and do what is required by the situation. Let the crisis inform your action.

 “You must also keep your self-awareness grounded by connecting it to the outer world [where the crisis is happening]. I think when you do that, you avoid overreacting to certain situations just because your self-awareness is telling you to do that. I practice and recommend integrative awareness, i.e., incorporating your emotions with a rational thought process to produce intentional calm.”

Concerted Decision Making

“This is far from cliché, but no matter how devastating a crisis is, decision-making should always explore opportunities during and after a crisis to restructure, create better value, and think differently. I don't like to think of crisis resolution as returning to normalcy; I don't believe in that. Going back to normalcy is not the answer. Going back to normalcy means that we will continue to do business the way we were before the crisis, and we don't want to do that. We want to do business differently now that the crisis has taught us huge lessons.

 “Apart from trying to retain the status quo, the worst thing a leader can do is not to decide. The decision-making process needs to be very agile. You become a leader by the quality of your decisions. If your decisions are weak or non-existent, then your people will say, ‘Well, I mean, this person is a weak leader.’

 “Finally, a failure to listen is the root cause of many leadership fiascos. I have learned to listen a lot to gather the information necessary to make decisions. So, listen seriously and critically, then make your own conclusions.”

Connecting to Caring Systems

“It is one thing to have a wide network of industry contacts, colleagues, friends, and family, and it is another to connect and communicate with these people deliberately. That is when the leader can feel the true value of that network. Virtual meeting technology has been helpful to me and made keeping in touch less burdensome, so I advise leaders to take advantage of it. A social network is useless without the leader actively investing in it.

 “I think close friends and family networks can keep you going during challenging times and instil confidence in you. When you're being supported and encouraged by others, it's a huge plus in life. No matter how much personal motivation you might have, the extra boost you get from outsiders significantly affects you.”

David Curmi