The case for optimism right now

Hello,

How optimistic are you feeling these days?

While it’s not my place to tell you how to feel, I do urge you to consider this quote from Winston Churchill:

“A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.”

March is National Optimism Month — a good reminder that disruptive change requires it.

Strategic optimism is the ability to acknowledge challenges while maintaining conviction that solutions exist. And in my work with transformation leaders, I’ve seen optimism protect against change fatigue while energizing innovation. Optimism is what helps us navigate uncertainty, experiment fearlessly, and persist through setbacks.

So, let’s reframe optimism as the constant pursuit for improvement and better solutions even under threat.

Please read on to learn how to accelerate positive change, face disruptive forces, and stay on target with your 2025 goals; why innovation is crucial during uncertain times; and more.

3 Ways to Accelerate Constructive Change Now

Do you foresee new risks and uncertainty to your 2025 plans? If so, you’re in the same position as many of the leaders I’m speaking to today.

What not to do: defer until “things get back to normal” or call a big meeting and tell everyone it’s time to change. These tactics simply don’t work.

What does work: 

• Finding the change makers in your company who are already moving forward despite the environment we are now living in.
• Listening to your customers to understand how they are feeling, what their priorities are now, and what actions they are open to.  

If 2025 isn’t quite panning out as you hoped it would when you developed your budget, shore up your own sense of optimism and then follow these recommendations: 

1. Flip the expertise dynamic: Don’t rely on what your expertise tells you worked in the past.  We are in a different world. Instead, ask the people around you who are trying new things questions like, How did you come up with that? What’s that insight based on? And how can I help you get to the next step?
2. Create breathing room for experimentation: Give yourself and your people the space to test and learn, because that’s where new insights and answers come from.
3. Let go: Rigid control is one of the best ways to stifle the fresh approaches essential now. You need innovation now more than ever. So, be an innovation enabler.

Need more guidance on how to implement these recommendations and shift mindsets? Get in touch — I’d be happy to support you in creating the vital change being demanded of all leaders today.

Why & How to Innovate Amid Uncertainty

When uncertainty looms, innovation teams are often first on the chopping block. I recently joined a roundtable of corporate innovators, convened by Peter Temes at the ILO Institute, to discuss this exact paradox:

Companies invest in innovation during good times — but need it most during uncertain ones.

Yet, during uncertain times, many organizations respond in ways that undermine long-term success:

Some slash innovation budgets entirely, only to find themselves trailing competitors when stability returns. Others keep teams intact but stifle impact, demanding immediate ROI and zero tolerance for failure, killing learning in the process.

As I shared during the panel, the best organizations don’t innovate despite uncertainty — they innovate because of it. Keeping innovation alive means:

• Lowering the cost of experimentation
• Prioritizing customer-driven innovation
• Creating distributed innovation networks
• Speeding up slow internal processes
• Positioning innovation as risk management, not risk-taking

I’ve seen innovation get sidelined too many times, and it’s always short-sighted. After all, innovation isn’t a luxury — it’s a lifeline for the future.

This month, I’m looking forward to leading client workshops on critical thinking and problem solving as well as strategic thinking — essential skills that leaders must not only hire for, but continuously nurture in their teams. 

Plus, I’ll be speaking on a panel about AI at a Power Women event — and sharing ways to keep up with the extraordinary pace of change AI is bringing to our lives. 

Interested in learning more? I’d love to hear from you.

Warm regards,