Leadership Guideline #5 from a Man Who Saved the World: "Perpetual Optimism is a Force Multiplier."

My father is a retired USMC Colonel. I have four brothers, and when each one of us hit a milestone in our lives, he gave each of us "a talk." It took about 30 minutes, and you got to learn his 15 Guidelines for Leadership and Management, which he'd collected during his years of service. My milestone came in 1996 when I was graduating college, I captured those lessons and framed them. Since then, those lessons have been somewhere in my office for easy reference in times of need. In these times, I've been referring back to them almost daily, but before I share more about Guideline #5, let me give you a little insight about my dad.

My father would often introduce me as "#3 son, Daniel." He called me McGreggor in private, especially when I was in trouble or had done something which didn't meet his approval. He was a career Marine, yes. His specialty was communications, but truth be told, none of us knew what he did. We just knew he was gone often, and you had to walk through a lot of heavy metal doors and past many guards when you went to see him at the office. He valued discipline and was strict. You were grounded one day if you didn't make your bed, no questions asked. He was not above corporal punishment, although in later years, he switched to push-ups. I got good at push-ups. He would say things like, "Head and eyes to the front.", "Chest out, shoulders back.", "Don't be sorry. Just don't do it," and "Judgement!"

He was also incredibly kind, thoughtful, and a little mischievous. I remember one occasion, in the 4th grade, where the base MPs (Military Police) had to take me to the base brig (Jail). See, I was pounding on a kid who the day before had ambushed and beat up my little brother. We were on a small Army base at the time. I remember distinctly the look those MPs gave me when my father marched into the brig, told me to fall in line, had a quiet conversation with the young men who brought me in, then turned to me and said, "march." Their look said, "I'm sorry kid, I hope you survive this." Outside he looked down at me and said, "Fighting doesn't solve problems. Defending your family is honorable. Now, is that the boy who attacked Mikey?" I nodded sheepishly. Sure it was the last response I would ever give. "Ok," he said, "let's go get some ice cream." Kind, thoughtful, and also a little mischievous because he was relishing the fact that I thought my life was over!

I could go on, but I think you get the idea. So, back to today's guideline, #5: Perpetual Optimism is a Force Multiplier. What this means is that Optimism has the power to increase the performance output of your team exponentially, especially in the face of seemingly overwhelming odds. Dad would say, "I'll take five well-motivated Marine's over a platoon of naysayers any day." I've found over the years that Optimism has enabled my co-workers and me to see opportunities in obstacles. It's effortless to focus on what's wrong; in fact, we are hard-wired to do it. I've observed countless examples of businesspeople concentrating solely on the negative, motivating through fear, demanding solutions, or going into full-on paralysis, especially when presented with a challenge like the one we are experiencing now. I've also watched Optimism spark creativity, bring a team closer together, drive performance, and solve extremely complex problems.

Instead of, "How should/we or could/we do this?" say, "How might we? Let's work the problem."

Optimism is in the "might" as it implies possibility.

Perpetual is also crucial in this statement. When I asked him, "why perpetual?" his answer was simple, "well, the troops might see sudden Optimism as a sign that things have gone wrong, really, REALLY wrong." And then he laughed that laugh he gets when he has tickled himself or is thinking of something he probably can't tell you because you don't have the security clearance.

I think it's important here to also mention Dad spoke at length about the right type of Optimism. He coined his particular brand of Optimism:

Realistic Optimism: The glass is neither half empty or half full. It is always full. Your job is to know what it's full of. It's also important to recognize when you need a different glass.

Healthy Optimism isn't, "This too shall pass." it's, "This sucks, but we will get through it if we work together."

Last but not least, Force Multiplier. The first business I owned was a Real Estate company in the late 90s. It wasn't uncommon for the agents in those transactions to get worked up during a sale. I would always train my agents to be the voice of reason and calm during difficult times. After all, if the clients see the professionals freaking out, what message does that send to them? The same approach has proved useful when managing projects wrought with scope creep or providing leadership with critical information to make informed business decisions. Whether you are leading a small team, working with externals clients, or running a business, be the reason and the calm, especially during times of stress. It's painful, and you may find you need another outlet to release your frustrations – I can personally suggest push-ups.

My father passed just over a year ago. I hear him every day in my head saying, "McGreggor, our situation is unfortunate. You are experiencing real impacts of leaders and people failing to identify what's in their glass. Pay attention closely to those who get it right. The truth is, you can't buy training like this for yourself or your children. Now, get back to work, there are people you don't know counting on you."

I see examples every day of people, businesses, and communities leveraging "Realistic Optimism" to guide their actions, collectively multiply their force abilities and find creative solutions to unprecedented complex problems. The examples of creativity, compassion, and innovation would move my father and reinforce his belief that a country he spent his life defending was worth it. To those individuals who are making a difference, I say thank you. 

Please feel free to share, borrow or make any of these thoughts and make them your own. My father would want you to have it. Stay safe. Breathe. Stay calm, and we'll get through this together.