What does it mean to be an optimist?

Launching this newsletter has me thinking back to the beginning of The Optimistic Outlook .

I recorded the first episodes in the fall of 2020, as we were grappling with a global pandemic. I remember telling our people at the start of Covid that we had three core priorities: take care of each other, take care of the business, and look for opportunities to be helpful.

I then issued a challenge to take up one more priority: to look over the horizon and imagine how the world will be different because of the pandemic. Doing this made it very clear that we weren’t trying to get back to how things used to be; we were going forward. The podcast then became a platform to examine the basis for my own optimistic outlook: that moments of intense change and disruption provide us with the greatest opportunity to shape the future.

Which raises the question: What does it really mean to be an optimist?

Some might say it requires a set of rose-colored glasses – brushing things off or pretending everything’s fine. Optimism, though, isn’t about looking away from problems. It’s about looking right at them while believing you can find solutions. Which has framed the discussions I’ve now had across more than 50 episodes.

What I want to do here in this newsletter is share key insights from these conversations and provide another way to forge partnerships and spark bold thinking about the challenges we face.

At Siemens, we believe technology is the most powerful tool humanity has. As our leader Roland Busch said in his opening keynote at CES this year: technology “got us where we are today, and it will take us where we need to be.”

At 西门子 , we see technologies not only creating new value for customers in industry, infrastructure, transportation, and healthcare, but addressing crucial needs in our society: mitigating climate change, preserving biodiversity, managing scarce resources, overcoming labor shortages, strengthening supply chains, or producing healthy food. (That’s just to name some!)??

We take on this work at Siemens as part of an ecosystem engaging with a diverse set of stakeholders. And so, in addition to exploring the central theme of optimism, I’ve also welcomed the chance to broaden my perspective by talking to experts in essential fields that matter to Siemens such as energy, manufacturing, and transportation. I’ve talked to leaders in growth mindset , psychological safety , and executive leadership . I’ve talked to our interns to learn more about uniting Gen Z and Gen X . I’ve even talked to a best-selling author and poet (Maggie Smith ).

From time to time, I also find it valuable to bring on leaders within our company – which I did in a recent episode in conversation with Del Costy . Del leads our business at Siemens providing technologies such as software, automation and AI to American industry and the federal government. His customers are in transportation, aerospace, defense, pharma, and many other areas. His team is also supporting the rapid growth of the U.S. semiconductor and battery industries, as well as companies pioneering hydrogen power.

For decades, we saw American manufacturing activities get redistributed to other countries. Now, manufacturing is experiencing a resurgence in the United States. But how do we ensure manufacturers – from new gigafactories to small- and medium-sized suppliers – are able to keep up with demand while also becoming more sustainable to meet climate objectives?

At Siemens, we think the answer is helping industrial customers to deploy the advanced and emerging digital technologies available to us. And what Del and I focused on in our conversation is how the rise of platforms such as Siemens Xcelerator can democratize these tools and make them easier to deploy rapidly – or, as Del said, “at the speed of relevancy.”

Del heard the above phrase from a customer and said it resonated with him “because it says we can't do things the way we used to” by planning a software or manufacturing project that would take months or more than a year. “[Our customers] need to know they can consume technology now and impact their business,” he said.

Del also shared why sustainability is a growing business imperative for industry. It’s just not the sectors focused on driving the clean energy transition. There’s a collective industry focus now on decarbonization, Del said.? ?

Sustainability is “not what you're representing on a dashboard, but it's how can you re-engineer your product, look at materials differently, look at your supply chain? How do I take waste out of every element of what I'm doing so I can reduce the CO2 emissions and footprint. Sustainability is everyone's challenge. … So, these digital technologies are the heart of assisting in solving the sustainability problem. And companies recognize that they go hand in hand.”

It was a privilege to get a behind-the-scenes view from Del, who has a front row seat to the transformation happening across American industry. You can listen to the full episode here . And I’d love to hear from you in the comments section!