What makes you optimistic? Talking Points for 5 minute Pitch at Integrity20 '18 Schools Event

What makes you optimistic?

"The Leader looks like the person on my Mirror"

Those are the two sentences I ask you to remember.

[Stand]

"The Leader looks like the person on my Mirror"

There is no them: It's you.

As the Indian leader Mahatma Gandhi's said "If we could change ourselves, the tendencies in the world would also change. As a man changes his own nature, so does the attitude of the world change towards him. ... We need not wait to see what others do.”

In other words, the only person you can change is yourself. In changing yourself, you change the world.

What makes you optimistic?

Has anyone asked you that question? What's your answer?

What makes you optimistic?

Have you every asked that question? Have you asked that question of someone near and dear? Try it tonight or tomorrow. You may be surprised at how much that question and its answer lifts the questioner and the questioned.

My research and work on optimistic leadership has led me to conclude optimism is better for you and yours and it's in short supply in the country! Two weeks ago, I changed my work title and my work and when people ask me what I do, I say "I collect optimism."

I walk the streets, use the phones and internet to ask people that question, "What makes you optimistic?"

Why is it good for you?

Optimism makes you healthier and happier. As the Brooking Institution's Carol Graham has concluded, "The link between optimism and longevity is strong."

The health benefits of optimism have been shown through numerous studies published this decade by elite global medical institutions. Heart disease, cancer and many other conditions - the recovery chances are markedly higher for the optimist. Even more strongly for the person married to or partnered to an optimist.

Optimism will make you a better leader. The global CEO of McKinsey Dominic Barton told me, “Optimism is at the very core of leadership. The best leaders I have encountered in my career are those that remain optimistic –- and ambitious -– for their organisations even in the face of great adversity. They are those whose optimism enables them to recognise the potential in others, and help them develop to be leaders themselves.” 

Why better for the nation and the world?

Optimism is the underpinning of innovation and entrepreneurship. For you, I don't need to rattle off the reasons why greater acceptance of risk-taking and failure, would benefit this country.

For several reasons, including the pessimism of the Australian news media and the constant messages that "we'll be rooned", Australia, in general, has become inexplicably pessimistic.

The Australian segments of international optimism studies by the Pew Foundation and the Gates Foundation have confounded them.

In the poll conducted for the Gates Foundation, answering "very optimistic" to the question, "are you optimistic or pessimistic about your future?", the average over the 15 countries was 36% amongst adults - Australia was 22%. 

Answering "very optimistic" to the question, "are you optimistic or pessimistic about the future of your country?", the average over the 15 countries was 24% amongst adults - Australia was 13%. 

Answering "very optimistic" to the question, "are you optimistic or pessimistic about the future of the world?", the average over the 15 countries was 22% amongst adults, Australia was 9%. 

In the poll conducted for the Pew Foundation, the confusing results led Pew to conclude this "The dichotomy between recent personal experience and future expectations is strikingly evident in key countries. Per capita GDP on a PPP basis grew 56% in Australia in the last quarter-century... But in 2018, nearly two-thirds of Australians (65%) hold the view that children today in their country will not grow up to be better off financially than their parents."

The global Edelman organisation publishes a Trust Barometer. Like Pew, Edelman is confounded by the low Australian result and suggested the place where Brand Australia needed the most work was here in Australia.

Something is happening at a cultural level that needs to be changed.

My view on that is reinforced by the fact that recent migrants to Australia are very optimistic! A University of Melbourne census of refugee and migrant youth found "refugee and migrant youth are driven by hope and optimism: the vast majority (82 per cent) ‘agreed’ or ‘strongly agreed’ that they feel they belong in Australia... the majority of refugee and migrant young people expressed confidence in their ability to achieve their goals, be it at work or study, with 87 per cent saying they feel ‘positive’ or ‘very positive’ about reaching their future goals."

We have a bright future but we only achieve our potential if we lead with optimism and generate optimism in those around us.

Gandhi is one of my heroes and he led wearing a dhoti and a shawl and walking among the people. I will wear something more conventional but continue to talk to people wherever I meet them and ask "What makes you optimistic?"

I invite you to walk with me.