What would you do to deliver more enlightened & optimistic leadership?

In our survey "Positive Leadership for the 2020s?" we ask, "What would you do to deliver more enlightened and optimistic leadership across business, education and government?"

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The way we frame it is as follows: "Recently, Singapore's Senior Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam said "Creating bases for optimism has to be our central task everywhere in the world and through global collaboration.  We must create bases for optimism to see ourselves through this long storm and to emerge intact; emerge a better place, and it can be done."

Peter Fritz AO said, "The task is what to do differently together."

What would you do to deliver more enlightened and optimistic leadership across business, education and government?

A sample of Answers so Far:

Linda Denton told us, "I teach and own a consulting business; I model optimism to the best of my ability with my clients and as a volunteer leader at Toastmasters International. And I have a daily gratitude practice to help me rebalance when I get knocked off balance due to unfavourable circumstances."

Dianne Dreher said, "Learn from psychologist Bill Doherty, co-founder of Braver Angels, to bring people together to listen to each other and find common ground. The best leaders empower others with team leadership." 

"Simply speak with optimism - when realistic - on all possible occasions." (PC)

"I think optimism can only come from a base of emotional intelligence and a deep understanding and evaluation of context. To me, the best thing we can be doing in this space is to start teaching true critical thinking in schools, universities and businesses."

"Work with optimists and those that show signs of positivity to foster a culture of change makers for the better."

"To be a clear example of personal optimistic traits. To be honest and transparent in the way we conduct business."

"We will reach a tipping point if everyone keeps discussing, making it a goal, having their teams set goals for optimism, make it an OKR etc."

"Duplicating positivity in as many areas as I can. Being a mentor and coach."

"Change starts with oneself. Be positive on your messages."

"Set the vision - Trust others and accept that failure is not a bad thing (provided it is learning experience). Share and celebrate milestones ans success."

"Encourage risk-taking. Reward great performance and learn from mistakes and move on."

"The love of God plays a great role in my life and so I would bring a greater awareness of spirituality and values education across the three domains. It is great for long term mental health and a balanced harmonious civilisation. So help me God."

"Identify clear and positive objectives for my team. These objectives must be attainable. They must enhance the lives of our students. They must serve our values of liberty, equality and global citizenship."

"Treat everyone 'on the level'; no matter what social standing one is, treat others with respect and dignity. Help others, daily."

"Provide more examples of positive leadership as they do exist. Counter the outrage culture that's in the media, by focussing on good news stories of inspiring people."

"Understand each individual's journey at present. One size does not fit all."

"Encourage, foster and reward unique thought from all team members."

"My hope is for all our leaders to show unrestrained respect for everyone in our community. As we face times of great change we want everyone, especially our leaders, to remember that everyone is likely to be impacted at some point and will need our leaders to hear and understand their views."

"Organise for people to tell and share their stories eg use SBS. Encourage older migrants to mentor newer ones."

"Go to the grassroots. Focus on imparting joy to the students happiness n mental peace. Focussing on continued innovative education for students. Focus on soft skills."



"Create, challenge and test ideas."

"To help share the news, our newly found embracement of diversity will bring not only rich ideas but solutions to problems we have not yet uncovered."

"Develop myself and then insert myself in places to develop others."

"Set clear goals (so that we have achieved movement in the same direction), but then demonstrate that I trust direct reports by listening to their suggestions and adjusting our direction if needed.

"Speak honestly and kindly about the challenges we face together. Then, lead the way where needed."

"Start leadership awareness at school."

"Always be attentive, compassionate and open to Team members' concerns and ideas and always provide support where needed. Respect for you and the team members follows with positive outcomes and positive benefits being realised much sooner."

"Remind people that hope breeds hope and trust breeds trust. So be what you want to see!"

"Encourage kindness and respect. Use the works in all our language written and spoken . Encourage curiosity about other ways to do things.""Build businesses that are about the people, where you can be vulnerable and you can make mistakes. They're supportive, and that makes them collaborative, egoless, and from there, high performing. Let the people make the numbers, not the numbers make the people."

"Deeper understanding of the market feedback and needs, deliver the needs and setting new standards."

"Change the government and bring back accountability and ethics into politics."

"To counter current focus on high-intensity extraction of financial value. Instead, to inject social value into our value system."

Appreciation will always be the key to success in every field. So let them feel appreciated; you will gain more than you expect."

"Look to overseas example and not just to the domestic pool which is very insular."

"Find the hope for people."

"Be transparent"

"Just getting ready to launch www.ignitinguinu.com (gifting page) has 2nd recording of 3 which outlines what He wants me to do."

"I am relentlessly working towards, making a positive impact in the lives of people who can't afford basic needs such as insurance, and work in mild to high risk work environments. I want to showcase the FinTech Industry in India and then to others that businesses do not necessarily mean High Octane Performace, Profitable Bottom Lines, etc., as we have seen many such empires crumble over the last few decades. Let's build a world where everybody's opinion matters, everybody's perspective is respected equally and a world that thrives on knowledge and sensibility, not hatred and cutthroat competition."

"Training by experiencing what it means leadership, even if we have different profiles."

"More enlightened and optimistic leadership can be stimulated by more advanced R&D in new product and service development. In general, LOOK, LISTEN, RECORD, SORT, CONSULT, DECIDE, REVIEW, and ACT. With respect to R&D, set up several creative dialogue skunk works for specific problem-solving. Have independent, competitive working groups. Invite diversity from the 3 (BEG) participants but do not stifle debate by too many rules, interpersonal antagonism, and condescending behaviour: you can't invent unless you are an optimist. The conditions for optimal invention & innovation are vision, visualisation, facts, sacrifice, questioning, determination etc., all of which need to be gathered in a network or a lab. One way for rapid breakthroughs is to abandon existing theory and practice, let the data speak for themselves and
organise them into natural categories. Try different dependent variables. Take a stepwise or layered approach to model development. Undertake risk analysis of each option. Test. Test. Consult with potential users. Test. Test. Protect your IP. Do not give it away to gain market access. Share profits with staff. Before most people heard of it, my father started doing that in the 1940s.

"Build the environment from the ground up because I doubt the leadership will come from the top. Send the message to the government that we deserve better from them because the disconnect between politicians and the people they serve has never been wider. The "Canberra bubble" is very real within politics, the public service and the media. Yet the people who are decrying it are the same people who are perpetuating it."

 

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