Optimism and Joy as Forces for Great Policymaking
A commentary by Victor Perton
Optimism in policymaking is not dry or abstract. It is joyful. It is human. And it expands what we believe is possible.
Put more simply: optimism brings joy into policy work, and joy makes better policy possible.
I often begin my conversations about public policy with this idea because it cuts through a persistent myth: that serious policy must be sombre, detached, or purely technical. In truth, the best policy work I have seen and been part of is infused with curiosity, collaboration, laughter, humour and a sense of joy. Not joy as frivolity, but joy as purpose. Joy is the energy that comes from working on things that matter, with people who care, in service of a better future.
Policy is, at its heart, a statement of intent. But it is also a statement of belief. Belief in people. Belief in institutions. Belief that thoughtful action can improve lives. Whether we acknowledge it or not, every policy choice carries an emotional undertone. It can narrow horizons or widen them. It can reinforce fear or invite confidence. Optimism, when consciously applied, shifts policy from problem-fixing alone to possibility-building.
That optimistic framing stayed with me as I joined a webinar hosted by The Mandarin titled "Measurable Impact: Bringing The Policy Playbook’s Framework to Life."
The webinar featured Suhit Anantula and Pia Andrews and was chaired by Peter Gearin.
Ahead of the session, participants were invited to submit questions. I offered one drawn from my optimism compass, extending my foundational question, “What makes you optimistic?”, to ask: “What makes you optimistic? And what role do optimism and joy play in improving the policy process and results?”
After the introductions, I was delighted to hear Peter ask that question to open the discussion. It was a small moment, but a telling one. Optimism and joy were not treated as peripheral to policymaking. They were placed squarely at the centre.
Suhit Anantula responded by reframing optimism not as personality, but as practice:
“Any problem can be attacked optimistically or pessimistically, and I can guarantee you’ll get different outcomes. It doesn’t matter what problem you’re solving.”
From a practical policy perspective, he was unequivocal:
“Optimism helps us do better policy. It opens our minds to new opportunities. It moves us from closed to open.”
Optimism, he explained, creates space for ideas that might otherwise never surface:
“It gives us opportunities for more audacious ideas — ideas we may not have taken before, or may not have been ready for.”
Crucially, optimistic teams are not more rigid. They are more adaptable:
“People who tend to be optimistic actually tend to come up with better ideas. They’re also more open to the idea of their ideas being wrong, because they’re really focused on the outcome and not kind of stuck with this ‘my idea’ thing.”
That combination, he concluded, “is incredibly powerful.”
Pia Andrews grounded optimism in the lived reality of public service. She spoke candidly about pressure:
“A lot of people working in policy and public service generally feel under pressure all the time — stressed all the time.”
Her response was not to push harder, but to pause deliberately:
“If you can build even a small cadence to stop and think, it’s extraordinary how stepping outside that fight-flight-freeze mindset gives you the opportunity not just to problem-solve, but to imagine what could be better.”
For Pia, optimism is operational, not rhetorical:
“For me, optimism isn’t just a mindset. It’s about taking the time to make good decisions.”
She linked optimism directly to humanity in policymaking:
“Optimism is a natural extension of bringing your humanity to the work.”
And she captured disciplined optimism in one line:
“Optimism allows you to plan for the best while mitigating for the worst.”
She closed with a warning that deserves to be remembered:
“If you set your expectations low, you give reality permission to deliver low.”
“We design, we can’t just deliver in the same way. We have to iterate, learn.”
This goes to the heart of why The Policy Playbook matters.
The Policy Playbook, by Catherine Althaus, Suhit Anantula, and Pia Andrews, reframes policy not as an artefact, but as a journey. It reconnects policymaking and implementation. Intent remains alive through delivery. Learning feeds back into design. Optimism becomes a discipline, not a decoration.
Pia’s observation completes the picture. When teams escape constant urgency, they gain the capacity:
“to imagine what could be better.”
That imagination, grounded in responsibility and realism, is where optimism, effectiveness, and joy meet.
I am genuinely grateful for the webinar, for the generosity of the conversation, and for The Policy Playbook itself. Not just as a framework, but as a signal to the policy community that better outcomes emerge when we reconnect thinking with doing, rigour with humanity, and ambition with learning.
By insisting that policymaking and implementation belong together continuously, not sequentially, the Playbook increases the likelihood that policy intent survives contact with reality and that reality informs future policy.
That is not only good practice. It is an optimistic practice.
And when optimism is present, joy often follows. Not joy as ease, but joy as meaning. Joy is the quiet satisfaction of careful thinking, collaborative effort, and public purpose. Joy is the energy that sustains people through complexity and keeps horizons long when pressure is high.
I love sharing that can-do policy mindset in the courses I share: Delivering Great Policy Foundations; Delivering Great Policy – Level Up!; and Crafting Quality New Policy Proposals.
So I return to where I began.
Optimism in policymaking is not dry or abstract. It is joyful. It is human. And it expands what we believe is possible.
When optimism and joy are treated as strengths in policymaking, policy stops being something we write about the future and becomes something we build together.
And in the spirit of this work, a simple question:
What makes you optimistic about the future of policy?