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Brian de Haaff explains why effective leadership
is all about finding a balance between idealism
and practicality
Why optimistic
realists make
the best leaders
I ONCE worked for a guy who always had a
smile on this face. He was a friend to everyone
and always thought it was a beautiful day.
But he wasn't fully respected by his peers
because he never prioritized work that had
the best chance of being successful. Instead,
he wasted a lot of time and money by blindly
assuming everything would work out. A lot
of times he was wrong. He only looked ahead
at sunshine.
I also once worked for a woman who was
so mired in the dysfunction of the organiza-
tional reality that she never pressed for what
was ambitious and right. What was new and
exciting could never be pursued because it had
never been done before. The weight of the
organization and its plodding pace crushed
her. She had no hope. So she only looked behind
at clouds.
Both leaders had meaningful skills and were
well intentioned, but both were limited in their
success by their single-focus worldview.
The most successful leaders function with
a healthy dose of forward-thinking optimism
and down-to-earth realism. They look forward
and behind. In fact, one study found that people
with an optimistic realist personality type are
often happier and more successful. That's
because these pragmatic minds know how to
combine the positive outlook of an optimist
with the sharp-eyed view of a realist.
Although the two leaders I worked with
were uniquely single-minded, most of us are
capable of seeing both sides of a situation and
finding a way forward. In fact, I believe being
an optimistic realist will do more than help
you move forward – it will make you a great
leader. Here are four reasons why.
You know the power of a plan
Leaders are the ones setting the
course and adjusting the sails. When
your team hits rough waters, you don't expect
that they'll magically turn things around. And
you don't waste time grumbling about what
they did wrong. Instead, you identify clear
Optimistic realists know that you can be
transparent about the issues at hand while
also being the encouraging force that gets
your team back on track
