Optimism, Pessimism, Leadership

As I described in my last post, I have been challenged to see how I “hold the future” in my mind. My habit is to be a green-techno-optimist.

And, that could be completely wrong.

I’ve been through several apocalyptic mood swings ever since I read The Limits to Growth in the run-up to the first Earth Day, back when I was in high school. Then, there were the two oil shocks of the seventies. Then the Harmonic Convergence. Then Global Warming. Now Peak Oil, taking us right up to 2012. The world hasn’t ended yet, and on the other hand, it’s a big assumption to believe that the past is a good predictor of the future.

So how am I holding the future now? The Buddha used the analogy of tuning a stringed instrument. He was talking about how to hold one’s mind. Not too tight, not too loose.

Too tight might be taking the worst-case scenario at face value. This attitude leads to paralyzing fear.

Too loose might be thinking everything will somehow work itself out and life will go on. After all, it has every time before, hasn’t it?

What does this analogy say about leadership, about the kind of leadership we all need to embody these days? One of the most important things leaders do is to create a mood.

Is it possible to act from a confident mood, without falling prey to either lame optimism or fearful pessimism? Can we be confident even while acknowledging great difficulty?

One of the biggest limitations of logical thinking is that it tends to be black and white. That’s why some of the smartest people I know are the most depressed. But are they right?

The quality I’ve observed in some of the best business and political leaders is the ability to embody paradox. Seen differently, paradox is a form of creative tension, the gap between the real challenges of our time, and a vision of what sustainable life might look like. And to act in that gap.