The dangers of blind optimism

I pride myself on being an optimistic realist. I’m positive about what is realistically achievable. This is different from blind optimism, in which people believe that anything is possible, regardless of evidence to the contrary.

The dangers of blind optimism in team cultures are as follows:

- Poor decision-making as a result of overestimating success probability or risk likelihood

- Collapse of psychological safety because people stop raising concerns so as not to kill the ‘good vibes only’ culture

- Disengagement of high performers who find blind optimism insulting. They want to achieve, not just talk about it 

- Reduced trust in leaders, especially when the known reality is obvious to everyone else

- Mistakes are continually repeated as a result of the ‘it will work this time’ mindset. It never does

Talking about ambition and ‘stretch goals’ always feels productive, but it only ever turns into results when the optimism is realistic, not blind.