Resilient Optimism

Optimism Is Now an Essential Leadership Skill

HBR IdeaCast, 6 October 2026. The book comes up at 2 min 52 sec in.

Michelle Geelan, the book's author, is interviewed about resilient optimism—optimism that holds firm under sustained pressure or repeated setbacks. She argues people can shift their optimism set point through positive behavioral interventions. She discusses practical leadership tools such as opening meetings with a 'power lead' (one positive observation), and cites an 11-year study of over 25,000 professionals showing that while most still identify as optimists, they are increasingly less likely to express that optimism.

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