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Leaders Are Optimists – ELP Survey (1)

October 15, 2018 by

Leaders are optimists by nature. That is the outcome of a survey that the European Leadership Platform conducted in October 2018 amongst business leaders in the Netherlands with a relation to ELP. Respondents were asked if looking at the world today made them feel optimistic or pessimistic. On the one hand we see a dramatic reduction of poverty, longer and healthier human lives thanks to better education, sanitation and health care and more democracy. On the other hand we see a large group of people that is struggling, there is climate change, plastic soup and large flows of migrants. 92.9 Per cent of the respondents labeled themselves as optimists. One respondent said: “It is my strong belief that you have to be an optimist. You will get the negative aspects of life for free and you have to deal with them anyway”, another stated: “I always believe there is a solution for everything”.
Only 7.1 per cent is pessimistic about the current state of the world, but still that is qualified pessimism: “I do not see enough changes to make me optimistic. Fundamentally, I am more an optimistic than a pessimistic person”. Respondents added that they were hopeful about the upcoming generations. “The young generation forces us to start thinking differently, in terms of we instead of me, in terms of planet and purpose instead of greed and power. Their impact is becoming bigger and more noticeable.”