A Model of Pragmatic Optimism for More Effective Crisis Leadership

Leaders have to make difficult decisions in a crisis. However, crisis leadership is typically not a key consideration for hiring senior management, as there is little focus on directly connecting the relationships between senior managers' optimism, decision-making under crisis, and crisis management. To expound the connections between optimism, crisis management, and leadership, this study conducted in-depth interviews of 15 senior executives ranging from chief executive officers to senior vice presidents in global organisations. After assessing 421 pages of transcripts from these interviews, it became clear that participants did not view optimism and pessimism as opposite ends of a spectrum. Instead, these senior-level decision-makers found it more productive to consider them separate constructs, requiring a balance. We found a delineation between productive and unproductive optimism and pessimism and called this hybrid 'pragmatic optimism.' Therefore, we present a different model for crisis management among global corporate leaders.