October 2026 | 4min read
Leadership can make cynicism pretty easy.
There are always reasons something won’t work: Not enough budget. Too much bureaucracy. Competing priorities. Difficult personalities. Organizational politics.
Bummer .. I know! Right?
Sometimes these constraints are very real. But accepting that nothing can change isn’t much of a leadership strategy either, now is it? 🙂
Recently, my good friend Keerit joined me on ConquerCast. Keerit is a natural resources executive whose work has crossed law, government, business, reconciliation and economic development.
During our conversation, he used a phrase I hadn’t heard before: Pragmatic optimism.
He explained it this way:
“Optimism and hope sets the direction. And pragmatism builds the guardrails so you can actually get there.”
Boom. So good! Right?!?
We need to believe something better is possible. But we also need to figure out how the heck we’re going to get there.
Hope sets the direction
Hope gives us something to move toward: A stronger team. More trust. A repaired relationship. A better process. A change that needs to happen.
Leadership requires us to occasionally look at what is and ask: What could be?
This is optimism.
Not pretending the problem doesn’t exist. But believing the problem doesn’t have to exist forever.
Guardrails keep us focused
This is where pragmatism enters the picture.
Guardrails aren’t simply restrictions. They create parameters: Budget. Resources. Values. Policy. Timelines. Risks. Responsibilities. Competing priorities.
They help us understand where we have room to move and, just as importantly, what noise we can stop paying attention to.
The guardrails don’t eliminate hope. They give hope somewhere useful to operate.
Then we move
Once we know where we’re trying to go and understand the parameters we’re working within, we can act.
Implement something: Test it. Learn. Adjust. Keep moving.
Keerit compared it to growing a garden.
You can’t completely control what eventually grows. But you can prepare the soil, provide the right conditions and pay attention to what’s happening.
As he put it:
“Focus on good soil. Good things are going to grow.”
Sometimes leadership isn’t about controlling the outcome. It’s about creating the conditions where something better can happen.
The ‘HGA’ Pragmatic Optimism Leadership Checkpoint
The next time you’re facing a difficult leadership challenge, ask yourself:
- HOPE: What better outcome are we trying to create?
- GUARDRAILS: What parameters will keep us focused and give us room to operate?
- ACTION: What can we implement or test next?
Hope without guardrails can become wishful thinking. Rainbows and unicorns!
Guardrails without hope can keep us stuck exactly where we are.
Great leadership and effective change leadership need both.
Believe something better is possible. Understand the reality you’re operating within. Then do the work to move forward.
Something to think about:
- Where have you become too focused on why something can’t change?
- And where might a little pragmatic optimism help you take the next step?
Check out the full episode.
CONQUER YOUR POTENTIAL!
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