Realistic optimism is key for success in economic recession

Yesterday I read a wonderful article by Azim Premji, president Wipro Inc. in BusinessWorld magazine. There he shared one story which I am going to discuss with you. This year 2009 is going to be very tough year for business community so the thoughts and ideas of Azim Premji will be definitely helpful for the whole business world. He says, the year ahead will be tough, to say the least. It is important not to get too optimistic or pessimistic.

There is one story of a ship that was lost in the high seas. On board the ship, along with the other passengers, were an optimist and a pessimist. The pessimist was the first to get up every morning and say, “Today, we will sink.” The optimist would get up a few hours later and say, “Today, we will reach the shores.” This went on for a few weeks. Neither the ship sank, nor did they reach the shores. Finally, the passengers got tired of the pessimist who disturbed their sleep with bad news. So, they threw him overboard. Then the optimist continued with his good news. Since the ship did not reach the shores, they were disappointed every evening. So, they threw the optimist overboard as well.

You know there are two lessons here. First, it is better to be realistic than optimistic or pessimistic. Second, in this story, the optimist was the second to be thrown out. So it is better to be optimistic than pessimistic. But the moral of the story is that realistic optimism will be the key theme for successful organizations in the year 2009.

Story source :: BusinessWorld