The Case for Optimism

I’ve been thinking a lot about my pessimistic tendencies. I wonder if this unfortunate personality trait influenced my decision to pursue a career in policy work — where pessimism and risk aversion is often rewarded. In contrast, as we saw at Sidewalk Labs, the tech sector is all about incurable optimism — the kind that drives me crazy. Forget about the risks, problems, and feasibility, think only about the possibilities.

Now I don’t think that I can ever get behind Sidewalk Lab’s degree of optimism. However, Samantha Lee said something to me that really stuck a few weeks ago, “I am trying to not think so much about the barriers.” It was in response to concerns about our project to reduce the use of suspensions in schools. To reach our goal, we want to change TDSB’s Code of Conduct, which everyone keeps telling us is really difficult to do.

The project is meant to give us a taste of what it would be like to start our own NGO, which I’ve learned requires an entrepreneurial mindset, and a considerable amount of optimism. You have to be willing to take risks, to think and do things differently, and to be in charge of your own destiny. It’s what you have to do to bring about the change you want to see in the world.

I can get behind that. I think it is the #1 lesson I will be taking away from this course.