In watching Katrina’s continuing aftermath, I’m reminded of an old joke about an optimist and a pessimist. The two are discussing a catastophe and trying to understand the situation. The pessimist scowls and says: “It can’t get any worse than this.” The optimist, typifying his can-do spirit, replies, “Sure it can!”
I tend to be an optimist. I think it’s a necessary ingredient in venture capital; how else can one find sufficient resolve to take an early idea, form a team, and go to battle against industry giants in the hopes of becoming a household name, another Apple or Intel?
Still, optimism isn’t the same as naivete or denial. No reasonable person could look back at what happened last week in New Orleans and be proud. Worse, we will surely see additional examples of institutional failure in coming months and years. Our future failures may equal or even surpass that of recent events.
Even so, I think we should fight the the urge to become permanent skeptics about the capacity of public and private institutions to effectively serve the public.
The most compelling leaders balance optimism and pessimism in healthy proportions. They recognize real problems where they exist and then find workable solutions, even though there are often significant and real costs in doing so.
Although we are haven’t yet even started the massive cleanup and repair efforts that will probably take years to complete, I am beginning to feel hopeful. Total donations passed the $200M mark on Friday. Ryland Dodge, a spokesman for the Red Cross, says the reaction to Katrina is “greater than any response we’ve had in memory.”
But much, much more is still to be done.
:
Left by kokisha on September 11th, 2006