I had a wonderful conversation about my book with Janaki, my fellow Distinguished Alumnus of the College of Engineering Guindy, and fellow alumna from Carnegie Mellon Univerity. Please give a listen.

Janaki had many thoughtful questions for me, centered mainly around one of the leadership attributes: optimism.

1. Do you see an evolution of the Beatles’ perspectives from their early career in Hamburg to later when they returned to the UK to finally when they ended breaking up?
2. Experiences (lived experiences) seem to make better leaders – how do youngsters who do not have these lived experiences – how should they think about leadership?
3. How did you pick these attributes of leadership?
4. How did you pick these songs? – some famous songs (e.g., Hard Day’s Night, Yellow submarine) are not on the list.
5. How do you differentiate Skills from attributes?
6. Talk about a personal example illustrating the ABCDE tool.
7. In Andrea’s example, how does she know what her strengths are? How does one discover who one is? What are some simple markers a new manager/leader can use?
8. Did you consider the song “Here comes the Sun?” – it is a song that is all about optimism, with the rising sun being a metaphor that something good and new is going to happen.
9. In the description of an exemplary leader, serving the supporters’ needs and having a purpose is undoubtedly wonderful. But where does having a legitimate purpose/soul come in?
10. How does an optimist know when to quit?

The audience also had several excellent questions.