Today, 12th November 2024, marks one year since our first "problem solving post" on this blog; you can read that post here.
Our very first post as The Productive Pessimist on this blog was a general intro post, published on 5th November 2024, and The Productive Pessimist Ltd was formally registered as a company in February 2025; however, writing, and helping teams, people, and organisations achieve their potential are central to how I undertake my responsibilities with The Productive Pessimist Ltd, and so I choose to mark the one year anniversary of the first "how to solve a common problem" post on this blog.
I've also put out a YouTube video - which you can watch here - I hate doing videos, I have no skills or competence in doing videos, my sight loss causes significant practical challenges with doing videos - but, every so often, I'll do a video, because we never get better at things by avoiding them, and because the videos provide a nice contrast to how well I perform in doing actual public speaking!
The Productive Pessimist began with failure. That's actually pretty cool, given that we always start our consultations with a focus on what's going wrong for our clients, how and where they're "failing."
That failure was being told that I wouldn't be considered for promotion in the project management role I had, with a healthcare business, at the time - because leadership there didn't feel confident I'd be able to "cope with additional responsibilities" because of my sight loss (despite regularly covering those 'additional responsibilities' when senior colleagues were absent, and having extensive, albeit unrecognised, leadership experience in prior roles.) Just a few weeks later, I ended up losing that job in a very high-conflict circumstance, which I'm still processing, and which flagged up so many issues with the company, their leadership, and their processes. I'm not going to name the business; the past is the past, and I'm very happily focused on travelling this new, and better, path.
That job was the second job in two years I'd lost because of my sight loss, and it was the moment I finally stopped feeling I owed any employer the best of myself - I'd been through burnout in both of those jobs, and had kept going, kept covering for colleagues, kept supporting managers, kept working long hours, covering gaps caused by other peoples' attitudes and competencies, and, in the end, it didn't get me anything other than grief.
I recognised that many people feel similarly, including many people in leadership positions; every leader I've worked with has had at least one moment of pure frustration and rage at how much they do, and how little return they see. That is part of the reason for The Productive Pessimist existing.
Our first year has been focused on connecting with people generally, learning about new concepts and perspectives, and finding out what works, and what doesn't.
One of the things we support leaders and businesses with at The Productive Pessimist is five-year plans, and, particularly, how to let go of the desire to micro-manage your five year plan; it's not possible to predict what will happen over the course of five years; in 2015, for example, no ordinary person would have ever predicted the events of 2020, and 2020 certainly threw more than a few carefully-created plans.
Our own five year plan is, like all good plans, simple to state, but complex to implement. It allows for a lot of flexibility, whilst maintaining clear goals - because life is both relatively stable, and entirely unpredictable, a beautiful contrast which is the only reason pessimism is actually able to flourish, and be productive.
The Productive Pessimist: Five Year Plan
Our very first post as The Productive Pessimist on this blog was a general intro post, published on 5th November 2024, and The Productive Pessimist Ltd was formally registered as a company in February 2025; however, writing, and helping teams, people, and organisations achieve their potential are central to how I undertake my responsibilities with The Productive Pessimist Ltd, and so I choose to mark the one year anniversary of the first "how to solve a common problem" post on this blog.
I've also put out a YouTube video - which you can watch here - I hate doing videos, I have no skills or competence in doing videos, my sight loss causes significant practical challenges with doing videos - but, every so often, I'll do a video, because we never get better at things by avoiding them, and because the videos provide a nice contrast to how well I perform in doing actual public speaking!
The Productive Pessimist began with failure. That's actually pretty cool, given that we always start our consultations with a focus on what's going wrong for our clients, how and where they're "failing."
That failure was being told that I wouldn't be considered for promotion in the project management role I had, with a healthcare business, at the time - because leadership there didn't feel confident I'd be able to "cope with additional responsibilities" because of my sight loss (despite regularly covering those 'additional responsibilities' when senior colleagues were absent, and having extensive, albeit unrecognised, leadership experience in prior roles.) Just a few weeks later, I ended up losing that job in a very high-conflict circumstance, which I'm still processing, and which flagged up so many issues with the company, their leadership, and their processes. I'm not going to name the business; the past is the past, and I'm very happily focused on travelling this new, and better, path.
That job was the second job in two years I'd lost because of my sight loss, and it was the moment I finally stopped feeling I owed any employer the best of myself - I'd been through burnout in both of those jobs, and had kept going, kept covering for colleagues, kept supporting managers, kept working long hours, covering gaps caused by other peoples' attitudes and competencies, and, in the end, it didn't get me anything other than grief.
I recognised that many people feel similarly, including many people in leadership positions; every leader I've worked with has had at least one moment of pure frustration and rage at how much they do, and how little return they see. That is part of the reason for The Productive Pessimist existing.
Our first year has been focused on connecting with people generally, learning about new concepts and perspectives, and finding out what works, and what doesn't.
One of the things we support leaders and businesses with at The Productive Pessimist is five-year plans, and, particularly, how to let go of the desire to micro-manage your five year plan; it's not possible to predict what will happen over the course of five years; in 2015, for example, no ordinary person would have ever predicted the events of 2020, and 2020 certainly threw more than a few carefully-created plans.
Our own five year plan is, like all good plans, simple to state, but complex to implement. It allows for a lot of flexibility, whilst maintaining clear goals - because life is both relatively stable, and entirely unpredictable, a beautiful contrast which is the only reason pessimism is actually able to flourish, and be productive.
The Productive Pessimist: Five Year Plan
. 2025 - focused connection-building, targeting connections which can bring income into the business.
. 2026 - recruitment focus, looking to expand the diversity of our team, and the competencies of our coaches through bringing in new backgrounds and perspectives.
. 2027 - launching the first of what we anticipate being the first in a series of annual conferences for "Emerging Leaders Facing Barriers."
. 2028 - expanding our conference into short-term residential training opportunities, again centring emerging leaders facing barriers.
. 2029 - exploring the possibility of franchising The Productive Pessimist Ltd, with a view to rolling this out, if suitable, in 2030.
. 2026 - recruitment focus, looking to expand the diversity of our team, and the competencies of our coaches through bringing in new backgrounds and perspectives.
. 2027 - launching the first of what we anticipate being the first in a series of annual conferences for "Emerging Leaders Facing Barriers."
. 2028 - expanding our conference into short-term residential training opportunities, again centring emerging leaders facing barriers.
. 2029 - exploring the possibility of franchising The Productive Pessimist Ltd, with a view to rolling this out, if suitable, in 2030.
This is a good point to mention that we're actively looking for investors, as The Productive Pessimist Ltd has had to be very much bootstrapped - I'm currently reliant on welfare, and have no other income, and am a spousal carer for my wife, who is unable to work owing to her own, multiple, disabilities, which include autism, ADHD, cerebral palsy, visual impairment, chronic fatigue, and OCD - and have no wealthy family, friends, or connections who can support the business through these challenging first years. We do have a pitch deck available for investors - you can review our pitch deck here. If you're interested in offering full or part investment, please don't hesitate to reach out - email theproductivepessimist@yahoo.com, and let us know your best availability to discuss whether we're a good fit for each other, your expectations as an investor, etc.
If you're a business, leader, or individual looking for consultancy services in creating an inclusive space, running an inclusive business, strategic, change, and crisis management, or success coaching, we have availability for booked consults from now going forward into 2025. Reach out by email - theproductivepessimist@yahoo.com
If you're a business, leader, or individual looking for consultancy services in creating an inclusive space, running an inclusive business, strategic, change, and crisis management, or success coaching, we have availability for booked consults from now going forward into 2025. Reach out by email - theproductivepessimist@yahoo.com
We offer our services in person/on-site across Norfolk and Suffolk UK, and UK wide remotely, via Zoom, email, or phone. Our full list of services and fees can be viewed here.
It's been a strange kind of year, but a good year - the next five years looks like they might be a strange time, but strange times offer excellent opportunities for productive pessimists!
It's been a strange kind of year, but a good year - the next five years looks like they might be a strange time, but strange times offer excellent opportunities for productive pessimists!
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