"The optimists have the vision,"
"But nothing great on this earth has been accomplished without an optimist behind it."
"We all appreciate having pessimists around, but no one follows them. Maybe people listen to them, but the pessimist doesn't have followers. Everybody follows an optimist. That's the one who can inspire them."
"You want to be a successful leader? Bring a team around you that lands you to reality-but be the optimist."
Albert Bourla emphasizes leadership that balances optimism and realism. Optimists provide vision and the ability to inspire followers, while pessimists ground decisions and reveal potential pitfalls. Successful leaders assemble teams that keep plans anchored in reality and position themselves as the optimistic torchbearers who rally others. Bourla credits personal history—being born to Holocaust-surviving parents in Thessaloniki and witnessing his community's decimation—for shaping his perspective. The approach supported high-stakes scientific and organizational achievement during the COVID-19 vaccine development and guides ongoing leadership of a major pharmaceutical company.
Read at Fortune
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]