Optimism Matters
“Whatever ocean you’re swimming across / However valley low / Whatever mountains you climb / I’ll walk with you, even if it’s uphill.” — Uphill by singer/songwriter Lori McKenna
The holidays — the dawning of a new year — are meant to be a time of optimism, but it is impossible not to recognize the deep uncertainty many of us feel right now. In the United States, about one-third of Americans think the country is headed in the wrong direction. In Canada, the numbers are no better.
From my personal experience this year fighting cancer I can attest: it is when our future feels dark and uncertain that we need community the most. To paraphrase Lori McKenna, we need someone to walk with us — especially when it is uphill.
Gratitude For Those Who Walked Uphill With Me
During the holidays last year, I was a diagnosed with prostate cancer and melanoma. Doctors also identified a spot on my lung that, thankfully, was not lung cancer.
I entered the 2024 season of Thanksgiving with a deep sense of dread and pessimism.
But I had Kathy — and my children and grandchildren. I had the support of the remarkable MSCI staff, MSCI Board Chair John Reid, and the entire MSCI Board of Directors. Countless individuals from our metals community reached out to send prayers or to share lessons from their own cancer journeys.
I also found a deep well of support from a complete stranger. I had received my diagnoses a few weeks before traveling to a National Association of Manufacturers conference. One of the speakers was Chris Cassidy, a former U.S. Navy SEAL and NASA astronaut. In his remarks, Chris discussed how he survived the mental and physical trauma that is Navy SEAL training.
During SEAL Hell Week, Chris said his strategy to survive was to simply focus on making it to the next meal. Because trainees expend so many calories, these meals were — if not delicious — sustaining. Any candidate who was longing for Friday of Hell Week would probably be on their way out, he surmised. Chris compartmentalized his Hell Week into small segments on which he could mentally focus. It was the same years later when he spent 377 days in space, away from his family and everyone he loved.
Sitting in the ballroom, I ruminated on this lesson as I sat through the next several speakers and, later, as I rode the elevator back to my floor. As I turned the corner out of the elevator, I ran right into Chris and his wife. Still emotional, I took the opportunity to thank Chris for his service to our country and for sharing his story. I told him about my recent diagnoses and talked about the hell ahead for me. I told him I would remember his words as I tried to beat cancer. I said that, through his words, he would be my “virtual swim buddy,” reminding me to just focus on the next appointment, the next surgical procedure, the next radiation treatment — even just the next meal if I had to. The three of us embraced, tears flowing down our cheeks.
Chris took my number, texted me before getting on his flight home. Then he regularly checked in with me over the ensuing months.
When I rang the bell in May indicating I was cancer-free, Chris was the person I texted after my children. When we met in that hotel six months earlier, Chris did not know me from Adam, but he had the kindness to remain with me on my journey. He had empathy for me. And, this November, he was gracious enough to tell his own story at our Aluminum Conference.
As we have learned throughout our Zero Harm Safety Always journey, mental health and wellbeing are critically important and comfort and peace can be found by sharing our struggles. If you are feeling uncertain as we end 2025, I want you to know: no matter what personal or professional challenges you face, the MSCI community walks with you.
Because community breeds optimism, which is powerful.
The Power Of Optimism
If you have endured any sort of serious medical emergency or diagnosis, you have been told by well-meaning doctors, nurses, and complete strangers to remain optimistic.
When we are feeling miserable, this upbeat advice can be difficult to endure.
But it does matter. An article published in The Journal of Pain and Symptom Management concluded higher levels of optimism correlated to lower perceived pain and suffering by cancer patients. Researchers from Harvard University’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health have found “strong and statistically significant associations” between high levels of optimism and a decreased risk of death from cancer, heart disease, stroke, respiratory disease, and infection.
Optimism can save your life — and it can save your company’s too.
Companies where optimism reigns generally outperform other workplaces. According to an article by Management Consulted, optimistic workers are more solution oriented, six times more engaged at work, and generate higher productivity across the organization. The University of Phoenix’s 2024 Career Optimism Index® estimated optimistic employees generated $6,521 annually in productivity gains. Their outlook also reduced turnover costs by $916 and healthcare costs by $616. In contrast, the American Psychological Association estimates the U.S. economy loses $500-$550 billion annually due to workplace stress.
Optimism also breeds pragmatism and creative solutions to challenging circumstances, physicist, journalist, and author Sumit Paul-Choudhury told Forbes.
In an uncertain economy and world, we need this innovative thinking.
Paul-Choudhury did differentiate between optimism and what has become known as “toxic positivity.” Optimism results in solution-building; toxic positivity results in stasis. “[I]t’s best to avoid working for ‘the person who says, ‘Everything’s going to be fine,’ but doesn’t do anything,” Paul-Choudhury said. These leaders are less likely to deal with the reality in front of them, to pivot, and to display rigid thinking. A research paper issued by the University of Phoenix explains the difference this way: “Optimism is an active rather than passive attitude.”
In other words, it does no good for us to ignore the challenges that are in front of us, but believing we can turn them into opportunity is essential.
Which brings me back to the optimism of the new year.
When the clock strikes midnight and 2026 dawns, many of us may find ourselves singing the refrain from Auld Lang Syne. But, after this year of difficulty and optimism, I will cherish this line the most: “And there’s a hand, my trusty fiere / And gie’s a hand o’ thine.” Translated, those lines mean, “And there’s a hand my trusty friend / And give me a hand of yours.”
This metals community, MSCI, is here to give you a hand — to walk with you, especially when the path is uphill.