In 2011 I wrote an academic paper entitled Entrepreneur Optimism and the New Venture Creation Process with my colleague and friend Dr Amanda Gudmundsson. This was published in the Journal of Asia Entrepreneurship and Sustainability, and was also the topic that I presented at two conferences.

Despite the paper getting published and presenting it at a number of academic conferences changes in circumstances mean that I changed careers and it was cast aside, as was my teaching and other activities within the academic system.

Fast word to today where in the course of a meeting with some colleagues at BHP we came on to the subject of what I had done previously. As a result of that single conversation a number of people asked for a copy of the paper so I visited the university website to provide the link for them to access it. To my surprise I saw that it had been down loaded over 600 times. I was pleasantly surprised.

Now for those of you in academic roles, that download number is likely to be small and inconsequential, however for me it meant a lot and has caused me to reflect on the topic and its relevance today.

I suspect that my original premise, which was that we have a propensity to focus on the encouragement of optimism and associated forward movement, without due consideration to managing negative risks may still stand.

One only has to look at the way that many of us have responded to the COVID events that we have experienced over the past 2 years.

I have also been reflecting on the increasing prevalence and relevance of coaching in its various forms, and the importance of optimism and positivity to my own life. Certainly I have experienced significant change and upheaval and I do wonder the extent to which my own optimism was not tempered by good old fashioned reality!

Suffice to say, that my interest has again been piqued and the posts that will follow will be my way of exploring this to see where it takes the next stage of my life and career.

The result of all of this is that I now looking at the value of revisiting that research, with a view to updating it to understand the landscape and context 10 years on.