Rob Watson talks about how he emerged from a challenged school system in New York graduate from Harvard College, serve in the Peace Corps, and later earn two master’s degrees. He explains what drives him to work so hard-and with so much hope -to achieve equity in opportunities for public school by teaching master’s candidates at the Harvard Graduate School of Education and by supporting innovative collaborative action programs around the country, including in his hometown of Poughkeepsie.

David Novak has had a remarkably successful career and one that was defined by his boundless enthusiasm and contagious sense of optimism. He describes in this episode that he’s never come across a leader who wasn’t an optimist and reflects on why he thinks this is the case. He also discusses the inspiring work he’s been doing since leaving his job at the top of Yum! Brands, where he was widely considered to be one of the top CEO’s in the world.

Jeff Korzenik, the chief economist at a major US bank, explains how predicting a labor shortage in the US led him to discover the growing movement around “second chance” hiring of people with criminal records. His passion for this work led him to write “UntappedTalent,” a book that explains to companies the benefits of this type of hiring and offers a blueprint of how best to do it. Jeff describes how second chance hiring can transform lives and communities.

In this episode, Bert describes how he andhis brother grew from a challenging upbringing to create Life is Good, the original positive outlook brand. He explains why he believes that optimism is a superpower and suggests that in all of history, there’s never been a successful pessimist.