We are surrounded by messages urging us to see the suffering, injustice, and corruption of both the natural and built world. But today, people seem to be gripped by passive despair. Why is that? Perhaps we are weighted by a loss of optimism. This presentation questions if optimism is misunderstood and if, as ethnographers, we are getting in our own way and underestimating it as a powerful tool of social transformation. Optimism requires us to examine our own emotional intelligence, capacity for change, and belief in our own human potential.
Meg Kinney is a partner at Bad Babysitter – a brand strategy consultancy focused on using an ethnographic approach and documentary storytelling style to humanize stakeholders and contextualize brand meaning across the value chain. Clients span Fortune 500 brands and retailers, Climate Tech startups, emerging sectors, and marketing agencies. She has a Masters in Natural Resources & Sustainability Leadership to help brands and agencies find their breakthrough narrative for this moment.
