An interesting ten minute talk from the RSA, ranging from whether positive thinking is enough to get you a new job, to why the people who predicted the sub-prime mortgage problem (and problems in Iraq) weren’t listened to, and the alternatives to gloom and negativity.
Realism: trying to figure out what is actually happening in the world and seeing what we can do about the parts that are threatening or hurtful; realising that we may not understand it all perfectly, we may never do, but we can try to act on what we understand today.