Leading Our Way

1OPTIMISM: Christiana Figueres

When I started thinking of this book, one thing I was certain about was that I wanted women out of the box. Women who don't homologate, who are bold, have the courage to fail and to speak about it, even to laugh about it. Women who are outspokenly themselves, with all the imperfections that come with it and—exactly because of that—have the power to inspire others.

Christiana Figueres is all the above, and more.

SINCE A FEW MONTHS, wherever I go, I have Christiana in my ears. While walking to the supermarket, on a train ride, on my way to a meeting. I have become more and more an aficionada of her podcast—Outrage + Optimism. Through her stories, the anecdotes on climate change negotiations, the interviews with her always impressive guests, Christiana manages to inspire me, to make me think, learn, expand my views on our world. But more than that, she manages to give hope on a topic which typically brings us down: climate change. And that is what got me hooked.

The hope is in her voice. Upbeat, full of courage, optimism, always searching for solutions, nonetheless brutally honest, realistic. And that hope activates me. It has the power to make each and every one of us feel like an important and purposeful piece on our collective path to change, rather than an interchangeable or useless part of a dysfunctional machine. It's the kind of attitude ...