It surprises me in business discussions nowadays how often the notion of idealism is bundled with those of gullibility and naïveté. Idealism seems to have become a disparaging term used in direct opposition to focus, leadership, strength etc. It seems oddly normal to dismiss idealists as nitpickers who are somehow in the way pragmatists who want to get the job done.

This is strange when one considers how the general public have such an appetite for movies such as The Insider, Erin Brockovitch, and All the President’s Men … similarly how whistleblowers like Sherron Watkins, the former Enron accountant, are handsomely paid to tell and retell their stories on speaker circuits around the world. Are we not forgetting that the real life protagonists were idealists… men and women who ignored danger and job security to pursue truth and fairness?

In the intelligence world idealism is perhaps the critical motivator that fuels the dedication, awareness and accountability that drives individuals to notice the potentially discordant notes, red flags and clues that signal disaster. We reject the input of these folk at our peril!