How to Help Your Staff Feel Optimistic About 2021 To keep your staff motivated as we move through an uncertain year, don't overpromise, and don't hide from the truth.

Q: My company had a very rough 2020. I have high hopes for 2021, but how can I get my team excited without overpromising? — Jessica, Pittsburgh

After everything that happened in 2020, inspiring hope with a cliché seems, well, clichéd. But as I've navigated the unprecedented circumstances of the past year, I keep reminding myself: Necessity is the mother of all invention. (Told you. Clichéd.)

Being forced into change can be a very good thing. Throughout time, disasters, depressions, and diseases have led to innovation, breakthroughs, and growth. That's because we have no choice but to confront what stands in the way, and evolve and adapt to our environment and circumstances. And if you need proof of that, just look at your entrepreneurial peers — like the people in this magazine. Entrepreneurs tackle uncertainty head-on because they know opportunities await on the other side of it. They did this long before the pandemic, and they'll do it long after.