Optimistic Outlook

The Optimistic Outlook explores the rise of a new industrial tech sector—the transformation reshaping American industry, infrastructure, and transportation. Each episode looks beyond today’s challenges in sustainability, workforce development, and digital transformation to highlight practical solutions powered by technologies available now.
Featuring thought leaders and industry experts, the podcast examines how technology, leadership, and workplace dynamics intersect to shape the future. Episodes tackle urgent questions: How can America reindustrialize? How do we modernize the grid to support the data center boom? How can Industrial AI transform the way we design, build, and operate the physical world? And how do we inspire the next generation of skilled leaders?
More than a podcast, The Optimistic Outlook is a platform for meaningful dialogue and inspiration. Whether you’re a seasoned professional or an aspiring leader, you’ll gain insights and advice for navigating the complexities of a rapidly changing world. Join us in imagining a future where optimism and bold ideas shape how technology builds a better tomorrow.
The Optimistic Outlook explores the rise of a new industrial tech sector—the transformation reshaping American industry, infrastructure, and transportation. Each episode looks beyond today’s challenges in sustainability, workforce development, and digital transformation to highlight practical solutions powered by technologies available now.
Featuring thought leaders and industry experts, the podcast examines how technology, leadership, and workplace dynamics intersect to shape the future. Episodes tackle urgent questions: How can America reindustrialize? How do we modernize the grid to support the data center boom? How can Industrial AI transform the way we design, build, and operate the physical world? And how do we inspire the next generation of skilled leaders?
More than a podcast, The Optimistic Outlook is a platform for meaningful dialogue and inspiration. Whether you’re a seasoned professional or an aspiring leader, you’ll gain insights and advice for navigating the complexities of a rapidly changing world. Join us in imagining a future where optimism and bold ideas shape how technology builds a better tomorrow.
Episodes
Episodes



Sep 7, 2023
Green Radiology and decarbonizing healthcare
Sep 7, 2023
Sep 7, 2023
26 min
With American healthcare representing 10% of U.S. carbon emissions, decarbonizing hospitals and healthcare systems promises to deliver meaningful climate action. In this episode, Barbara brings listeners inside an innovative project reducing energy usage in imaging at University of California San Francisco (UCSF). The solutions will not only help to support decarbonization but yield immediate operational savings for hospitals and healthcare systems recovering financially from the pandemic. Guests are Dr. Sean Woolen, USCF’s Assistant Professor for Department of Radiology and Biomedical Imaging and Director of the Green Radiology, and Jerry Folsom, Global Head of Digital Portfolio for Healthcare and Life Science, Siemens Smart Infrastructure.
Show notes:
Study results: https://www.siemens-healthineers.com/en-us/press-room/press-releases/greenradiology
Smart healthcare: https://www.siemens.com/us/en/markets/healthcare.html
Press release: https://www.siemens.com/us/en/company/press/siemens-stories/usa/siemens-helps-put-sustainability-forefront-medical-imaging-care.html



Aug 8, 2023
Aug 8, 2023
29 min
Effective partnerships between large companies and startups can accelerate net-zero strategies and even produce cost savings that strengthen the business case. Recording from the TED Countdown Summit, Barbara talks to Maisie Devine, Executive Director of Sustainable Innovation at AB InBev and Founder of the award-winning 100+ Accelerator program, which is building an ecosystem of partners delivering breakthrough advancements in supply chain decarbonization. They share takeaways from the conference and introduce listeners to a unique vertical farming project that could remake hops production. Siemens is a member of the TED Future Forum, a TED Countdown initiative focused on the role of business in accelerating solutions to the climate crisis.
Show notes:
100+ Accelerator: https://www.ab-inbev.com/sustainability/100-accelerator/
Vertical farming: https://www.siemens.com/global/en/company/stories/industry/2023/vertical-farming-controlled-environment-agriculture-cea-digital-transformation-sustainability-80-acres-farms.html



Jun 22, 2023
The real purpose of industrial automation
Jun 22, 2023
Jun 22, 2023
32 min
Barbara shares her keynote speech from May’s Automate conference in Detroit.
Show notes:
Siemens and FREYR: https://press.siemens.com/global/en/pressrelease/freyr-scale-battery-cell-gigafactory-production-siemens-xcelerator
Advanced Manufacturing: https://www.siemens.com/us/en/company/topic-areas/advanced-manufacturing.html
Optimizing Battery Production: https://www.siemens.com/us/en/company/topic-areas/advanced-manufacturing/large-battery-manufacturing.html



Apr 24, 2023
How to optimize for change
Apr 24, 2023
Apr 24, 2023
7 min
Barbara reflects on how her ideas about leadership changed during the pandemic by sharing an audio version of her recent leadership essay, The Greatest Gift We Can Give Our Organizations.
Show Notes:
Comment on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/greatest-gift-we-can-give-our-organizations-barbara-humpton/
Art of Leading Interview: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/key-role-leaders-help-people-understand-what-good-looks-adam-bryant/?trackingId=gXb6mof6ZeWLcKVC6p4P1w%3D%3D
Barbara’s 2021 leadership essay: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/i-fell-ill-covid-19-shutdowns-began-heres-what-taught-barbara-humpton/



Mar 16, 2023
Mar 16, 2023
30 min
Siemens CEO Roland Busch joins Barbara to discuss “glocalization” and how to scale technologies shaping a better tomorrow as industry and infrastructure become more productive and sustainable.
Show notes:
Roland on glocalization: https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2023/01/globalization-isn-t-working-but-glocalization-can-davos2023/
Siemens Xcelerator and Industrial Metaverse: https://new.siemens.com/global/en/company/insights.html
Roland’s annual shareholders meeting speech: https://assets.new.siemens.com/siemens/assets/api/uuid:44ea0485-0c69-4005-be07-ae7364cf41aa/Roland-Busch-HV-Rede-2023-EN.pdf
Rail Manufacturing Announcement: https://press.siemens.com/global/en/pressrelease/siemens-mobility-invest-220-million-north-carolina-rail-manufacturing-facility



Feb 21, 2023
A turning point for the electric grid
Feb 21, 2023
Feb 21, 2023
28 min
The U.S. power grid has been called both the “greatest machine ever built” and the “great enabler” of our greatest innovations. But can we successfully reinvent it? In this decade of action, with technology companies stepping up and new federal climate and infrastructure laws moving forward that each focus on power grid modernization, Barbara is joined by Karen Wayland, CEO, Gridwise Alliance. Karen is a recognized expert in national energy and environmental policy who has served in leadership positions at the highest levels of government and nonprofits.
Show notes:
Gridwise Alliance: https://gridwise.org/
Grid Modernization: https://www.siemens.com/us/en/company/bipartisan-infrastructure.html



Jan 17, 2023
Bipartisan Infrastructure Law: What’s next?
Jan 17, 2023
Jan 17, 2023
34 min
Clarence Anthony, CEO and Executive Director, National League of Cities, joins the podcast to provide a local perspective on the deployment of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. With many communities directly accessing federal infrastructure funds for the first time, Anthony outlines priorities for cities, towns, and villages nationwide.
Show Notes:
NLC Bipartisan Infrastructure Law resources: https://www.nlc.org/initiative/ready-to-rebuild/
Siemens Bipartisan Infrastructure Law resources: https://new.siemens.com/us/en/company/bipartisan-infrastructure.html
Youth Excel: https://www.nlc.org/initiative/youth-excel/#:~:text=To%20support%20cities'%20efforts%20to,Youth%20Economic%20Recovery%20and%20Empowerment.



Dec 20, 2022
The power of psychological safety
Dec 20, 2022
Dec 20, 2022
31 min
For the last episode of 2022, Barbara is joined by Dr. Connie Hadley, an organizational psychologist and founder of the Institute for Life at Work, to discuss how to build stronger, more innovative teams. Building on the show’s core theme of optimism and last year’s episode on growth mindset, this conversation unpacks how work cultures rooted in trust and psychological safety foster individual resilience and wellbeing. The outcome? Work environments more conducive to healthy risk taking that lead to growth and more impactful results.
Show notes:
Psychological Safety 101: https://www.institutelifework.org/topic-briefings/psychologicalsafety



Nov 29, 2022
A model microgrid in Bronzeville
Nov 29, 2022
Nov 29, 2022
20 min
Barbara visits a groundbreaking microgrid project in the South Side Chicago neighborhood of Bronzeville. Features interviews with ComEd CEO Gil Quiniones and Paul Pabst, who leads ComEd’s Smart Grid department.
SHOW NOTES:
Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ecvUf5sdOJs&list=PLF415F6CFBF8D6A91&index=2
Microgrids opportunities in Bipartisan Infrastructure Law: https://new.siemens.com/us/en/company/bipartisan-infrastructure.html



Sep 16, 2022
Climate action: how to achieve ‘drawdown’
Sep 16, 2022
Sep 16, 2022
20 min
Chad Frischmann is the co-author of the New York Times best-seller “Drawdown: The Most Comprehensive Plan Ever Proposed to Reverse Global Warming.” He also pioneered Project Drawdown and is now the founder of a new organization called Regenerative Intelligence. Barbara and Chad explore how to achieve a moment in time when the concentration of atmospheric greenhouse gases begins to decline annually and what a regenerative future looks like. Learn about the impact of tech solutions that can be immediately deployed, and the potential for further innovation.
Show Notes:
Regenerative Intelligence: https://regenintel.earth/
Project Drawdown: https://drawdown.org/
TED Talk (100 solutions to reverse global warming): https://www.ted.com/talks/chad_frischmann_100_solutions_to_reverse_global_warming?language=en
Siemens and Environmental Action: https://new.siemens.com/us/en/company/environmental-society-governance/environmental-action.html






