All the book reviews are interesting, but this one is both interesting and very different from all the other book reviews. I uses an analytical process to show how the approaches and ideas in Positive Vision can lead to business and organizational improvement.
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You Don’t Need 20/20 to Lead: Ken Brandt’s ‘Positive Vision’ for Work and Life
Published September 18, 2025 by Dr. Kirk Adams
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Seeing The Message, Not The Crowd
On a blustery day atop the 110th floor of the World Trade Center, Ken Brandt helped fix sheet metal, an early glimpse of the risk-and-resolve mindset that would carry him through a decades-long, four-continent career in IT and cybersecurity and into a second act as the author of Positive Vision (2020). One of his favorite reframes says it all: when you can’t clearly see the faces in the crowd, stage fright fades and the message comes into focus. You don’t need perfect sight to lead; you need the discipline to reframe constraints, build inclusive systems, and keep trying, learning, and iterating.
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In that spirit, this article aims to do four things for leaders and DEI/HR practitioners: introduce Ken and Positive Vision; surface specific leadership behaviors embedded in his “advantages of poor eyesight” lens; connect those behaviors to culture and business performance; and offer practical actions and resources, including his book and speaking, to operationalize the ideas. The goal is not generic uplift, but usable practices that help more people contribute at full capacity.
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Meet Ken Brandt: Adventure, Execution, and an Unconventional Lens
Ken Brandt’s résumé reads like a flight plan: North America, Europe, Asia, and Australia; senior roles in cybersecurity and enterprise IT; and the kind of hands-on grit that once had him helping repair sheet metal on the 110th floor of the World Trade Center. In retirement he shifted gears without slowing down, becoming an author and speaker whose memoir, Positive Vision (2020), is exactly what the subtitle promises, “enjoying the adventures and advantages of poor eyesight.” It’s fast, funny, and practical, flipping deficit narratives into usable insights without pretending the barriers aren’t real.
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The credibility is there for decision-makers who look for signals before they invest attention: favorable notices from AccessWorld and Vision Australia; steady invitations from radio shows, podcasts, and universities; and a values stance that goes beyond words. Brandt donates 10% of his royalties to Massachusetts Eye and Ear and The Fred Hollows Foundation, and he credits his wife, Judy Roberts Brandt, as the book’s designer. The point isn’t to hold him up as a mascot for adversity; it’s to recognize a peer leader whose stories translate into behaviors organizations can adopt, today.
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The “Advantages of Poor Eyesight” as Teachable Leadership Behaviors
Brandt’s stage insight is deceptively simple: when you can’t make out the frowns, you stop performing for the crowd and start communicating the message. Leaders can use that same move under scrutiny, treat ambiguous feedback, tough Q&A, or shifting conditions as prompts to sharpen intent and strengthen connection, not as reasons to freeze. Presence is a skill you can teach: rehearse for clarity, define the one thing you need your audience to take away, and let the noise blur so the signal carries.
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His everyday “menu tactics” are a blueprint for decision-making under constraint: when the lighting is bad, ask for the specialty, choose by category, and rely on smart defaults. Translate that into organizational design, simplify choices, publish clear defaults, and build graceful fallbacks. Pair that with a tiny, scalable inclusion habit he endorses: brief visual self-descriptions at the start of meetings. Model it once, then normalize it in hiring, onboarding, and communication standards so it outlives any single storyteller. This is how advantages become behaviors, behaviors become policies, and policies become culture.
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In my work with the Apex Program, we don’t treat inclusion as a side project, we build for outcomes. When you combine accessible design with demand-side employer engagement, talented people move from overlooked to billable, and leaders see it where it counts: faster time-to-productivity and lower recruiting costs. Ken Brandt’s story provides the motivation, proof that reframing can unlock confidence and execution. Apex supplies the machinery, structured pathways, expectations, and supports that turn potential into performance.
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We align roles and skills to shared workforce frameworks, pair that with accessible hardware and software, add mentoring and real-world practicums, and measure what matters. The leadership takeaway is simple: build structures that make reframing and access non-optional, and you widen your talent aperture without lowering the bar. Do that, and you don’t just collect inspiring stories, you compound capability, pipeline strength, and results.
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Nuance: Avoiding “Inspiration Inflation” and Other Traps
Ken is crystal clear: people with disabilities aren’t “superheroes” for living their lives. Heroism is risking yourself to help others; turning up to work with low vision is called being human. The right tone is respectful and practical, not condescending. He’s equally clear that this isn’t toxic positivity, poor eyesight isn’t “better.” Follow medical guidance, protect your eyes, and then go for it. Optimism here is a verb: a willingness to act, adapt, and keep moving.
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Disclosure is contextual. Ken has chosen not to foreground vision limits in hiring processes and has addressed constraints, driving, for example, only when they’re relevant. Our job as leaders is to make that choice safe and to design roles around essential functions, not assumptions. Guardrails like these keep the work ethical: dignity first, informed consent, and structures that deliver access without demanding performative self-disclosure. That’s how inspiration becomes integrity.
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Practical Ways to Activate Brandt’s Lessons Inside Your Organization
Start small and social. Run a time-boxed book-club sprint or add a Positive Vision session to your next leadership offsite, then bring Ken in for a Q&A that translates his stories into your context. Lock in inclusive meeting norms right away: publish agendas in advance, open with brief visual self-descriptions, provide captioning, and share accessible materials. Extend his “menu tactics” to everyday decision design, set clear defaults, write plain-language summaries, and always offer more than one way to act. These are low-cost, high-signal changes that compound quickly.
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Measure what matters so the work doesn’t drift. Track retention, time-to-productivity, internal mobility, and recruiting costs, the same metrics we rely on when scaling accessible pipelines like Apex. Close the loop by aligning philanthropy with brand: match employee purchases of Positive Vision with donations to Massachusetts Eye and Ear or The Fred Hollows Foundation, echoing Ken’s own giving. The combination, shared story, codified habits, accountable metrics, and visible values, turn admiration into durable performance.
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Beyond One Book: Ecosystem Momentum and Where to Plug In
Ken’s message travels. His talks with Inclusive Futures at Griffith University and with Vision Australia demonstrate resonance across academia and advocacy, and his steady presence on radio, podcasts, and campus programs shows that audiences value both the humor and the practicality. That community validation matters to leaders: it signals that Positive Vision isn’t a one-off feel-good read but a reliable on-ramp to better conversations and better design.
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The good news is you don’t have to build from scratch. Adjacent pipelines and forums already exist, the NICE Ambassador network, GeoCyber’s Cyber Connect events, and the Apex Program, each offering concrete ways to operationalize the mindset into skills, roles, and results. Your entry points are straightforward: sponsor a Cyber Connect session to widen your hiring aperture, adopt Ambassador metrics that explicitly include disability, or partner on Apex-style practicums that convert potential into billable capability. Plug into these systems and you’ll turn a compelling story into measurable momentum.
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What We’ve Learned and What to Do Next
Ken Brandt’s life and Positive Vision make a simple point powerfully: clarity, reframing, and access beat “perfect eyesight” over the long run. When leaders embed those behaviors into systems, hiring, meetings, tooling, and development, and then track the right KPIs, they don’t just inspire people; they unlock performance and belonging. That’s the shift from story to system, from a single example to a durable, repeatable advantage.
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Now, put it to work. Read Positive Vision with your team and invite Ken for a leadership Q&A to translate lessons into your context. Standardize the micro-practices this quarter, agenda clarity, brief visual self-descriptions, captioning, and accessible materials, and partner with a pipeline that converts potential into results, such as Apex and the NICE-aligned pathways. To multiply impact, consider matching employee purchases of the book with donations to Massachusetts Eye and Ear or The Fred Hollows Foundation. This is how a good story becomes a better organization.
” Inclusion isn’t just the right thing to do — it’s a strategic advantage. “
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Dr. Kirk Adams, Ph.D.
Advocate, Leader and Keynote Speaker on Disability Inclusion & Leadership
Leading the Way to Accessible Innovation
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Innovative Impact, LLC Consulting
Managing Director
Impactful Workforce Inclusion Starts Here
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American Foundation for the Blind
Immediate Past President & CEO
To create a world of no limits for people who are blind or visually impaired.
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