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Today, Iʼd like to speak with you about HOPE. 

Before, we talk about the shining star of Hope however, we’re going to take a quick look at what’s lurking in its shadow – Despair. 

At the time I write this, we are in our fifth month of a global pandemic commonly known as COVID-19, or the Corona Virus. To avoid the spread of the virus, individuals around the world have been quarantined in their homes for months, and most physical businesses and social gathering spaces have been shut down.

Last month, two of my lifelong friends lost their children. It wasn’t the Corona Virus that took their lives, however. It was Despair – a sense of hopelessness – an internal state exasperated by the current conditions of the external world, and a fast track to depression. It wasn’t a vaccine that these young men were lacking. It was Hope – one of the essential tools and mindsets to help people move through the most challenging of times. 

Ironically, we are also nearing the end of Mental Health Awareness Month in the U.S., during which our goal is to promote the proponents of positive and lasting mental health and to raise public consciousness around their importance. With isolation and financial stress being the two leading causes of suicide and depression, and unfortunate byproducts of the current pandemic prevention program, it is a critical time to double down on our commitment to optimizing positive mental health – both within ourselves and within the hearts and minds of those we love and serve. 

 

What can we learn from all this? 

People need HOPE. People need it now. And so do you. Whether you are struggling to survive or overcome the demons in your mind, working to take care of your family, leading a company of thousands or a country of millions, or simply trying to raise the bar on your own performance and self-mastery, hope is both a power tool and a foundation for a life worth living. It is essential that we as individuals, role models, and leaders learn to cultivate and inspire Hope.

 

How important is hope for us as individuals? 

For some, like my young friends, it could be the difference between life and death. For others, it could be the difference between thriving in a life amplified by actualizing their true potential or living a life unfulfilled.

 

Why is Hope so important for leaders?  

Let’s start with a definition of leadership. That famous “WHY Guy” Simon Sinek eloquently sets the stage with these words of wisdom: 

“Leadership is not about being in charge,

it is about taking care of those in your charge.”

 

Dr. Shane Lopez, leading Gallup scientist, psychologist, and author of Making Hope Happen, tells us hope is the secret sauce of leadership. In his research he found that leaders who failed to inspire hope had an engagement level from their ranks and teams that fell as low as 1%; while leaders that inspired hope in those in their charge had an engagement level of 69%. Even half of that gap, especially in the critical area of employee engagement, would be one worth closing. In the face of challenges leaders are facing today, cultivating hope may be the very key to making that happen. 

There are countless examples of how leaders and individuals have instilled hope to inspire themselves and the collective to overcome the seemingly unsurmountable and achieving the impossible. One example in recent history is the Obama presidential campaign, built on hope and the mantra that expressed it, “Yes We Can”.

On the other hand, when your people lose hope, you lose your people. 

When you lose hope, you lose your power and, more importantly – yourself. 

The good news is that we can learn to cultivate hope – like a mental and emotional muscle – both in ourselves and in those we love and lead. Real hope is much more than blind faith or an intangible concept. There are practical and proven steps to creating and maintaining hope.

 

How do we practice the science of cultivating hope? 

According to Dr. Lopez, there are three fundamentals pillars to making hope happen. This basic framework is also foundational to the research and teachings of another leader in the field, Dr. Charles Snyder. Dr. Snyder is a positive psychologist and founder of the Hope Theory. Let’s break it down:

 

3 Pillars to Cultivating Hope (aka: Making Hope Happen by Dr. Shane Lopez)

• Goals 

I call this Vision. It is important to have a clear desire and goal, or a vision of and belief in a future that will be better than our present. 

• Agency

Dr. Snyder calls this Willpower. I see it as the marriage between confidence and action. It starts with deep knowing that we have the capacity – the soul force – within us to reach that goal and our unyielding commitment to take bold steps forward, even in the face of fear or challenges. 

• Pathways.

Dr. Snyder has a great word for this one: Waypower. It means that we embrace that there is more than one way to reach our goal. In business, if these are pre-defined, we might call them contingency plans. On the other hand, we might not know what they are yet. More often than not, the final path that takes us to our goal won’t reveal itself until we’ve tried several different pathways and learned from our experiences. 

Just like in the Hero’s Journey, it doesn’t matter how many times we fall. If each time we fall and we get back up, we learn something and we grow stronger. If we start to lose hope, we simply need to reconnect to our vision and our goal and to re-ignite our agency – our confidence and willpower – and try the next path. 

 

How is the cultivation of Hope an essential practice for Self-Mastery? 

Dr. Carol Dweck, a leading researcher in the field of motivation, compares the Mastery Mindset with the Helpless Mindset. One of the great differentiators lies in the science of hope. By developing and mastering the mindsets and habits that support the cultivation of hope, we naturally move forward on the path to self-mastery and fulfilling our potential. These are the same practices used by High Performers in every field, from science, to sports to business. We can benefit a great deal at this time by looking at the research on self-mastery and peak performance. Because the same scientifically-proven tools and habits that help the highest of performers thrive, are the ones we need most to build our capacity to survive in dark times, and to help us face seemingly impossible challenges. 

 

One thing is clear: We need leaders today who are masters of hope. We no longer need leaders who are masters of fear and despair. Those of us that learn to master hope, can change the world.

Without having become alchemists in the cultivation of hope and masters in the art of inspiring hope in others, Obama never would have become the first black president of the United States. I can still his mantra of hope ringing in my ears “Yes – We Can.” Without mastering hope, Nelson Mandela never would have survived 27 years in a prison cell, and continued in pursuit of his unwavering vision to free South Africa of Apartheid rule. Without hope as his guiding light, Thomas Edison would have never persevered through 1,000 failed experiments to invent the lightbulb. 

With hope, the world would be a very dark place.

What can you do today, to bring a little more hope into your life and instill into the hearts and minds of those in your charge?

••••

About the Author 

Frank Fitzpatrick is a Creative Visioneer, Engagement Expert and High-Performance Coach on the Faculty of Singularity University’s Exponential Medicine.

To connect, go to FrankFitzpatrick.com

To learn more about working 1-on1 with Frank, go to BeyondPerformance.Life

 

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