“Keep hope alive!”
Many of us remember Jesse Jackson using that phrase to rally delegates at the 1988 Democratic National Convention after he failed to secure the presidential nomination. It was more than a slogan. It was a call to persevere.
I’ve been reflecting on that phrase this week and what it means for us as leaders. Three ideas rise to the surface.
Hope Requires a Source
In business, we often say, “Hope isn’t a strategy.” What we mean is that strategy requires more than wishful thinking. It must be grounded in action and reality.
But hope itself isn’t fluffy. It has a source. It’s anchored in someone or something that fuels belief and commitment.
Gallup research shows that a person’s manager is the second-most influential source of hope in their life, trailing only family. That’s sobering. As leaders, we carry more influence than we may realize.
Never underestimate your ability to kindle hope in someone else.
Hope Recognizes Reality
In a hard-edged, competitive world, hope is sometimes dismissed as denial or naïveté. It’s neither.
Consider the Stockdale Paradox, popularized in Jim Collins’ Good to Great. Admiral James Stockdale survived seven years as a POW in Vietnam. When Collins asked which prisoners didn’t survive, Stockdale replied: the optimists. They kept setting dates for their release. Christmas came and went. Easter came and went. Eventually, they lost heart.
Stockdale’s lesson was clear: never confuse faith that you will prevail in the end with the discipline to confront the brutal facts of your current reality.
Hope doesn’t ignore reality. It gives us the courage to face it without being defined by it.
Hope Results in Purpose
Fyodor Dostoevsky wrote, “To live without hope is to cease to live.” Hope is life-giving.
Viktor Frankl, Holocaust survivor and author of Man’s Search for Meaning, echoed this truth. Drawing on Nietzsche, he observed, “He who has a why to live can bear almost any how.” Frankl survived by holding on to a sense of purpose, even in the bleakest conditions.
Hope supplies that why. It gives us a reason to press forward. It doesn’t just help us endure today; it empowers us to shape tomorrow.
The Question
So where does your hope come from?
If you’re a leader, your source of hope must be rooted in something bigger than yourself—values, beliefs, principles that endure when circumstances shift. These are the anchors that steady you and the north stars that guide others.
How are you keeping hope alive—for yourself and for the people who look to you?
I’d love to hear your thoughts.
