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"The little I know, I owe to my ignorance."
Sacha Guitry

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I’ve been thinking about hope.  I have a good friend, a very gifted consultant, and one of the readers of Leadership Notes who famously said once, ‘hope is not a strategy.’ And she is right. If your corporate strategy involves hoping that the big employer comes to town, hoping that more customers will buy a certain product, or even on a personal level hoping that a lottery will look after your retirement, you’re likely in for a rude awakening.

That said, hope is in our DNA; it motivates, invigorates, pulls, pushes and cajoles. It inspires, comforts, and tickles us. And hope is entirely intrinsic; there is no pill, there is no button to press. The phrase “gives me/us hope” suggests it is a gift from someone or something, but it is entirely up to us to use or discard it.

And this raises the question, what is it for which we hope? We might hope that the attractive person at the next table notices us too. We might hope that our team wins the big game, or that we get a raise? Above all, we hope that our existence has some meaning, that our presence is valued and that we have made a difference.

The most effective leaders know this. The most effective leaders create environments where others find meaning, where other’s presence is valued and where others can make a difference.  Think about the teachers, the coaches, the managers you’ve had in your life; the best ones had confidence in you and your skills and abilities. They gave you hope and you then chose to build on it. One example from my career was Linda Archer asking me to go to a client site to teach a course on a subject I was only just learning myself. I remember standing between the two beds in the hotel room, the overhead transparencies (yes that long ago) spread out on one of the beds, as I rehearsed and prepared for the gig. She had confidence in me, she gave me hope and I haven’t looked back since. You can do that too. You can give hope to one of your team and make a difference for someone.

Thanks Linda, you made a difference for me and for many others.

May this week be one of giving and receiving hope for all of us.