7 Ways to be a Dealer in Hope
You and the people you influence cannot thrive apart from hope. Napoleon rightly said, “A leader is a dealer in hope.”
Successful leaders inspire hope.
Leadership is about the future – hope is a way of seeing the future.
The seven powers of hope:
- Energy when facing disappointment.
- Passion to try again when results fall short.
- Drive to press through obstacles.
- Resolve when resistance emerges.
- Boldness during uncertainty.
- Endurance when tempted to quit.
- Stability when circumstances feel unstable.
You might, for example, wish to infuse your team with resolve. Filling them with hope will fill them with resolve, and much more.
Hope is a way of thinking, not a vague sense of well-being.
You can have hope, even when feeling disappointed. After all, the power of hope is best seen when disappointment presses in.
7 ways to be a dealer in hope:
- Give people something to believe in. Connect effort and sacrifice to the big picture. Soldiers fight for big things like God, country, family, and fellow soldiers. Belief precedes hope.
- Be human with aspiration. Share challenges and weaknesses you’ve faced and worked through.
- Show people how they’re making meaningful contribution. Be specific.
- Narrow focus. Too many goals overwhelm and discourage. Passion makes some leaders take on too many challenges.
- Believe in your teammate’s potential and capacity. Keep people working where they best succeed. How are you setting others up for success?
- Share information. Hope is a way of thinking that requires information about challenges, opportunities, progress, and results. Research shows that leaders drastically under communicate.
- Create and celebrate small wins. Every challenge is made smaller by a series of small wins.
Hope precedes vitality.
Don’t think for a moment that you can succeed apart from dealing in hope.
What might you do tomorrow to infuse others with hope?
Be Humble, be open. Care with Authenticity. Not being afraid to fail yourself. Showing genuine care for their lives not your ego. thanks for the Sunday top-up Dan, goes well after spending an hour helping Olive get more enjoyment from soccer (by leaning new ways – and Dad falling over lots).
Thanks Richard. I think the falling over part sounds the best!
Thanks for bringing the “ego” term to this conversation. Learning to deal with ego seems to solve lots of leadership short-comings.
Best wishes to you and the ladies in your life.
Thanks needed that right now. So many changes. Will share and be the difference for my team. Be Blessed
Thanks Anita. It always feels good when something is particularly useful.
Best for the journey.
Great 7 ways, many leaders do not do these things, or do them while tarnishing them with bad comments also which just undoes the effort.
Thanks Rox. You have indicated something that holds leaders back…mixing the bad with the good is a leader’s undoing.
Yes! Yes! Yes!
One of the things a rabbi should be doing for his/her community is hopeful leadership. There’s nothing vague about it, especially when a vandal has left a swastika on the door, or there’s an issue about required Christmas pageant participation at the local public school.
To your list I would add:
1. In a crisis, decisive positive action.
2. An ability to distinguish between real problems and mere annoyances.
3. Genuine cultivation of allies for those rainy day that always eventually come.
Greetings!
Last year, I started a foundation “VIDA” focused on reducing the incidences of HIV amongst youth (m/f). At the same time, been unemployed for over a year. Personal life a mess; foundation slowly building it’s credibility woohoo. I practice the 7 Principles of Hope because they are interchangeable whether personal or professional or. The one principle I noticed missing was “don’t be afraid to make fun of yourself”: With the emotional and dynamic rollercoaster I am living; smiling and laughing helps this virgin leader.