HOPE

Apr

2023

Leaders Provide Hope

I am writing this on Easter morning. For some people this day is more than just a day about a bunny. This is a day about hope.

As a business leader, you understand the importance of hope. Part of your job is to provide hope, optimism, and direction to your team. You set the tone of success and drive your teams to reach their goals. As a leader, you are the provider of hope.

If your title is CEO may I suggest it stands for “Chief Encouragement Officer.” Even if this is not your title as a leader you provide hope and here are some ideas on how.

Providing Clarity

Leaders give their teams clarity and focus. They provide direction and focus on the future, while keeping the team motivated and inspired. Leaders create a space for their team to thrive, where everyone can work together to reach shared goals and objectives.

Safety and Security

Leaders provide hope to those in their organization by creating a safe and secure environment. A space where employees feel comfortable expressing themselves and taking the necessary risks to achieve success. They provide the support and guidance needed to make difficult decisions and take risks.

Stability

Leaders also bring a level of stability to their organizations. They create a vision of success and create a path for their team to follow. Leaders provide hope in times of chaos, when the future is uncertain, and when the risks seem too great. They apply what leadership expert John Maxwell calls “The Law of Navigation” by providing guidance and direction to ensure that their teams can reach their goals.

Leaders are not only providers of hope at work, but they provide hope to their communities. They are the voices of change, creating solutions to challenges and empowering their communities to drive positive change. They are the ones who stand up and speak out, who speak the truth to empower and create solutions to challenges.

Leaders provide hope. They provide the vision, guidance, and support needed to achieve success. They are the heroes of our time, the individuals who stand up and speak out, who create solutions and drive positive change. They are the beacons of hope in our world, the ones who inspire and motivate their teams and communities. You understand the importance of leadership. Be one who provides hope today.

Need help getting clarity so you can provide hope. Contact me for a thinking partner session to discover how I can help you and your team be the leaders they were made to be. Lead Well.

Dec

2022

Hope: A Leader’s Responsibility

I had the opportunity to be a part of our local Rotary Club’s charity ball to raise money to build wells in Sierra Leone. This event has been occurring for eleven years now. The morning before at our weekly meeting I was able to hear from a leader in Freetown, Sierra Leon share the social, emotional, and overall impact these wells bring to a community.

After attending that event and thinking about recent events in my life, our world, and the holiday season it got me curious about the impact of hope. As leaders we have a job to provide hope. I got curious and asked what impact hope has on others and why is it important for a leader?

You are the leader they should do what you ask, right? Hopefully you don’t agree with that statement and know I don’t if you’ve been reading these for a while. I did a little research and am going to highlight a few keys to providing hope as the leader

Have Hope

“If you lose hope, that may be your last loss, because when hope is gone, so is motivation and the ability to learn.” John Maxwell

Hope is at the foundation of leadership. A leader sees more before others often by seeing a problem or need and has hope they can provide a solution. The leader of this event saw the need for obtaining fresh water without walking hours to a filthy river with the chance of endangering the lives of young girls during the journey. He did something about it. Eleven years ago he started a project to raise funds in collaboration with a club in Sierra Leone to provide long lasting wells in various communities.

They started with hope and eventually small results and now have impacted hundreds of thousands of lives. It all started in the heart of a leader with hope. As a leader what is the hope you are clinging to? Hope fuels the desire to learn, grow, and make a bigger impact than we may be able to make on our own.

Give Hope

“Throughout history the effectiveness of a leader has been attributed to the leader’s ability to generate hope.” Kay Herth citing Luthens and Avolio

An individual may have hope, but they have to be able to transfer that to others. The bigger the problem and need, the larger the team. As the quote above mentions, a leader is only as effective as the hope he or she can generate within first. Once that hope is alive inside the leader, he or she must stimulate the growth of that hope by building a team. A hope-filled vision inspires a team and helps it build momentum.

Inspire Internal Hope

“Optimism is the belief that things will get better. Hope is the faith that, together, we can make things better.” John Maxwell

There are two types of motivation: extrinsic and intrinsic. Extrinsic comes from some type of outside force, reward, or influence. This requires the leader to continually remind people of the reason the team should keep pressing forward.

On the other hand, intrinsic motivation is fueled by something within the individual. Individuals with this type of motivation have internal hope. This is not just optimistic thinking that life will improve, but as John Maxwell states above, a faith that as a team we will make things better.

When a leader has shifted from giving to inspiring hope their team will move mountains. Hope is the fuel that creates an expectation in team members that the goal will be attained. A team ignited by hope will tear down walls to accomplish the vision.

Here is the question: how are you at inspiring hope in those you lead? What can you do today to give them hope with a plan to work toward? Leaders must provide hope and a plan to get the team where they are trying to go. There is another element to this, but we will save that for next week. Need help thinking into how you give hope? Contact me for a powerful coaching session. Lead Well!

Luthans, F., & Avolio, B. (2003). Authentic leadership: A positive development approach. In Cameron, K., Dutton, J. & Quinn, R. (Eds), Positive Organizational Scholarship, (241-253). San Franciso; Barrett-Koehler.

https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Kaye-Herth/publication/264838550_Leadership_from_a_Hope_Paradigm/links/543284530cf20c6211bc53e1/Leadership-from-a-Hope-Paradigm.pdf retrieved 12/4/2022

Maxwell, John. Sometimes You Win, Sometimes You Learn. Center Street, New York: 2013

https://web.archive.org/web/20180512081422id_/https://www.regent.edu/acad/global/publications/sl_proceedings/2006/cerff_winston.pdf retrieved 12/4/2022

Mar

2020

Are You a Carrier?

I was preparing for a Facebook Live mini workshop I did the other day and an idea came to me. This idea was reinforced as I listened to John Maxwell speak on day one of his virtual leadership summit.

We are carriers . . . all of us.

Whether at work or at home we are a carrier of a disease . . . or a cure.

In the unique reality we are experiencing this idea challenged me. Whether leading at work or at home I am carrying something.

Hope or Fear

Whether in an e-mail I send, a post I make, a blog I write or any communication I make publicly or privately what am I spreading? No matter the circumstances around us we either are a beacon of light and hope or we spread anxiety and fear. This starts with us.

What I allow in my mind and dwell on impacts if I am spreading hope or fear. When we think there is no hope we nurture and act from a fear-based mindset. On the other hand, if we see opportunity and options amidst difficulty we create soil for hope to grow.

Selfish or Generous

The soil we nurture impacts our actions. For example, if we believe resources are limited and will never return our highest concern may be ourselves and from that mindset we will act. Alternatively, if we have hope that the situation we are experiencing is temporary we will consider more than just our needs.

When operating out of generosity we seek to serve, give and help those in greater need. My wife is an amazing example of this generous mindset right now. She has gathered a group of people to partner in serving an elderly neighbor who is not well resourced by purchasing and delivering groceries. Her generosity is rooted in the soil of her selfless mindset. Nurture that soil in each of us and we will spread the same generosity and hope.

The Natural Antibodies

I am a person of faith so you can ignore this part if you want. As I listened to a faith leader recently he reminded me of what I would call the antibodies against fear.

Faith

Hope

Love

Regardless of whether you are a person of faith, as leaders at work and home we spread faith that there will be a better tomorrow. Deal hope to those who are in fear that today’s reality will not last. Extend love to those around us. As we nurture these antibodies, we create an environment that carries hope and healing instead of dis-ease and fear. It all starts in our perspective.

Can I encourage you to take captive your thoughts and ask yourself if it will bring hope or fear? Be aware of reality, but let’s point one another to hope in difficult times and lead as beacons of light to those in our workplaces, communities, and families. You are a leader, you influence, use your influence to be hope and a lighthouse in the storm. Lead well.

Jan

2018

Overcome the Leadership Burden You Carry

I try to be respectful of the reality that individuals who read this have multiple perspectives on life and faith. For some reason I feel compelled to share something this time that I hope encourages you regardless of your faith perspective.

I find in my life and leadership at work and home the feeling of a heavy burden.

The burden to provide.

The burden to love my wife and children well.

The burden of the stresses of work and growing a business.

The burden of the challenges that come from my children’s choices.

The burden of trying to innovate and create and think ahead both personally and professionally.

The burden of balancing the various aspects of life.

The burden of maintaining healthy physically, mentally and emotionally. These are only a few and I believe you probably can either resonate or add to this list.

As I think of all these burdens Jesus’ words come to mind as encouragement. “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” (Matthew 11:28). You don’t have to believe everything about Jesus or the Bible. You can take this as a quote by a good leader like you would a quote by Gandhi. What you ultimately believe about Jesus is your choice and I refuse to force you in any way to believe what I believe so if you are done reading at this point I understand, but hope you will continue because I think there is something here that can encourage you as it does me.

You see when I read this it gives me hope. I often feel the burden of life and I can feel it very heavy at times because I am a recovering perfectionist. Here is part of what I see in what Jesus said. There is someone bigger than you who is ultimately in control and will help you carry those burdens. The burden to raise your children alone or in partnership, the burden to provide, the burden to get that project accomplished can be lighter.

I find if I figure out a way to surrender and trust in the One who gave me all those gifts, talents, and abilities and quit trying so hard to do it on my own then He gives me peace amidst the burden. Ultimately I can’t control if someone purchases something from me, does what I want them to do, or approves of my work. My worth and value and trust must be in someone greater than I am and for me that is the Creator of the Universe.

Now you may not believe what I believe, that is fine, but if everything depends on you and there are not others to help you carry the burden, it will crush you. Just as when we were little we may have trusted our parents, at least for a time, find that greater source that you can go to and receive peace amidst the storms of leading at work and home.

Why is this important? When we are in the right state of mind are we able to lead well. If everything depends solely on us as individuals we are quite feeble in comparison to the strength of Him or a team of people you can rely on to get you through. Sometimes that team comes in the form of a coach, a mastermind group, a mentor or something else. So my question is not how far you can carry this burden alone, but on whom will you rely to help you carry your burden? You and I don’t have to do it alone. Release control and know that there is help from a greater source and the community around you.