Leadership is HOPE Through Action
One of the greatest leadership attributes is to be hopeful.
While it is always part of our leadership behaviour, it is most in demand in our darkest hours. When it feels that we cannot continue and when all about us is in disarray, it is HOPE that keeps us going until we arrive on the other side.
Being hopeful, exercising hope, is based on our actions, the things we do to make progress and to get us out of a jam.
Hope is not the same as imagining that the cavalry will arrive to save us. We are the cavalry.
I offer you a story about an explorer and an occasional influential leader. He was also one of the greatest hope merchants of the 20th century.
It is a story that powerfully illustrates what is possible in our own lives, and the impact we can have in our homes, teams, schools, communities, workspaces, governments and countries if we dare to choose to lead and activate others to lead.
Major Sir Ernest Henry Shackleton CVO OBE FRGS FRSGS
To access the article refer to the following url: BBC Programmes. Explorers.
Ernest Shackleton (1874-1922) is arguably the greatest explorer of the Cold Continent, Antarctica.
Sometimes we need real-life examples of people who overcame seemingly impossible adversities to lead and succeed—to prove that the impossible is temporary.
Shackleton’s story illustrates that when we are in a tight corner—leadership infused with hope is the answer.
There are eight leadership ‘ingredients’ identified in Shackleton’s brief resumé attached in the infographic. The eight items are set out below in their order of occurrence (my emphasis):
- Shackleton was a …man to get you out of a jam. In tough times, leaders arise.
- He had ‘Endurance’ in more ways than one. In his own words, If you’re a leader, a fellow that other fellows look to, you’ve got to keep going.
- Difficulties are just things to overcome… Life has its difficulties; leaders work through them.
- He never lost HOPE. Hope is continuing to work with purpose towards the best outcome.
- He got everyone home. That is success for a leader—none were sacrificed. He took them all along.
- [He] pushed the boundaries of what was possible…. Leaders look beyond the problem to find an (im)possible solution.
- [He had] …an awe-inspiring sense of curiosity… This is what pushes the envelope of what is possible and finds solutions where none seem to exist.
[He had] …courage, determination… Leadership is impossible without courage, whether physical or moral.
imagine what we can achieve if we are successful influential leaders in each of our leadership moments?
Our personal lives, our homes, schools, businesses and country would be unrecognisably better.
There is nothing impossible if we are hopeful and choose to follow through with actions.
If we want our lives to be fuller and more meaningful, our family environments, workspaces and businesses to bloom, and our country to progress, it is my and your business to lead. We are the cavalry.
In closing, I offer you one of the great commands to leadership.
The only way to lead people is to show them a future: a leader is a dealer in hope.
Napoleon Bonaparte (1769–1821)
The essence of Napoleon’s call to leadership is two-fold:
- We show. The implication is that we set the example through our personal actions. It is not in the telling; it is in our doing. There are many talkers, but few doers… leaders do.
- We deal in hope. We are hope merchants through our actions.
As you head into a new week – be hopeful through what you do; be a hope merchant.
Regards,
Colin Donian
CEO: Karoo
Shaping lives for the better
