What is Hope and how can we get it?

We’ve never had an executive call us and say, “Can you help our organization build some hope?” We have, however, met many executives who should have called us for that. One of the most profound resources of an organization is this unspoken energy. It’s hard to describe its presence; but if you’ve seen an organization that has lost hope, then you know just how bleak it can be. So what is hope and how can we get it?

Hope is created at the intersections of 1) passion – a desire for something greater, 2) perseverance – the need to prevail against great odds, and 3) faith – the belief that there could be something greater beyond those odds. When a leader, organization, or even country is facing its darkest days, which we all eventually encounter, hope is what gets us through.

Hope is not allegorical or “squishy.” Researchers Peterson and Byron[i] point out that individuals with a higher capacity for hope are more goal-oriented and motivated to achieve their goals than those with low hope. They found that regardless of whether they were talking about sales employees, mortgage brokers, or management executives, high-hope individuals had higher overall job performance. They also found that higher hope executives produced more and better quality solutions, suggesting that hopefulness may help employees when they encounter obstacles at work.

But we’ve all encountered life’s obstacles and not responded hopefully. Does that mean we don’t have capacity for hope? Hope, then, is also a fundamental choice. Hope would not be the powerful force that it is if it were chosen only when a reason to do so was obvious. The true power of hope lies in choosing it when the presenting data suggests doing otherwise. Hope invites the leap of faith to place one’s confidence behind an endeavor without necessarily having tangible evidence to back it up. Hope isn’t something that just appears. It must be relentlessly pursued. Its most powerful expression comes in the face of staunch opposition. Too many of us confuse hope with mere wishing, but behind the greatest achievements in all human endeavor, you will find profound degrees of hope from individuals and communities choosing it when facing unthinkable challenges.

At Navalent, we spend a portion of our lives supporting and volunteering for a number of inspiring organizations. We’ve traveled to other parts of the world and seen firsthand the hope that is at the core of the human spirit; and their hope has, in turn, inspired us to choose hope, especially on behalf of clients we serve.

WATER 1ST

Water 1^st International is an NGO dedicated to bringing clean water and sanitation to the poorest of Ethiopia, India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka (whose story is also told in our recent book, Rising to Power). They have spent a decade raising millions of dollars to help local communities build safe and sustainable water and sanitation sources for more than 100,000 people. Unlike many organizations focused on water, the failure rates of whose projects typically linger in the 50% range after three years, Water 1^st’s projects are 100% operational around the world. Their secret lies beyond the quality of the engineering materials used to build their systems. Their impact lies in installing the capacity for a community to restore their dignity and self-sufficiency as human beings and, in so doing, generate hope to keep reaching for more. Water 1^st describes their work this way: “We start from a true place of respect for the people we want to assist…. Every poor community is rich in the most valuable resources – human intelligence and strength of spirit. We are successful because we invest in those resources and provide the poorest people in the world with an opportunity to accomplish something they see as critical to their own well-being.”   

WELLSPRING LIVING

Wellspring Living is a non-profit organization Navalent has proudly supported. A courageous organization, Wellspring enters the darkest of human depravity by restoring young girls who have been victims of sex trafficking. It has built a comprehensive program of restoration that accompanies the tragic destruction of the human heart, mind, and soul through to productive self-sufficient living. Sexual exploitation is one of the world’s most gruesome horrors, one most of us don’t want to believe is happening in our own backyard. Wellspring Living has braved the fight against such evil and has built an extraordinary bridge out of the darkest places of human existence to one of hope. Once-discarded human beings are restored to their dignity, beauty, and the dreams of reaching their potential through their own choices. 

Both of these organizations have given us a bone-deep sense of what it means to build hope that fuels transformation. Unlike wishing – “crossing your fingers and hoping for the best” — building hope for individuals and communities takes courage, enduring love, and undying commitment.  

Hope is both built and chosen. No well-orchestrated master plan, training program, special talent, inspiring speakers, or marketing campaigns will provide the foundational energy needed to transform your organization. Don’t merely wish for transformation. Hope for it. Dig deep and build it, and in the face of unforeseen setbacks and your own limitations, tap into that storehouse when you most need to, and choose hope. 

Seeing people in dire circumstances with great resolve invites us to ask on behalf of those we lead:

• What are you hoping for?And why?

• Who/what inspires you to hope for more?

• How can you choose hope daily?