Hope is NOT a Business Plan

DIVINE CEO MAGAZINE

Hope is being able to see that there is light despite all the darkness.— Desmond Tutu

The Conversation that Sparked It All

Sitting with a group of friends over jazz and cocktails on a Sunday afternoon on a patio in central London, the conversation goes to plans for the future. One of us is creating a baby clothing line, one of us is starting a consulting firm, another is vying for a partner at her law firm, and I am visiting my pals for a fortnight. We have known each other for years – through marriages, children, divorces, and business ventures. We have seen each other through the highs and the lows that life can serve up. We have lived in the same city and, now, we live across the world from each other.

As we carry on the discussion of our plans for what’s next in life, from the other side of the table, I hear, Well, all we can do is hope that things work out the way we want. What? I can’t believe my ears from my seat next to her at the table. I am holding my breath while I try to figure out what to say first. My breathlessness must have been audible because all eyes around the table begin to look in my direction. Such a simple statement was said in a casual off the cuff way.

So, I exhale and begin.

Since when did our success in the unfoldment of our lives depend totally on something as benign as hope?

What happened to owning our futures?

What happened to treating and moving our feet?

How can we just pass the idea of what we want over to the universe without doing our part?

We are always in communication with the universe. We are energy. We are powerful…or, at the very least, we are participating in what is happening.”I stop. I realize that they are all still looking at me. I breathe and say, Okay, let’s break this down and reset it. We can’t just be in hope.

Cultural Clichés and the Power of Participation

After a moment of pause, we begin a rich and full discussion of cultural clichés, random sayings that are passed down through our families and society, and a bit about what we really want and can expect from the universe. Hope is mentioned so casually as the final thought of a wish or desire. We can feel so powerful and empowered in our lives as we interact with the laws of the universe on a daily basis. We can feel the interdependence of the energies of humanity, our individual influence, and the greater good that can be.

When we experience this dynamic exchange of energy, we feel we are in flow with the world around us. It is the ultimate feeling of connection and it expresses itself in how we speak, how we think and even in how we hold ourselves physically as we walk through our day. When we feel connected and empowered, we show up in conversations from a place of contribution and participation. However, in those moments of disconnection, we may experience loneliness and separation from others – and from the dynamic flow of the universe.

Hope: A Beautiful Sentiment, but Not Enough

Hope is not a bad thing.Hope, as described in Desmond Tutu’s quote, is a beautiful sentiment of the ability and the willingness to see the light when we are surrounded by darkness. The cultivation of hope is important and necessary to the positive functioning of our minds. However, if we stop there at the door of hope when we want to see something change in our lives, then we are actually refraining from entering into the channel of participation with the universe. Hope is predicated on our inability to bring our desire into existence by ourselves. Hope insists on inviting other forces into the manifestation equation. Invoking hope serves to release us from the subsequent activities related to our desire and to the ultimate outcome of the request on the universe. Hope resonates energetically in such a way that we know we can equally expect a beneficial outcome or a negative outcome. It signals to the universe that the matter is out of our hands. We become inert, inactive, and expectant.

Hope in Times of Crisis

Hope has its place when these are the circumstances of our request on the universe. In the throes of the pandemic experience, in the spring and summer of 2020, instilling hope became a key activity for people in leadership roles. In that moment in time, with so much unknown, hope was the place where leaders found themselves. Unable to predict the next steps and placed in an environment of high ambiguity, the primary work of leaders was to instill hope in those around them. In such extreme circumstances, hope was exactly where people could be – with the knowing that so much of what was happening was out of their hands.

Hope is Not a Business Plan

While hope is an understandable stance in a time of global pandemic, it does not hold a place of empowerment in manifesting the future we want to bring into being. So, when my friend at that table in London turned our future over to hope with her words, I had such a visceral reaction. In working with leaders and entrepreneurs around the world, it is always disconcerting that the activity of hope enters the conversation about desired future results. When I hear a reference to hope, I know it is a call to unpack what is happening for them and to get to what the person can actually feel empowered to do. It is also an opportunity to explore how the available resources of people, products, processes, and policies can be called into action to transform an experience of hope into a powerful experience of participatory action with the universe.

The Pitfalls of Hope and the Power of Action

In order for hope to be the prevailing desire, a stance of hopelessness is required to exist. When a person approaches a situation with hopelessness, it is a signal that they do not feel they have the capability, knowledge, or expertise to exercise influence over the possible outcomes of a situation. Additionally, sometimes the call for hope is rooted in an unwillingness to take a stance or step into action for fear of failure – looking stupid, being ridiculed, or feeling wrong. Fear of failure is an all-too-common roadblock to action. In this inertia, hope can seem like the perfect companion to go forward on our behalf – stepping into the unknown for us.

Hope in Religion: A Mechanism of Power Transfer

References to hope show up in traditional religious texts. It has been part of the structure of religion for millennia. Since most religions are designed to encourage followers to hand over their power to a higher being, hope is the perfect mechanism for this transfer. We still want to be a part of the process of what unfolds in our lives, but we recognize that surrender is the path to achieving our desires – and hope is the final attempt to participate benignly in the creation of our own lives.

The New Thought Movement: Empowering Hope with Action

The New Thought movement is rooted in traditional religion but takes with it the recognition that our thoughts are powerful mechanisms of transformation. This movement alters the role of hope in our relationship with the universe. We may find ourselves in hope, but we also know that we shape our future experiences through accompanying hope with the moving of our feet in the direction of that which we desire. We take a step forward fearlessly and full of hope in the direction of that which we desire, knowing that we are powerful and empowered in our relationship with the universe. Always.

Sonia Byrne is a Mindful Leadership Consultant working with non-profit boards, leadership teams and entrepreneurial incubators to promote self-awareness and leadership discernment through assessments, workshops, and retreat experiences. See more offerings at www.mindfulleadershipforsuccess.com