Leaders as Hope Dealers

The idea of hope as a powerful tool for change has real science behind it. Psychologist C.R. Snyder’s Hope Theory, first validated in landmark research published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology in 1991, identified hope as a cognitive process that helps us thrive.(1) Snyder’s research demonstrated that hope has three components: goals (what we want to achieve), pathway thinking (our ability to think through multiple routes to those goals, and agency thinking (our motivation and belief that we can pursue those paths). Where there is hope, there is possibility. And that pushes us forward. Hope is the visualisation of a future state. It’s more tangible and goal-oriented than related emotions like optimism and empathy, and it’s those qualities that make it possible to operationalise hope in the workplace, where it is so clearly needed. When you hope for change, you can ‘see’ exactly what you want, and that helps create a roadmap to get there. Instead of optimistically thinking, ‘maybe things will get better’ and vaguely waiting for change, hope prompts you to take meaningful action toward that outcome. This is why the very best leaders are hope dealers. They can transform uncertainty into opportunity. They can connect current reality to future possibility. They can create pathways through uncertainty. Hope can help us channel action into meaningful change. History shows us this: inspiring leaders like Martin Luther King Jr, Nelson Mandela, Malala Yousafzai and Jacinda Ardern each helped people see the pathway through uncertainty — whether on a journey toward racial equality, reconciliation, education rights or navigating crisis. In the 2025 Global Leadership Report: What Followers Want, Gallup found that the majority of people want their leaders to embody and inspire hope — above trust, compassion and stability. The report authors describe hope as a “foundational need” that, when met, increases the number of people who identify as thriving versus struggling or suffering.(2) While the Gallup report looked at leadership in general, including government leaders, the need for hope was strongest in relation to organisational leaders. When leaders practise hope, it moves from an abstract concept to a practical capability. And in modeling hope, they ensure that it becomes embedded in the corporate and cultural DNA. With a hope-based strategy, people, processes and possibilities are always transforming. It’s an ongoing practice that builds on itself in the best way. Uncertainty is one of the reliable constants of life and of business. The way to build resilience in the face of that uncertainty is through hope. In cultivating hope we can learn from our past failures, as individuals or teams, assessing what went wrong and then moving forward with the confidence of having lived through that crisis. Next time around, hope assures us, we will know more and be able to apply our experience for a better outcome. Hope helps reduce change fatigue, enabling us to trust that whatever change comes, we will be able to handle it. The journey from depletion to hope isn’t a straight line. It requires a foundation solid enough to support the weight of possibility. That foundation is wellbeing. Your wellbeing encompasses your physical, emotional, social and financial health. When wellbeing is prioritised and nurtured, renewal, recovery and rest becomes as valued as performance. Work sustainability is as important as achievement. Prioritising your wellbeing starts with thinking of what’s important to you and defining your non-negotiables so that you can access or create or do everything you need in order to truly thrive. What that looks like is different for everyone: some people like to meditate, some don’t. For some, wellbeing might involve an activity. For others, it can just as easily be about doing nothing. For each of us, as we move forward on our life’s journey, our conception of wellbeing is likely to change. What remains constant is our basic human need to find sources of joy and renewal that sustain us through life’s challenges. Wellbeing isn’t a luxury or an afterthought — it’s the essential infrastructure that makes hope possible. Without wellbeing, hope becomes just another depleting performance, another box to check, another expectation to meet. Hope without wellbeing is just toxic positivity, pushing harder while pretending everything’s fine. We end up performing optimism rather than genuinely experiencing possibility. This is why even the most inspiring vision statements and compelling purpose narratives fall flat in depleted organisations. They make little difference in the day-to-day experience of workers because words on a wall can’t generate hope when people are running on empty. When people don’t have hope, they literally cannot see possibilities for change or different behaviours. The brain in a depleted state narrows its focus to surviving the present, not creating the future. Hope requires energy — the energy to imagine different possibilities, to take risks toward a better future, to sustain effort through inevitable challenges. That energy comes from wellbeing. It’s the difference between an organisation where ‘This is how we’ve always done it’ is the default response and one where ‘What if we tried…’ ignites constructive conversations. The relationship works in both directions. Wellbeing creates the capacity for hope, and hope reinforces the practices that build wellbeing. Together, they create a regenerative cycle where energy creates more energy, possibility creates more possibility, and human capacity expands rather than depletes. This isn’t abstract theory or wishful thinking. Because the truth is, we can’t hope our way to wellbeing. We need to build wellbeing as the foundation for genuine, sustainable hope. Only then can hope become more than an aspiration — it can become a strategy. This is an edited extract from Hope Is the Strategy: The Underrated Skill That Transforms Work, Leadership, and Wellbeing by Jen Fisher (Wiley, 2026)About the author: Jen Fisher is aglobal authority on workplace wellbeing, bestselling author, and founder and CEO of The Wellbeing Team. As Deloitte’s first Chief Wellbeing Officer, she pioneered groundbreaking approaches to human-centeredwork that gained nationalrecognition. She hosts The WorkWell Podcast, is a TEDx speaker, and has contributed to Harvard Business Review, Fortune and CNN Notes: 1. Snyder, C.R., C. Harris, J.R. Anderson, S.A. Holleran, L.M. Irving, S.T. Sigmon, L. Yoshinobu, J. Gibb, C. Langelle, and P. Harney. “The Will and the Ways: Development and Validation of an Individual-Differences Measure of Hope.” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 60, no.4 (1991): 570-585. 2. Gallup. Global Leadership Report: What Followers Want. Washington, DC: Gallup, 2025. PDF.

View Original Article