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Hope
Need a Push?
by Jerry Hocutt

A leader is a dealer in hope. – Napoleon Bonaparte

Our Seattle Seahawks got rightly blown out by the Green Bay Packers in Saturday night’s 48-13 preseason fiasco.  Looks like they tried to phone it in and got the wrong number.

“I’m responsible for what we do,” Coach Mike Holmgren said after the game.  “I cannot tolerate how we played.  It’s just unacceptable, and so we’ll fix it.”

What I love about sports is the eternal optimism surrounding it.  “Wait until next year!” is the cry of every losing team, fan, and city.  Hope floats eternal.

Sports is a microcosm of life and business.  We meet adversity.  We get beat.  We have to change our strategies.  We adapt.  We change ourselves.  We change others.  We change the situation.  We learn the humility it takes to win the BIG one.  And we learn the humility it takes to live with the ones that got away.

Leaders give hope.  But giving hope doesn’t mean you’re soft.  When a furious Holmgren declares “we’ll fix it” I wouldn’t want to be in pads on the practice field this week.  There’s going to some butt kicking and angry words ricocheting through those helmets.  But Holmgren can fix it.  He has history.  There’s hope.

Because sports seasons are fixed and short, sports hope fits neatly into Eric Hoffer’s requirement of the type of hope that motivates.  “It’s the around-the-corner brand of hope that prompts people to action,” Hoffer said, “while the distant hope acts as an opiate.”

Hope motivates.  Hope moves mountains.  Hope matters.  Hope gets things done.

Hope is in the air
To hope is not to demand.  Hope is more like an invisible magnetic vibration in the universe that seems to attract what you seek.  But we can only hope for things that we have some control or influence over.  (Sorry about those of you who play the slots in the Indian and Vegas casinos.)  Hope doesn’t require a guarantee.  It means I’ll find a way.  I’ll think of something.  I’ll get better.  I’ll fix it.  Something will happen even if I don’t know what it is yet because I’ll keep trying.

Do you think the Seahawks players would suit up this week if there wasn’t any hope to fix it?  How long will the season be for the next sixteen weeks if Holmgren simply throws in the towel and says, “Ok, fellas, forget it.  You’re hopeless.  I’m hopeless.  Our coaching staff is hopeless.  Our schedule is hopeless.  We’ll just go through the motions for the next four months.”  Don’t you think owner Paul Allen would like to have a little sit down tête-à-tête with Holmgren?

Do you hope to get that big sale?  Do you hope your business takes off?  Do you hope to get that promotion?  If you don’t have hope, what else have you got? 

Hope doesn’t hand you what you want – it pushes you towards it.  What’s your hope?  What are you doing about it?

Proof of Hope
“Even the cry from the depths is an affirmation: why cry if there is no hint of hope of hearing?” – Martin Marty

It Works and Doesn’t Cost a Dime
“Hope works in these ways: it looks for the good in people instead of harping on the worst; it discovers what can be done instead of grumbling about what cannot; it regards problems, large or small, as opportunities; it pushes ahead when it would be easy to quit; it ‘lights the candle’ instead of ‘cursing the darkness.’” – Unknown

Wow!  Is That a Desk Under Those Papers?
“One of the advantages of being disorderly is that one is constantly making exciting discoveries.” – A.A. Milne

Why Airlines Will Always Teeter on Bankruptcy
“A business absolutely devoted to service will have only one worry about profits.  They will be embarrassingly large.” – Henry Ford