Leadership Cultivates Our Hope

Leadership Cultivates Our Hope April 26, 2016

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Some people believe they have earned the right to be leaders. Some are confident our experience or our education means we deserve to be leaders. Some of us think we have inherited leadership from our ancestors.

Some people see themselves as having the personality or the ambition it takes to be a leader. Some of us understand our leadership as coming from planning, or communication, or vision. Some people want to lead by tapping into primal emotions, or by making a reasonable, logical case.

The leaders who inspire me, whose examples I remember, cultivate our hope.

The leaders I am eager to follow are not merely angry at injustices, or experienced and qualified. The leaders I want to follow appreciate where we want to go and how we can get there together. We connect around our shared core values and help each other practice those values every day.

The leaders who inspire me persuade me there is reason to hope.

The leaders who engage me are convinced I am making a contribution, and they remind me. They know my dreams and aspirations, even when I might not be clear about them myself. They care about what I am doing and how it makes a real difference in significant ways.

The leaders who inspire me show me, again and again, where my hope meets the world’s needs.

The leaders I remember are the people who plant seeds in me every day. Even if it takes a long time for those seeds to grow and produce, they planted and cultivated them. Like persistent farmers, leaders cultivate hope that will produce for years to come.

Whose leadership cultivates your hope today?

Where does your leadership strengthen the hope of others this week?

Who could you thank for cultivating your hope?

[Image by tlindenbaum]


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