Hope Is Not a Strategy
… At Least Not By Itself
“ ‘Hope’ is the thing with feathers -
That perches in the soul -
And sings the tune without the words -
And never stops - at all -”
from Hope by Emily Dickinson
So many times, I am catching myself in a conversation using the phrase ‘I hope’:
- “I hope I will have closed this deal by Friday.”
- “I hope to make our call at 10 am.”
- “I hope we will have a chance to meet again.”
- “I hope this information helps.”
It comes out so easily because it is soft; it is non-committing. We don’t want to be wrong, giving incorrect information. On the other hand, to hope for something to happen is to want an outcome that makes our life better in some way. Envisioning a better future motivates us to take steps to make it happen.
A recent Personal Selling Power newsletter stated that “ hope and opportunity go hand in hand for sales professionals. Hope can kick-start a great day, which can snowball into a great week, month, year, and beyond.
With the power of hope, you create your own opportunities. Whenever you think you have nothing, stop and reconsider. Hope is something that can’t be taken away from you. If you don’t feel it, go and find it. Just around the corner from hope lies the opportunity you’ve been waiting for.”
When we say ‘I hope,’ it either means that this is something that really could happen in the future or that we might find out in the future that it has happened already. In most cases, it also suggests that you have some power over the situation (unlike when you say ‘I wish’).
If we have control, though, why do we still use the word ‘hope’? How about saying:
- “I will close this deal by Friday.”
- “I will be on our call at 10 am.”
- “Let’s put another meeting on our schedules.”
- “Let me know if you need more information.”
In his book, ‘Hope Is Not a Strategy,’ Rick Page tackles this challenge by providing selling strategies that turn the hope into actually making the sale.
In his article for the Army War College, Jeremy Weber takes a different approach: “ Yes, hope — standing alone, unmoored to any concrete action or contingency plans — is not a strategy. But we would do well to remember that when it comes down to it, hope is not just a strategy; it is the only strategy… Hope as a strategy builds trust, inspires solutions to wicked problems, and helps us learn from our failures.”
And Chris Bradley shares: “ A CEO expressed her frustration with executives who ask to discuss potential challenges with their plans outside the harsh scrutiny of the strategy room. Most strategic plans look like hockey sticks, she says, ‘because hope springs eternal’ that a projected ‘base case’ will materialize. ‘I tell my teams hope is not a strategy.’”
Personally, I try to stay away from using the word ‘hope’ lightheartedly. I look to replace it in statements with a more affirmative choice of words. And when hope becomes part of an approach, of a strategy in business — like launching a new product — it is based on real-world experience, knowledge, and data. And that results in trust, which is in turn necessary to implementing any strategy.
“ Without faith in the people, processes and technologies involved, how can we achieve anything? Hope recognizes the reality that failure happens, success is not assured. Hope views the glass as half full, not half empty. Hope supports realistic optimism, a necessary component of success. Optimists are powerful for solving wicked problems, the ones pessimists say can’t be solved.” (Deborah Mills-Scofield)
Contact us to find out how an experienced fractional or interim sales leader can bring realistic optimism to your team.
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Jeremy Weber — Hope Is Not ‘a’ Strategy
Chris Bradley — Hope is not a strategy
Deborah Mills-Scofield — Hope Is a Strategy
Originally published at https://www.vendux.org on May 18, 2021.
