Hope is not a strategy

Hope is important, but what we need now are strategies that generate results. Are we ready to engage with hopeful strategies for transformative change?

Hope

I’m hopeful!

I hope that people make the connection between changes in extreme weather events and increasing concentrations of greenhouse gases.

I hope we are willing and able to address the social drivers of greenhouse gas emissions.

I hope that we have more respect for nature and each other and act out of integrity rather than self-interest.

I hope that we design and implement policies and practices that recognize the importance of an equitable and thriving world for both current and future generations. 

I am full of hope for the future. I remind myself of this every time I read the news, which has been particularly dismal this summer in terms of both climate impacts and political rhetoric. But is hope enough?

No.

Hope(s) for the Future

Hope is a powerful attitude and emotion. It is defined as a desire that is full of anticipation, or an expectation that can motivate us to act when we want something to happen or be true. In contrast to wishful thinking, hope is usually grounded in an assessment of what is possible. It is a recognition of potential.

Hope as potential recognizes that we can do things differently. This type of hope can be considered an open invitation for transformative change. In fact, research in neuroscience, psychology and adult development shows that we have the capacity to reflect on our assumptions and beliefs, and that we can transform persistent patterns and take actions based on values that apply to all, including those we consider to be “not like us.”

Although this sounds hopeful, it’s important to acknowledge that societies are made up of diverse groups with different hopes for the future. Politics, power, and interests have always promoted and prioritized some hopes over others, and in the absence of substantive democratic processes, this has sometimes led to oppression and violence. In addition, socialization processes, cultural norms, and ideologies tend to perpetuate divisions rather than help us transcend them.

Strategies for Transformative Change

To realize the potential for transformative change, we need more than hope; we need strategies that produce results. Hope is not a strategy.

Over the past years, I’ve learned a lot from Dr. Monica Sharma about designing and implementing strategies to shift systems and cultures based on universal values, such as equity, dignity, and compassion.  Monica, who wrote Radical Transformational Leadership: Strategic Action for Change Agents, refers to these as universal values because they are inherent aspects of human beings everywhere. They represent life-enhancing attributes that are “not determined by level of education, expertise, social status, or poverty or wealth – they are simply present.”

Monica Sharma’s approach to transformative change recognizes that we are dealing with complex systems, thus there are no simple solutions or magic wands. Instead, it is important to work with multiple templates and tools, and it takes practice. I interpret this strategic approach to be a conscious, non-linear and non-local change that is based on our inherent oneness. It takes quantum social change from theory into practice.

Below, I highlight a few hopeful insights I have gained by working with Monica Sharma on Transformational Leadership for Sustainability programs:

1)      Everyone has the capacity to lead transformative change. It is not a role reserved for those with power, those in positions of authority, or those with impressive titles and resumes. In fact, such people are usually the ones with strong interests in defending the status quo. The true leaders are the ones who have the courage to show up, disrupt the norms and systems that lead to inequitable and unsustainable outcomes, and generate new ones based on universal values. In terms of quantum social change, we matter more than we think; what we consider to be our “small” inputs and actions can generate big outcomes and impacts when we work holistically and strategically to shift structures and systems at all scales.

2)      Strategic action transcends rather than reinforces polarizing dualisms, such as “us versus them” and “right versus wrong.” This includes transforming relationships through generative conversations based on what people care deeply about, for themselves and everyone. In contrast to superficial values, strategic action is connected to values that apply to the largest circle of care that we can imagine, both now and in the future. Monica emphasizes that this connection is not a space of direct causality; it is based on our inherent oneness.  This approach is consistent with quantum entanglement, which recognizes that we are correlated or co-related through shared language, meaning, and values.  

3)      Effective strategies focus on specifics, not abstractions. They contribute to measurable shifts from one thing to another, such as from subsidizing environmentally harmful industries to financing equitable and sustainable alternatives. These shifts cannot be separated from who we are and how we show up, and this includes our embodied values and inner capacities. This insight underscores that subjects and objects are not separate; when it comes to quantum social change, it is not just agency, but the quality of agency and how we show up that “matters.”

Hopeful Strategies

Strategic approaches to transformational change are about how we show up to generate new structures and patterns that work for everyone. As Monica Sharma writes:

It is a way of BEING. The achievement of the goals and outcomes are as important as the transformational approaches and methods used to achieve them – it is not about producing results at any costs. Attuned with others, achieving results is a vehicle for self-expression, accomplishment, and realizing the full potential of people engaged in these endeavors … often in the face of little agreement or outright opposition.

With so much at stake right now, we need more than hope — we need hopeful strategies that produce results in relation to climate change, biodiversity loss, global inequality, wars and violent conflicts, mental health challenges, and so on. Hope as potential can be realized by pursuing strategies to shift norms and systems based on values inherent to all. This is quantum social change, and it is a hopeful strategy for addressing the inequities and injustices in the world today.

What’s my hopeful strategy for the weeks ahead? I will support people and organizations who are talking about policies and actions based on values that apply to all people and nature. l will have generative conversations that bring out what people care deeply about, for everyone. And I’ll contribute to transformative shifts from classical social change to quantum social change. I hope this strategy will have ripple effects and help others to identify their own hopeful strategies!     

To be hopeful means to be uncertain about the future, to be tender toward possibilities, to be dedicated to change all the way down to the bottom of your heart.

— Rebecca Solnit

Photo: Nick Fewings / Unsplash