Plan for the worst, hope for the best: why hope is a leadership tool
“Plan for the worst, hope for the best” is usually said as a throwaway line. I think it’s more useful than that, especially when the pressure is on and people are watching your every move.
Great leaders create hope. Not as a slogan, and not by pretending everything is fine. They create the conditions where people can see a path forward and feel it’s worth moving.
Hope is one of the few things that scales. One leader’s tone becomes the team’s tempo.
Hope is contagious. So is fear.
You see this in sport all the time. A team gets ahead, then goes defensive to protect the lead. They stop playing. The intent shifts from “win” to “don’t lose”.
Something subtle happens next: the fear ripples. Decision-making slows. Players become cautious. Small errors multiply. The opposition, sensing it, grows in confidence.
The same pattern shows up in organisations:
Fear spreads faster than facts: one anxious leader can infect a whole team.
Cynicism is sticky: once people start rolling their eyes, you’re already behind.
Hope moves people: it creates energy for effort, and effort is what changes outcomes.
Hope is not optimism. It requires action and evidence.
Optimism is a mood. Hope is closer to a discipline.
Research suggests hope can be complicated in the workplace. It can lift performance, but it can also lead people to underestimate effort, overreach, and then crash when reality bites. That’s why “realistic hope” matters: it holds the highs and the lows together and stays adjustable when setbacks hit.
That’s a key distinction I use with leadership teams:
Optimism: “It’ll work out.”
Hope: “Here’s what we’re doing, here’s what we’re learning, and here’s why the next step is worth it.”
Hope without action becomes wishful thinking. Action without hope becomes a grind.
How leaders install hope without faking it
If you’re leading through uncertainty, you don’t need big speeches. You need a repeatable approach that people can feel.
Here’s what I look for in leaders who consistently create hope:
A clear direction: people can describe the plan in plain language.
Visible progress: small wins are noticed, named, and connected to the bigger aim.
Proof of learning: when something doesn’t work, the team sees what changes next.
Steady presence: calm tone, consistent standards, no emotional whiplash.
A lot of hope comes from “ground gained”. Even modest progress, framed properly, reduces fear and restores momentum.
This is especially true in turnaround work. When confidence is damaged, people often need evidence before they offer belief. Not the other way round.
Shackleton: hope under extreme pressure
The story I come back to is Ernest Shackleton and the Endurance expedition. The expedition failed in its original aim, but he managed to bring his entire team home alive after their ship was trapped and ultimately lost.
A few details matter here, because they show what “hope” looks like in practice:
Routine and order: when uncertainty is total, structure becomes psychological safety.
Small celebrations: marking progress and milestones creates breathing space.
Purposeful decision-making: he kept choosing the next best move, even when none were good.
Care for the group mood: morale wasn’t left to chance. It was managed.
What I respect most is that Shackleton didn’t try to make reality pretty. He dealt in truth, then acted decisively inside that truth.
That’s hope: honest appraisal, then forward motion.
The dark counterpoint: when hope collapses
When teams lose hope entirely, the results can be grim. One historical comparison often cited is the Lady Franklin Bay Expedition (also known as the Greely expedition), where starvation and breakdown in order were so severe that accounts include mutiny and allegations of cannibalism.
I’m not drawing an emotional line between a boardroom and the Arctic. But the leadership lesson holds: when people believe there is no future, behaviour changes fast. Standards slip. Cooperation collapses. Self-preservation takes over.
Hope is not a nice-to-have. It’s a stabiliser.
What this means for CEOs and senior leaders
If you’re accountable for growth and delivery, hope isn’t something you “bring” with personality. It’s something you build with actions your team can see.
A few practical moves that work in real organisations:
Name the reality: say what’s hard, and what is not changing.
Choose three priorities: fewer, clearer, non-negotiable.
Show progress weekly: short rhythm, visible scoreboard, no drama.
Make learning explicit: “We tried X, we learned Y, we’re changing Z.”
Celebrate ground gained: not hype, just recognition and context.
Manage your own leakage: your frustration, sarcasm, or fatigue doesn’t stay inside you. It spreads.
Final thought
Hope is not blind positivity. It’s earned belief, built from evidence and movement.
If your team is stuck, fearful, or cynical, don’t start with motivation. Start with direction, proof, and pace. Give people something true to hold onto, then show them the next step.
That’s what serious leaders do.
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If you’re leading through a tough period and you want a calm second set of eyes on how to restore momentum, I can help you think it through.