Why Hope Is a Leadership Strategy  ## Metadata - Author: [[The Duct Tape Marketing Podcast]] - Full Title: Why Hope Is a Leadership Strategy - Category: #podcasts - URL: https://share.snipd.com/episode/4740d5e1-754b-4fdf-949a-3ca4dcd5428a ## Document Notes ## Highlights - **Hope As A Practiced Habit** - Hope is best treated as a habit you can practice, not just a passive feeling. - Emotional habits give you a repeatable process to navigate back to hope when feelings block you. Transcript: John Jantsch You know, a lot of people think of hope as like an emotion or a mindset and you're reframing it actually as a habit, not just something that happens to you, but something you actually can't Control. So unpack that for me. Yeah, definitely. Dr. Julia Garcia Well, I guess the best way to explain is, do you know when you have hope? Do you know when you feel it? Would you agree? Yes. And do you know when you don't? Have you ever felt like you didn't have it? Yeah. John Jantsch You know, like we're down by three touchdowns and there's... Exactly. Dr. Julia Garcia So you know when you have it and you know when you don't. So it's one of those things that's connected to our feelings. Yes. And so the biggest thing is we don't always have a process or a way to navigate our feelings. So when we do that, then we can always have a process back to hope. So it starts with emotional habits to help us build and navigate back to hope. Because at the end of the day, I could tell you hope is a cognitive science, but it really comes down to how you feel about it. And so if you've got feelings that are blocking you from having hope, then what we need to do is actually focus on how we process and navigate our feelings with emotional habits of hope. ([Time 0:01:21](https://share.snipd.com/snip/99395462-baeb-46b9-9087-daf0c448c5f8)) - **Turning Anger Into A Safety App** - Julia repurposed anger about online harassment into building a mobile app to create safer online spaces. - She used that emotional energy as creative fuel rather than letting it immobilize her. Transcript: Dr. Julia Garcia And it's where we take parts of our story and we rewrite it, we rebrand it, we rechannel it into something innovative, creative, a project, anything that you can think of. There was, for an example, I wasn't in the space of social media at the time, but I started really observing how people were using it and the impact it had on culture. And one day I learned that there were some people who were getting harassed online and even taking their lives to the experiences that they were having from social media abuse and harassment And things like that. So what I did is I took the anger and the frustration I felt of learning about that and how people were experiencing it in a very harmful way. And I created a mobile app to help create a safe space for people online. And this was years ago, but the point is I took a feeling and I repurposed it through an emotional habit of hope and I created something from it. ([Time 0:05:13](https://share.snipd.com/snip/e7bf09eb-1a74-4941-adc2-5a46e4de6155)) - **Reframe Identity With New Language** - Replace negative identity statements with corrective, empowering language to reframe adversity. - Use phrases like "I'm anxious and afraid, but I'm also courageous and brave" to rewire thought-feeling loops. Transcript: Dr. Julia Garcia Yeah, I think reframing has a lot to do with replacing language because really what happens is we feel a certain way and then we start to do things in response to that feeling. So, for example, I didn't feel like I had worth. I felt worthless. And so then it became I would do things that maybe weren't helpful for me to advance my career or relationships. They actually were the opposite. They were self-destructive. And then I would be like, yep, because I'm worthless. So then it would affirm an identity, a sense of self. So the feeling informed my identity. And then it just kept going on this negative loop. And you know what if you've ever had those thoughts, if I can't do it, I'm not good enough. I'm less than, I'm worthless. And so instead of just stopping those habits in our minds, because that's really hard to do to just stop something, what we do is we interject and we replace it with something. So we could say I'm worth more. Or we can also add something we could say, I'm anxious and afraid, but I'm also courageous and brave. And it's actually breaking thought cycles and rewiring those neural pathways in our mind so that we can rewrite our stories that we tell ourselves in our mind that tell us who and who Who we aren't. ([Time 0:06:29](https://share.snipd.com/snip/6a414b4c-0f5e-477e-8ceb-8089824d863f)) - **Practice Emotional Risk-Taking** - Take emotional risks by sharing feelings and joy even when rejection is possible. - Value the person you become through bravery regardless of external outcomes. Transcript: Dr. Julia Garcia You could be super connected, really successful, and feel utterly alone. And I want to say that because if you're listening and you feel that, I just want you to know you are not alone that. And habit number two, I would say, is a really big one for this generation in particular. It's the habit of emotional risk. So I used to think risk-taking was like adrenaline rushes. I've jumped out of an airplane three times, love roller coasters, all the things. But emotional risk is very different. And only you know what you hold back in emotionally. Only you know that you didn't actually fully open up to that person you're in a relationship with. Only you know you didn't, you withheld even joy. I have people who I work with who are not just withholding and struggling and suppressing emotions like sadness or anger. They're actually withholding joy too. Because when you get in that emotional habit of withholding, you're withholding everything. So it's not just sadness, it's joy too. And only you know what that is, but we have to believe there's value and worth in taking that emotional risk. And so the flip side is you could get rejected. Your idea could get thrown down. You can look stupid and feel like a fool. So there is a risk. That's why it's saying it's called risk. But if we aren't brave, no matter the outcome, I believe we will like who we are becoming. ([Time 0:08:10](https://share.snipd.com/snip/e6203335-91b2-454f-9076-e0fee7eb1165)) - **Dont Quantify Hope As Performance** - Measuring hope quantitatively can mislead because the work is inward, not a performance metric. - Focus on building an inward process aligned with values rather than chasing external improvements. Transcript: Dr. Julia Garcia One of the trickiest things in my industry is when you are working with feelings, quantifying is really hard. That kind of data is really hard. It's a lot of feedback in order to get that quantitative and qualitative. But I would say the biggest thing if you want to measure, would say is actually don't do that. Because this constant perform and get better and be better is not really what I'm saying. What I'm saying is instead of going outwards to achieve X, Y, and Z, let's just get better at having a process to go inward. So it's actually, to me, the opposite because the internal place, when that gets aligned with our values and a sense of worth, then the external things matter less. ([Time 0:11:01](https://share.snipd.com/snip/d59e0341-78f0-42b8-8a2b-4f4e9841a2ec)) - **Hope Improves Team Performance** - Emotional habits of hope translate into better business outcomes by shifting teams from survival to problem-solving. - Receiving (listening) and contribution (creating) increase collaboration, innovation, and culture. Transcript: John Jantsch I know it's the same concept, but when you go and work with a leader or with a team, how do you make this feel like a business thing instead of like psychology, so to speak? Dr. Julia Garcia Yeah, of course. I mean, making it personal, for sure. We all know what burnout does to our teams. We all know that a turnover, how much that hurts our bottom line. We all know what it's like to have someone we work with who we don't want to work with and who we don't like working with. And when we have these emotional habits of hope, it trains businesses to solve problems instead of just be on survival mode. It helps us find a path forward collectively instead of feeling like we're going to collapse under stress. It helps improve actual business outcomes, team culture. And some of the ways that we can think about that is through, let's say the habit number four is receiving. And that's all about collaboration. It's learning to actually listen, to learn, to adapt, to include, to participate. And habit number five that we spoke a little bit about earlier, how that translates really into effective business leading is contribution. A lot of people are part of a culture and they are a part of a culture, but they're consuming it and they're not contributing and creating it. Especially in your team workplace environment, you assume that so and so is the leader. So this is just what it is. But the more we can find ways to contribute, then we can make pass forward. And another thing about that is when we're collaborating, which is number four, receiving, we're allowing ourselves to be sparked with new ideas and innovation and to build that team Place culture, which is really important because it's really easy to get discouraged in the workplace to just be on autopilot mode. But when we create a culture of hope, what we're doing is we're fostering connectivity with emotional risks, right? We're fostering a better workplace environment when other people are listening and also engaging and contributing. And when we're all part of a collective goal and mission. ([Time 0:12:54](https://share.snipd.com/snip/52209bfa-7c72-45ba-b516-8eae2a1df713)) - **Use The Release Exercise Daily** - Regularly practice a simple release exercise: hold pressure mentally then let go to offload stress. - Releasing reduces restriction and benefits personal, relational, and professional life. Transcript: Dr. Julia Garcia Let me see both of your hands. Grab both of your hands. Okay. I want you to think about all the things that are pressures, stressors, things that make you feel like you're struggling. Okay. We're going to think about them. You got some things in your mind. You don't have to say them. But you do. Sure. Okay. That was a yes. Okay. So now squeeze two fists really tightly. Now, if I were to come next to you and try and open your fist, I shouldn't be able to because that's how hard you're going to be squeezing. So if you're listening right now and you would like to participate, what you do is you think of things that are just really stressing you out, things that you're struggling with that You're not opening up about, that you were just, you're independent. You've got this. You're going to figure this out. You are strong-willed. You are high-performing. You've got it. So I want you to just keep squeezing the fist. Is it getting exhausting yet? Keep doing it. I have nails, so it gets to hurt. Just don't hurt yourself, okay? If you're bleeding or something, like, you can stop. But keep doing it. If you're doing this and I was like, okay, go about your day, but keep doing this. You'd probably figure it out, John. You'd probably like use your nose on your phone or use your elbows to pick things up. You would probably figure it out because you're probably really independent, hardworking, resilient, all those things. So if you're listening, you're probably going to figure out even how to drive with these two fists in your hand. Because the thing is, we actually can do almost all the things that we're up against. We can be really resilient. But on the count of three, when I say release, you're going to let go. One, two, three, release. How does that feel? What's the first word that comes to mind? John Jantsch Better. Better. Dr. Julia Garcia Because here's the thing. The number one thing that I heard was the word release. So that really helped me form the emotional habit number three, which is release. Because what we do as human beings, we focus so much on being resilient and we associate resilience with isolation and independence that we hold so many things that we hold it until it Is holding us back. Because the thing is, John, you could do that all day, but you're going to be restricted. And when you open your hands, when you let go, when you have a process, a regular process to release, it will impact every single area of your life, personal, relational, professional, Spiritual, you name it. ([Time 0:15:27](https://share.snipd.com/snip/745942e9-15ea-46be-83cc-ae7f0b4974de)) - **Hope Needs Honesty, Not Positivity** - Realistic hope begins with honest feelings, not false positivity. - Even a tiny seed of hope can interrupt negative cycles and rebuild neural pathways. Transcript: Dr. Julia Garcia Yeah, the biggest thing, great question is when you think of the word hope, it doesn't mean happy. And a lot of people think false positivity. That's not what hope is. I actually think to replace that with instead false positivity, it's feelings processed. Because the first thing to hope is honesty. You cannot have hope if you ain't honest with yourself. So being falsely positive, that's not going to get us there. You don't have to project happiness and you don't have to have a ton of hope. You can have like a tiny little seed of it. And that's enough to interject the negative thought cycles and to start rebuilding the neural pathways in our mind to reshape how we think and how we feel. ([Time 0:18:26](https://share.snipd.com/snip/32841590-c6ad-47ec-a40c-b56e4a590b85)) - **Hope As A Leadership Strategy** - Hope paired with leadership fuels innovation, strategy, and culture-building. - Practicing hope changes what organizations view as possible and improves collaboration. Transcript: Dr. Julia Garcia Hope is a feeling because that's how we know it. That's how we describe it. But it's a habit. It's something we can learn and unlearn. And if you felt hopeless before, there was a way you got to that hopelessness. So that means there's a way back to it. There's a way to hope. And when you have hope and you pair that with being a leader or an innovator or a creative, what happens is you start to innovate more. You start to strategize better. You start to think through problems. You start to have expectations. You start to build culture that people can collaborate in and connect in. ([Time 0:19:28](https://share.snipd.com/snip/b257fb99-8dc0-44d8-982e-630e1c7ce841))