Hope is Not A Strategy

Once upon a time, I had a leader I couldn't fucking stand. He was arrogant, pompous, narcissistic, and brash, with just enough mix of insecurities causing him to be one of the worst leaders I've ever worked for.

But the further I've gotten away from working for him, the more I've learned that he was right about a lot of stuff. Turns out, he was smart, he knew what he was doing, and I learned a lot from him.

I just don't have any desire to ever run into him again.

I can't tell you how hard it is for me to admit out loud that I learned a ton from him too. I have to swallow my pride completely to even be able to speak that into existence.

One of the many sayings that would come out of his mouth on repeat was, “Hope is not a strategy.” Even writing that makes the hair on the back of my neck stand up because I can hear him saying this among seven hundred other phrases.

But once again, he was right, and I can't tell you how much we over-use the concept of hope in the workplace.

“I hope to accomplish this goal” or “I hope to be at a specific point in my career.”

I hear hope all the time, and while hope is nice, hope doesn't get you to where you want to be.

The gap between hope and really executing on a goal is writing it out, being intentional about it, and setting milestones to ensure you actually achieve it. Otherwise, hope, is not a strategy.

I think a lot of people confuse wanting something with building a plan to get it. They say they want the promotion, the bigger role, the new job, the business, the extra income, or the leadership opportunity. Then you ask them what they’re actually doing to move toward it, and the answer is usually some version of, “I’m working hard and hoping it happens.”

That’s where careers get stuck. You can work incredibly hard and still stay in the same place if your effort isn’t connected to a specific outcome. Hard work matters, but intentional work matters more. If you want the promotion, what skills do you need to build? Who needs to know your work? What gaps do you need to close? What conversations do you need to have? What has to be true six months from now that isn’t true today?

The same thing applies outside of work. If you want to start a side hustle, write down what you need to launch it. If you want to change industries, identify the people you need to meet and the knowledge you need to acquire. If you want to become a better leader, stop hoping you’ll magically improve with time and decide what you’re going to work on specifically. Hope gives you a direction. A plan gives you movement.

I’m not saying you need some ridiculous twenty-page roadmap for every goal in your life. Most of us would never follow it anyway. But you should be able to articulate what you’re trying to accomplish, what the next few steps are, and how you’ll know if you’re actually making progress. Otherwise, you’re just standing still with really good intentions.

Hope gives you a direction. A plan gives you movement.

So as much as it pains me to admit it, he was right. Hope feels good because it lets us believe something might happen without forcing us to confront whether we’re actually doing enough to make it happen. Keep the hope. There’s nothing wrong with believing something better is possible. Just don’t confuse hope with execution. Write it down. Build the plan. Set the milestones. Do the work. Hope is not a strategy.