Wes Stafford, former CEO of Compassion International, gave a keynote speech in which he proclaimed, “Leaders should be the first to offer hope and the last to give up.”
In his classic book, Leading Change, John Kotter says that one of the greatest sources of organizational complacency is “too much happy talk from management.” Kotter explains that change is only possible if leaders recognize and communicate the urgency of their situation.
So which is right? Are we forced to choose? Either hold out hope or communicate complacency-shattering urgency? Is this the age old question of whether the glass is half-full or half-empty. Can the answer be both?
Jim Collins offers a both/and answer in his description of the “Stockdale paradox” in
Good to Great. This paradox is named after Admiral Jim Stockdale, the highest ranking American POW during the Vietnam War. When asked how he survived his long and brutal imprisonment, Stockdale explained that he never gave up hope, but he also tempered his hope with the realistic assessment that he would be a POW for a long time.
Using this story, Collins explains that great leaders “retain faith that they will prevail in the end AND confront the most brutal facts of their reality.” Doing so avoids the trap of unrealistic happy talk and the resulting organizational complacency or loss of credibility for the leader. But it also puts a stake in the ground that prevents despair from consuming the organization.
The good news is that our hope should flow from the Good News. Of all people, Christian leaders should not shrink back from acknowledging difficult truths because they can be more confident than anyone in a hope-filled ending to the story. So what messages are you sending to your organization?
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Mike
