Chief Learning Officer - January 2009 - (Page 4) EDITOR’S LETTER High Hopes ver get a song stuck in your head? It happened to me just the other day as I was listening to a discussion about the upcoming presidential inauguration. One participant mentioned a November New York Times opinion piece by Andrew Kohut, president of Pew Research Center for the People & the Press. In the article, Kohut cited post-election polls by both Pew and Gallup, reporting that the public was “exuberant about Mr. Obama and optimistic that he will solve the nation’s problems.” Kohut’s column was titled “High Hopes.” The minute I saw those words, the old song of the same name burrowed into my brain. Resistance was futile. For the rest of the day, I was humming the catchy tune and imagining the determined little ant in the lyrics moving great big rubber plants — simply because “he’s got high, apple-pie-in-the-sky hopes.” For those who don’t remember the 1959 Oscarwinning song by Sammy Cahn and Jimmy Van Heusen, “High Hopes” was a silly little ditty with no basis in reality or obvious relevance to anyone occupying the Oval Office. Be that as it may, in 1960 it became John F. Kennedy’s presidential campaign theme song, with the lyrics rewritten and sung by Frank Sinatra at the Democratic National Convention. And now, here it was again being used as a bit of thematic background music for the nation’s state of mind heading into the inauguration. Though admittedly more optimistic after the election, I wasn’t exactly feeling exuberant — even with the melody and lyrics running through my head on a loop. Given the daunting economic, diplomatic and domestic policy issues facing the next administration, could hope really make a difference? The question led me to do a little research on whether or not there was a link between hope and effective leadership. I found more supporting evidence than I expected. Napoleon once said, “A leader is a dealer in hope.” Indeed, throughout history, the world’s most successful military, business and political strategists have peddled the vision of a better future and parlayed it into a powerful force multiplier. Winston Churchill, FDR, Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr. — to name a few — all demonstrated a profound ability not only to be hopeful but also to generate hopeful thinking and behavior in millions of others. They understood that optimism is both a cause and an outcome, whether you’re reorganizing a company or running a country. It catalyzes action and E motivates people to pursue goals, even when there are overwhelming obstacles or the odds are against them. More recently, in a radio interview about his book The Anatomy of Hope, Dr. Jerome Groopman, a New Yorker staff writer and Harvard Medical School professor, said, “Hope is essential to the net gain of leadership — that is, obtaining results. Without hope, no officer could send a soldier into battle, no coach could field a team, nor a manager expect to complete a project.” Several modern research studies that examined hope in the context of organizational leadership and human capital management bear Groopman out. They also offer some provocative lessons for leaders of all kinds, including learning leaders. In one study, researchers observed a direct correlation between hopeful leaders and an organization’s ability to sustain innovation during major changes such as mergers and acquisitions. Others discovered that “high-hope human resources” exerted a discernible and definitely positive influence on everything from profits and productivity to retention rates and employee commitment. In addition, high-hope workers were better able to cope with ambiguity and uncertainty. They were resilient, less stressed and able to summon up more successful coping strategies when confronted with change, positive or negative. After looking at all this ancient history and new data, I was finally convinced that hope really is a critical attribute and common practice of truly effective leaders. This conclusion gave me both a fresh surge of high hopes and a heightened sense of responsibility as I contemplated the future. So, along with wishes for a happy, healthy and prosperous new year, I want to share my own earnest expectations of a better tomorrow and encourage each and every one of you to be a leader of hope and a positive catalyst for change for your organization in 2009. Now, if I can just get that silly song in my head to go “kerplop!” I’ll be fine. CLO Norm Kamikow Editor in Chief norm@clomedia.com 4 Chief Learning Officer • January 2009 • www.clomedia.com http://www.clomedia.com
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