{"id":408,"date":"2020-03-31T10:44:51","date_gmt":"2020-03-31T10:44:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.b2bcfo.com\/phil-elworth\/?p=408"},"modified":"2023-01-25T21:32:24","modified_gmt":"2023-01-25T21:32:24","slug":"hope","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.b2bcfo.com\/phil-elworth\/hope\/","title":{"rendered":"Hope"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Phil Elworth<\/em><\/p>\n

HOPE:\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong>I once had a business owner say to me as we were working through some tough changes in his business, \u201cI guess hope is not a strategy\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0I agreed with him that hope is not a strategy, but then, what is hope?\u00a0\u00a0Dictionary.com defines hope as something \u201cto look forward to with desire and reasonable confidence\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Hope in this context, or your desired outcome, needs to be based upon your past experience.\u00a0\u00a0To contrast hope from hopelessness I will use an extreme example, that of a new born baby.\u00a0\u00a0A new born has no experience to draw upon.\u00a0\u00a0When it has a need it just cries and makes its case known with no understanding of what it needs or how the need will be fulfilled. In a very real sense the baby is hopeless; it has no expectation that its needs will be fulfilled.\u00a0\u00a0Over time the baby learns that it has parents who will love and provide for its needs and thus its cry will change to one of expectation and hope.\u00a0\u00a0Hope that its needs will be fulfilled.<\/p>\n

What experience do you as an owner have to draw upon to provide the hope you need?\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Do you have expectation that the outcome you desire can be achieved?\u00a0\u00a0Or are you like the baby crying out in hopelessness not knowing what to expect.\u00a0\u00a0Since hope is based upon experience, if you don\u2019t have the experience, then you need to obtain it, and it won\u2019t happen by chance.<\/p>\n

Dr. Henry Cloud an author, speaker and psychologist, recently gave a talk on this topic where he laid out a number steps you need to take in order to have hope be successful and achieve your desired outcome.\u00a0\u00a0There is no one way to accomplish this and change can be difficult but everyone can have hope.\u00a0\u00a0The steps are:<\/p>\n