With a heavy reliance on words from Nick Cave.
Any easing in or setting-up for this post would be inadequate, so here we go.
This transcription of Nick Cave’s response, on August 14th The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, to a fan who asked “Do you still believe in us human beings?” comes by way of Mike Sowden, who writes at Everything is Amazing. Thank you Mike.
From Nick Cave.
“Much of my early life was spent holding the world and the people in it in contempt. It was a position both seductive and indulgent. The truth is, I was young and had no idea what was coming down the line. It took a devastation to teach me the preciousness of life and the essential goodness of people. It took a devastation to reveal the precariousness of the world, of its very soul, and to understand that the world was crying out for help. It took a devastation to understand the idea of mortal value, and it took a devastation to find hope.
Unlike cynicism, hopefulness is hard-earned, makes demands upon us, and can often feel like the most indefensible and lonely place on Earth. Hopefulness is not a neutral position — it is adversarial. It is the warrior emotion that can lay waste to cynicism.
Each redemptive or loving act, as small as you like — such as reading to your little boy, showing him something you love, singing him a song, or putting on his shoes — keeps the devil down in the hole.
It says the world and its inhabitants have value, and are worth defending.
It says the world is worth believing in.
In time, we come to find that this is so.”
These words hit my heart, mind, and body with such force that I was momentarily truly breathless.
I am desperate for hope. Everyday I purposefully find and nurture hope. I find it in gratitude, love, and kindness, and in others as they too navigate a world mixed with grief, joy, sadness, fear, belonging, chaos, wonder, loneliness, and the beautiful possibilities of building and sharing meaning and connection.
I work in the realm of hope – including my hope for courageous leadership. This hope and the daily acts that support this hope are shared by many of you. And yet, cynicism has crept into many of our organizations, particularly at the leadership tables.
Cynicism is a multi-flavoured sneaky toxin that disguises itself as:
- humour as we trash-talk the board or another organization
- cleverness as we squash the ideas of others
- humility as we bemoan our inboxes and meeting schedules as a way of promoting our self-importance
- a team moment with an us-against-them attitude as we “strategically assess the capacity” of the organization while complaining about staff
I have, at different times in my life, fallen for the allure of cynicism (being clever was my weakness). Sometimes I was the perpetrator and other times I found myself capitulating to the influence of those I worked for and so much wanted to respect and admire that I didn’t initially see the sneaky-toxic cynicism.
In the end my soul was damaged*. I needed to re-learn hope and the importance of holding hope close and with care.
Hope is why we engage with work, develop strategic goals, keep our focus on purpose, outcomes and impact, support people to do their best, and serve our customers and communities. Hope is what it’s all about. Cynicism is its undoing.
I invite us all to reflect on our hope and how we can use that as, in Nick Cave’s words, “the warrior emotion that can lay waste to cynicism”.
Here are a few prompts for reflection:
- How do you define hope?
- When you are hopeful at work, or in other places, how do you feel?
- Get into the juicy details such as where do you feel it? Is it heavy, light, colourful (what colours), solid, soft … ? You get my drift.
- How do you, or might you, move hope from an occasional emotional state to a way of looking at the world and your work?
- What are the conditions in which hope grows?
- What can you bring into your day to cultivate and share hope?
- How do you firmly, with understanding and compassion, put cynicism in its place? Or to paraphrase Nick Cave, keep that devil in its hole?
You’ve got this and I’m here for you.
Babs
p.s. You can find out more about me and my work as a coach and a facilitator at the Courageous Leaders Project.
Photo by Göran Eidens on Unsplash
*Damaged souls hurt and I don’t recommend the experience, but the hurt did give me, along with my hard-earned successes and hard-learned qualifications, a “doing leadership differently” insight into leadership and organizational development. I’m good with it – work with me and you will be too.
In “Reflections” I encourage us to take time to generously and kindly contemplate how we are showing up and to compassionately cultivate and nurture our growth. Reflect your way and use what is available and feels good to you. Get out the coloured markers, sing or dance, go outside and take in the sky, breathe deep, and know that you are not alone as a courageous leader.