Hope Is a Strategy: Why Realistic Optimism Is Essential for Effective Leadership - Hardcover

by Ian B. Pettigrew (Author)

Business Book Awards 2026 Shortlisted in Leadership category

There's a global hope crisis. Here's how to fix it.

Some people say that hope isn't a strategy: Ian Pettigrew strongly believes that it is.

Hopelessness keeps people stuck where they are. Hope is a powerful motivator that helps you focus on what you want and do everything in your power to achieve it. It also helps you navigate the inevitable bumps in the road on the journey. Hope is active, and has nothing to do with naive optimism, wishful thinking or toxic positivity.

This book is for leaders who want to build hope in themselves, their teams, and their organizations, so that they can succeed whilst being happy, engaged, and resilient. Full of evidence-based approaches, interwoven with both extraordinary and everyday stories of hope, it explores what hope really is, and the damage caused by getting it wrong.

Hope changes lives: in this book Ian Pettigrew, strengths coach and one of HR's most influential thinkers, provides a blueprint for leaders to discover it for themselves and to help others find it too.

Back Jacket

**Hope isn't wishful thinking; it's your most powerful strategy. **

In a world of constant change, hope is the biggest need that people have from their leaders. Despite this, most leaders don't seem to truly understand how to inspire hope in others.

Drawing on Positive Psychology research as well as his own academic research (for his MSc Applied Positive Psychology and Coaching Psychology), Ian Pettigrew details how to build hope for yourself and others. Through the practical Hope Playsheet and other techniques, you'll discover:

• Why 'doom and gloom' and 'toxic positivity' both destroy hope. And what to do instead

• How to turn hope from a vague feeling into a repeatable process

• The crucial role of trust, transparency, and psychological safety in building hope

• Why celebrating successes AND engaging with setbacks is essential
• How hope is always a team game, and how to harness collective camaraderie

Packed with research-backed insights, and actionable techniques, Hope is a Strategy is your guide to becoming the kind of leader people want to follow; one who helps others see a better future and believe they can create it.

Hope isn't just a feeling. It's a choice, a skill, a strategy.

Author Biography

Ian Pettigrew is a positive psychology coach, focusing on instilling hope in leaders worldwide. A Gallup-certified strengths coach, named as one of HR's most influential thinkers, and a motorbike accident survivor, he champions hope as a strategy through speaking, coaching, and personal challenges such as cycling the height of Everest.