A leader is a dealer in hope.
– Napoleon Bonaparte

This is a lesson I learned on one of my earliest turnarounds, and though I’ve talked about it before, it’s worth reiterating to emphasize the point.

A very large cheerleading supply company was having huge problems and needed to be brought through a Chapter 11 restructuring. So, they brought me in.

I realized more than anything during this project that nothing pulls a team or company together like having hope, and I hardly think that any company could have taught me this lesson quite like a cheerleading supply company.

When you think about cheerleaders, you realize that they’re cheering hardest when their team is down and needs a big score (or three) to win the game. It’s the cheerleaders job to keep the crowd on its feet and not to let the fans’ silence and dejected feelings infect the team. The worse the situation is, the louder cheerleaders cheer.

So when it was a cheerleading company restructuring through a Chapter 11 bankruptcy, you could imagine that they knew how to cheer for themselves and keep the hope alive.

After 18 months we came out the other side of this restructuring, and at the hearing, I gave everyone pompoms, including the judge.

To this day I still have my pompoms in my office to remind me that no matter how bad things get in a turnaround, as the appointed leader, it’s my job to be a dealer in hope. It’s my job to tell everyone that we will get through it and that we have to work harder than ever to pull us out the other side.

If I don’t do that, I’ve done nothing.

As a business leader, no matter what level of management you’re at, it’s your job to deal out the hope, whether the chips are down or up. No one can fight or work or play if they don’t have hope that what they’re trying to accomplish is possible.

Be a leader who deals in hope.

How do you bring hope to your team or business?