Abandon all hope (that doesn’t have agency)

I think we can all agree we need more optimism and future-looking visions. There’s no doubt about that we need hope. But the word hope is often misunderstood. Where as many think that “hope” is about blindly being optimistic in challenging situations I much rather look at it from filoser Ernst Blochs perspective. In his book “The Principle of Hope”  he proclaims that hope is a form of knowledge and orientation.

The “not-yet”

For Bloch, the world is not finished. It is open, incomplete, and full of possibilities that have not yet been realized.

He calls this the “not-yet” that which does not fully exist, but is already active in the form of dreams, longing, art, stories, ideas, visions, and seeds of change.

The distinction between empty optimism and real hope

This is where the distinction between empty optimism and real hope becomes clear. Empty optimism is dreams without friction (a word that in itself shapes 2026). Real hope formulates concrete utopias: images of the future that are grounded in real needs, real capacities, and possible next steps. This gets me excited and hope (pun intented) it does for you too.

Real hope formulates concrete utopias: images of the future that are grounded in real needs, real capacities, and possible next steps.

What can we do with this? Let’s look at it from a leadership point of view.

Hope + agency in leadership

If hope is a form of orientation, then leadership shouldn’t be about providing certainty. It is about helping people orient themselves toward a future that does not yet fully exist, and then taking responsibility for building it step by step.

This is where agency becomes essential.

Because the future does not emerge from vision alone, regardless from who’s telling it. It emerges from decisions. From priorities. From what leaders choose to do on an ordinary Tuesday morning when no one is watching and the distance between today’s reality and tomorrow’s possibility still feels very long.

Agency is also becoming an increasingly critical human trait: Where AI can only react to what information we give it, humans have the ability to get going without prompts or permission. It is a meta skill (read more about it in this great substack by Dan Koe).

But back to Ernst Bloch. Agency + Hope makes Bloch’s idea of the “not-yet” so powerful. It reminds us that the future is not something we wait for. It is something we participate in. Something we move closer to through deliberate action.

It reminds us that the future is not something we wait for. It is something we participate in. Something we move closer to through deliberate action.

Hope, in this sense, is not passive. It is demanding.

It asks leaders to hold two things at the same time: a clear image of what could be, and the willingness to engage with the friction, constraints, and incremental progress required to get there.

This is also where many leadership efforts fall short. We run into these challenges all the time in our leadership programs.

Vision statements are written. Strategies are announced. Futures are described. But without corresponding shifts in behavior, habits, and decisions, the future remains conceptual. It never crosses into reality. “It lives and dies on the slides”  (quote from a senior leader).

Without corresponding shifts in behavior, habits, and decisions, the future remains conceptual.

Hope without agency becomes theatre

When hope is paired with agency, it becomes a force. It shapes attention. It directs effort. It sustains momentum through uncertainty.

Leadership, then, is not the act of declaring the future. It is the act of repeatedly acting in alignment with it.

So, the headline for this text is not just “click-baity”. I believe we should abandon all hope that does not come with agency.

Not because hope is naive, but because real hope is practical. It lives in execution. In practice. In the quiet, disciplined work of moving something, however small, in the direction of the “not-yet,” every single day.

Leadership, then, is not the act of declaring the future. It is the act of repeatedly acting in alignment with it.