186: Jen Fisher on Why Hope Is a Strategy

Overview

What if hope isn’t just something we feel but something we can practice?

In this conversation, I talk with Jen Fisher, CEO of The Wellbeing Team, about why hope belongs in the workplace, and why it may be one of the most important leadership skills we need right now.

Jen challenges the idea that “hope is not a strategy.” Drawing on hope theory, she explains how realistic goals, multiple pathways, and a sense of agency can help us move forward, even when we don’t know exactly how things will turn out.

We also talk about the workplace norms we’ve simply accepted as “the way things are,” the human side of AI and organizational transformation, and why sustainable performance shouldn’t be confused with slacking or disengagement.

And Jen shares from her own experience of burnout and success and how this changed the way she thinks about work and the life we’re building alongside our careers.

Listen below or on your favorite podcast player.

186. Jen Fisher on Why Hope Is a Strategy

The Sustainable Ambition Podcast with Kathy Oneto

More About Our Guest

Jen Fisher is a global authority on workplace wellbeing, bestselling author, and founder and CEO of The Wellbeing Team. As Deloitte's first Chief Wellbeing Officer, she pioneered groundbreaking approaches to human-centered work that gained national recognition. She hosts The WorkWell Podcast, is a TEDx speaker, and has contributed to Harvard Business Review, Fortune, and CNN.

Listen to the full episode to hear:

• Why hope is a leadership skill, and not just wishful thinking

• What sustainable performance really looks like

• Why the human side of transformation is often overlooked

• How to challenge workplace norms that no longer serve us

• The question Jen uses to cultivate hope: “Given where we are, what’s still possible?”

• Why defining success for yourself matters

Learn more about Jen Fisher:

• Website

• Hope Is the Strategy: The Underrated Skill That Transforms Work, Leadership, and Wellbeing

• The WorkWell Podcast

• Instagram: @jenfish23

• Connect on LinkedIn

Resources Mentioned

• Gen Z Fell Out of Love With Work. I Don’t Blame Them. - Emi Nietfeld | The New York Times

• The Psychology of Hope, C.R. Snyder

• Making Hope: Happen Create the Future You Want for Yourself and Others, Shane J. Lopez Ph.D.

• Daring Greatly: How the Courage to Be Vulnerable Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent, and Lead, Brené Brown

• Strategy | Roger Martin

• 166: Zach Mercurio: The Power of Mattering at Work and in Life

Thanks for Listening!

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