Rapid technological advancements, economic uncertainty, shifting societal expectations — leadership today is being tested like never before. Amid this volatility, one leadership trait has emerged as the most critical need worldwide: hope.
At Showcase 2025 — Speakers Spotlight’s annual client-exclusive, TED-style event — Hamza Khan, a globally recognized leadership expert, illustrated why hope-driven leadership is the essential strategy for business success, especially in a future that is all but certain.
This year’s event theme was “Meeting the Moment”, with each featured speaker offering clarity and guidance to navigate the challenges ahead — from a big picture outlook to an organizational, leadership, and individual lens. In his powerful keynote, Hamza provided the leadership perspective, espousing why hope IS a strategy and the only way to lead with impact in a constantly changing landscape.
The speakers were fantastic. I particularly enjoyed Hamza — he was funny and a great storyteller while also being insightful.
Showcase 2025 attendee
The Hope Crisis
Are you hopeful about the future? This is how Hamza opened his keynote speech. Those who said “yes” are in the minority, with a recent Gallup survey of 700,000 people across 52 countries reporting that hope has emerged as the #1 need, above trust, stability, and compassion. Second only to family, people need hope from their leaders in particular. Yet, according to Gallup, leaders account for 70% of the variance in employee engagement.
We all have the ability to give people what they need, Hamza said, but it’s not easy. In fact, during times of uncertainty, people don’t actually step up, they tend to sink to the level of their training. Most leaders are insufficiently trained with Charter Management Institute reporting that 82% of leaders have received no training at all.
“Imagine lying on a hospital bed and the nurse whispers to you, ‘by the way, in this hospital, 8/10 of our doctors have not gone to med school’,” Hamza said.
This leadership crisis has reached its apex as we are passing through the most uncertain time in history, caught between what Dr. Edward O. Wilson described as our “paleolithic emotions, medieval institutions, and godlike technology…”
The Business Case for Hope
Some leaders approach today’s challenges with the ethos that hope is not a strategy, Hamza said. But they’re missing a critical insight: hope alone isn’t a strategy but hope plus action creates the blueprint for a better, brighter future. And the data backs this up. Hope “is nothing short of a super metric that influences everything from thriving to enthusiasm,” Hamza said. It leads to:
- 38% higher thriving rates (Gallup)
- 56% increase in performance (BetterUp)
- 5x higher likelihood of performing best work (Salesforce)
- 5x higher likelihood of staying longer (Workhuman)
- 50% drop in turnover risk (BetterUp)
- 74% less likely to experience anxiety (Forbes)
“Hope without action is just a dream,” Hamza said, “but action without hope is a dead end.”
The Eight Actions of Hopeful Leaders
Today, leaders face a fundamental choice — do they react with fear or respond with hope? Fear-based leadership is a ghost of our past — we are haunted by outdated management paradigms, Hamza said. “When we react with fear,” he continued, “we do the most counterproductive thing. We stop leading and start managing.”
This fear-based approach invites what Hamza calls “organizational darkness.” The good news? Just as easily as we can slip into darkness, so too can we emerge from it.
There are eight daily practices of hopeful leadership, Hamza said.
- Co-create the future
- Turn ideas into action
- Burn bright, not out
- Do the right thing
- Work with heart
- Build more leaders
- Put people first
- Choose love over fear
Of these practices, Hamza emphasized “co-creating the future” as the most critical. Here’s how to action it — start by asking everyone in your organization what would happen if all lights were green and we had all the resources in the world, what would we do differently? Try to imagine wild success, Hamza said, take your vision/purpose statement and extrapolate.
To demonstrate, Hamza collated all the mission statements of organizations represented at Showcase 2025 and, with the help of AI, envisioned what success might look like in 2045 were we all to succeed at the highest level. It responded with: “Life in 2045 Canada would feel balanced, vibrant, human-centered, hopeful, inclusive, secure, and alive with possibility. The economy, government, and society would work with citizens, not against them, co-creating a thriving, resilient nation that lights a path for the rest of the world.”
The Path Forward
Hamza’s message resonated deeply because it came from experience — he understands firsthand what it’s like to lead without hope and be consumed by fear. In moments of uncertainty, he draws on an African proverb: “If you want to go fast, go alone… if you want to go far, go together.”
His practical approach includes first embracing hope as a noun by envisioning a better future, then activating it as a verb through daily actions that align with your vision.
As he concluded his keynote, Hamza left us with a powerful insight: “Hope is a strategy, and maybe it’s the only strategy that’s ever worked because every decision, every move, and every innovation that has truly changed the world began with people just like you who had hope.”
Ignite Hope in Your Organization with Hamza Khan
In a landscape desperate for new leadership paradigms, Hamza Khan offers more than inspiration — he provides a practical pathway forward.
The bestselling author of Leadership, Reinvented, Hamza has empowered organizations from FIFA to Microsoft to put people first. His TEDx talk “Stop Managing, Start Leading” has inspired millions worldwide, offering a bold vision for leadership that prioritizes human potential in an era of unprecedented change.
Don’t just manage uncertainty — lead through it with confidence. Contact us to learn more about Hamza and how he can help transform your leadership culture.
