The Case for Hope at Work

Daniel Goleman is author of the international best-seller Emotional Intelligence and Optimal: How to Sustain Personal and Organizational Excellence Every Day. He is a regular contributor to Korn Ferry. 

In 1949, shortly after surviving the Holocaust, Viktor Frankl introduced the concept of "tragic optimism.” He proposed that while suffering is an unavoidable part of life, it is still possible to maintain hope and seek personal development. Frankl contended that even the most challenging situations offer the opportunity to discover meaning. The concept is in line with aspects of emotional intelligence, cognitive behavioral therapy, and other domains of psychology: although we cannot always control our circumstances, we can control how we respond to them.

When it comes to purpose and meaning—both having it and actualizing it—hope and a willingness to grow are essential. Hope is what we experience when we have some modicum of confidence in the potential for a positive outcome. The presence of hope makes us less likely to give into overwhelming anxiety, a defeatist attitude, or depression in the face of difficult challenges or setbacks.

Given the current state of the workforce and more largely, the world, hope might be the number one imperative for leaders and teams. According to Glassdoor’s Worklife Trends 2025 Report, 65% of employees are feeling trapped in their current roles – and even more in industries such as tech. Meanwhile, a new acronym has emerged to describe the current context of leadership. Instead of describing the world as VUCA (Volatile, Uncertain, Complex, and Ambiguous), the conversation is shifting towards BANI (Brittle, Anxious, Non-linear, and Incomprehensible).

Coined in 2016 by an American anthropologist and futurist named Jamais Cascio, the term BANI refers to the impact of overlapping crises, such as climate change, pandemics, rising inequality, shifting economies, and world-wide instability. “Brittle” alludes to how fragile things are, no matter how much we center a narrative of strength. “Anxious” refers to our feeling of helplessness when there is too much information, a rapidly shifting context, and no “right” decisions. “Non-linear” looks at the illusion of predictability and the fact that almost everything is complex with variables and fraught with unexpected outcomes. “Incomprehensible” gives the nod to the constant experience of not being able to fully grasp or make sense of what is going on.

In some ways, hope seems more elusive than ever. But one can only really have hope if they have something greater they are oriented toward. A sense of purpose feeds hope, which in turn feeds all of the things we want for ourselves and others: resilience, motivation, joy, and a belief that something is worth doing, no matter how scary or incomprehensible the task may be.

As Margaret Wheatley has said, “Hope never enters a room without fear at its side. If I hope to accomplish something, I’m also afraid I’ll fail. You can’t have one without the other."

She suggests that what we really need is to learn to be with discomfort and not knowing, to sit in this BANI world, grieve our losses, and connect our efforts to something wider and more enduring than a specific outcome.

This is the tragic optimism Frankl spoke of: a belief that something good can always happen, even amid circumstances we can’t always control. Frankl endured four German death camps during World War II, and said he survived because he held on to his own sense of purpose through all the horrors.

Co-written by Elizabeth Solomon

Click here to learn more about Daniel Goleman's Building Blocks of Emotional Intelligence.