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Leading Well is a short, impactful podcast for executive women, and the men who support them, who want to lead with purpose and show up well in every part of their lives.
Through 10–15 minute solo episodes, leadership coach and speaker Gretchen Schott shares insights, practical tools, and personal reflections that help you navigate people problems, lead with authenticity, and grow your confidence from the inside out.
Rooted in faith and designed to inspire, each episode ends with a brief prayer—an invitation to pause, reflect, and reconnect.
If you’re ready to build trust, clarity, and connection in your work and life, Leading Well is your weekly dose of encouragement and strategy.
[00:00:00] Gretchen Schott: As leaders, we are thermostats, not thermometers. We set the emotional temperature for the people around us. When we lead with hope, we create a culture where perseverance and faith can grow. And spiritually hope is the antidote to despair. It reminds us that God's story is still unfolding even when we can't see the ending.
[00:00:24] Gretchen Schott: Your ability to hope out loud. Gives others permission to believe. Again, you're listening to Leading Well the podcast for executive women and the men who support them, who are ready to lead with clarity, confidence, and compassion. I'm your host, Gretchen Schott. Let's dive in.
[00:00:51] Gretchen Schott: Hi friends. Welcome back to Leading Well. There are seasons in leadership and in life when hope feels distant. Maybe you're carrying a heavy workload. Maybe you've just poured yourself into others for so long. Now you're feeling depleted or maybe you're just tired. The kind of tired that rest alone just doesn't fix.
[00:01:20] Gretchen Schott: If that's you and you find yourself here, I want you to know. You are not alone, and today's episode is for you because hope isn't something we wait for. Hope is something that we cultivate. It's both a mindset and a practice and one that anchors us and what's possible, even when we can't yet see it. And when we lead with hope, we don't just survive the hard seasons.
[00:01:50] Gretchen Schott: Hmm. Nope. We actually create the conditions for renewal for ourselves and for those that we lead. So let's start. What exactly is hope? Hope isn't wishful thinking. It's a mental state that activates the prefrontal cortex, the part of our brain that plans imagines and takes purposeful action. When we choose hope, we actually are engaging the part of our brain that helps problem solve.
[00:02:20] Gretchen Schott: Make decisions and stay motivated. From a faith perspective, hope is one of the theological virtues, a confident expectation rooted in God's goodness. In Romans 15:13, it states, may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace and believing so that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.
[00:02:44] Gretchen Schott: Now, here's what hope is not. Hope is not denial. It's not pretending that everything's fine and it's not blind optimism that ignores pain or difficulty. Hope doesn't deny the darkness. It declares the light still exists. Hope says even here, even now, I believe there's something more. As leaders, we are thermostats, not thermometers.
[00:03:16] Gretchen Schott: We set the emotional temperature for the people around us. When we lead with hope, we create a culture where perseverance and faith can grow. When we lose hope, discouragement spreads just as quickly. Research shows that hopeful people experience lower stress levels, higher motivation and stronger collaboration, and spiritually hope is the antidote to despair.
[00:03:43] Gretchen Schott: It reminds us that God's story is still unfolding even when we can't see the ending. Here's the thing, your ability to hope out loud gives others permission to believe. Again, hope isn't just something we feel, it's something we model to How do we actually do that? How do we cultivate hope when we feel uncertain or joy feels so far away?
[00:04:13] Gretchen Schott: Here's a couple examples or ideas that you can take with you. One is name what you're hoping for the brain in these direction. Take a moment to write down one thing you're hoping for personally and professionally. Give it words. I hope to find healing in this relationship. I hope to lead with more care.
[00:04:37] Gretchen Schott: I hope to find clarity in this next season. Then take that sentence and turn it into a prayer. Speak it out loud to God, naming what your hope is, will reorient your thoughts towards possibility and away from despair. The second thing you can do is visualize what the next step is, not the finish line, but the next step.
[00:05:03] Gretchen Schott: So when we feel hopelessness, it's usually because we're starting at a mountain and we're staring at this mountain and we don't know how to climb it. So instead, look for the next step. And I would even say the next faithful step, we call this chunking breaking things goals into small, little doable pieces.
[00:05:22] Gretchen Schott: It activates the dopamine and it actually builds momentum for us. Hope groves in movement, not in the waiting. So ask yourself, what's one small thing I can do today that moves towards hope? And with that, my next tip is surround yourself with hopeful voices. Our emotions, they're contagious. Mirror neurons in the brain mean we literally absorb the energy of other people we spend time with.
[00:05:53] Gretchen Schott: So be intentional. Spend time with people who speak life into you and remind you that God is still at work, even when you can't see what it is. And then sometimes we need to also be those kinds of people for other people. So be hopeful for others, it's reciprocal. Lastly, when life feels uncertain, look back on times when God has come through for you.
[00:06:21] Gretchen Schott: Write it down. Keep a Hope Journal. Reflect on it, revisit it. Gratitude literally rewires our brain. It lowers our stress hormones, and it activates the part of our brain that fosters trust and optimism. Each reminder becomes evidence that God hasn't failed you yet, and he won't start now. And last but not least, sometimes the quickest way to build hope is through the body.
[00:06:47] Gretchen Schott: So take a breath, stand tall. Smile. Even when it feels hard, hope isn't found. It's formed. One prayer, one breath, one step at a time. So let's take a moment right now. Where in your life do you feel hopeless right now? And what's one small step that you need to plant today? A seed of hope that you can put forward today to move you towards that.
[00:07:18] Gretchen Schott: Who around you? I might need you to lend them a little bit of your hope. Who around you might be able to lend you some hope? Take a deep breath. Invite God into that space. He's already there. So I wanna close our time with a verse from Romans 12:12. I love this verse. Rejoice in hope.
[00:07:47] Gretchen Schott: Be patient in tribulation. Be constant in prayer. And let's say this prayer, you can play this back, or maybe you can just listen to this and it might bring you some peace, and it might be a nice way for you to begin that thought of sitting down and thinking about cultivating hope. Heavenly father, you are the God of hope, the one who never stops working for our good.
[00:08:14] Gretchen Schott: When we grow weary or lose sight of joy draws back to you. Help us to see beyond what is hard and to trust that your plans are still unfolding. Fill us with courage and faith that we may lead others with light and love. Let us hope in you overflow with every conversation, every decision, every act of leadership.
[00:08:39] Gretchen Schott: If this episode encouraged you, I would love for you to share it with someone you might think needs a little bit of hope today. That would be amazing. And if you'd like to keep these kind of reflections coming, subscribe to the Leading Well Newsletter as well as the podcast where I send out a monthly note of encouragement, leadership insights, and Faith field reflection sent straight into your inbox.
[00:09:00] Gretchen Schott: You can find the link in the show notes. Until next time, friend, keep leading with love. And keep cultivating hope, ready to lead well, or need some coaching and encouragement. Sign up for my newsletter or reach out for a personal consultation. If you enjoyed this episode, make sure to subscribe and leave a review.