Leading Inspiringly through Hopepunk

Firstly I am going to have to give credit to LAST Conference. I had the pleasure of attending LAST the other day and listening to Nicola Nye on her talk on 'Hopepunk: inspiring leadership in tough times'.

In 2017, a Massachusetts writer named Alexandra Rowland coined the term ‘Hope punk’ as something opposite to the term ‘ grimdark’.

"Grimdark fantasy is a subgenre of speculative fiction with a tone, style, or setting that is particularly dystopian, amoral, and violent. It is a literary descriptor for genre texts and media which evoke a pervasively gritty, bleak, pessimistic view of the world.

Hopepunk is as much a mood and a spirit as a definable literary movement, a narrative message of “keep fighting, no matter what.”

Source: Hopepunk, explained: the storytelling trend that weaponizes optimism - Vox

There's negativity around us in abundance- whether it be wars & famine or the cost of living crisis or people who get you down at the work place. Nicola opened up this amazing possibility of applying Hopepunk to leadership. How do we inspire others around us to create a better world. And, leadership does not come from a title, it's about inspiring others to follow you towards a goal.

What if each of us

• Bring hope back

• Lead by displaying passion, purpose, authenticity, potential

• Be that person who makes an impact on someone else like that ex- manager or that homeroom teacher from Year 7

What do we do?

• Have grit to keep rebelling for the goal and inspiring, in spite of the odds, coz you will get knocked down. What this goal is, depends on you. What change do you want to bring? What problem do you want solved? What negativity do you want to stop?

• Punk demands action. Make those changes

• Stand up for what you believe in & others may follow

• Aim for “Infective recursion” (Recursion is the process of defining a problem (or the solution to a problem) in terms of (a simpler version of) itself. For example, we can define the operation "find your way home" as: If you are at home, stop moving)

Be the spark of change,

the catalyst of hope,

the warrior of empathy!

Weaponise your optimism!

Rebel with compassion!

Thank you Nicola Nye for inspiring...