Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco, eyes filled with tears, said on September 2nd, “Repairing the 17th Street levee means water will be controlled and the water level will be fixed and better days are coming. I’m calling it Project Hope.”

Hope is as important to us as water is to a fish, as vital as electricity is to a light bulb, or as essential as money is to a business. Hope is basic to life.

When hope dies, so do businesses, families, cities, and people. “How often the word ‘hopeless’ appears in suicide notes. Take away hope, and our world is reduced to something between depression and despair.” (1) However, when there is hope, difficult circumstances begin to feel temporary.

Where can the hundreds of thousands impacted by Katrina find hope? Where can any person, family or business find hope? Based on my experiences of living life’s ups and downs, one or more of the following needs to exist for hope to take hold:

• Plans… Plans acknowledge a new and improved future. A plan of action focuses everyone on the future, not the past or present. Poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow wrote: “Not enjoyment, and not sorrow, is our destined end or way; But to act, that each to-morrow find us farther than to-day.” (2)A plan of action, even if imperfect, is far better than no plan at all.
• Action… Television coverage of thousands stranded at the Superdome and New O
• rleans convention center showed that sitting and waiting leads to hopelessness. The formula for fulfilled hope is “plan the work and work the plan”. The importance of executing plans is stressed in Larry Bossidy’s book Execution. This 2002 best seller has had resurgence in sales. Why? Because leaders realize once again in 2005 that executing a plan is more important than writing a plan. “Allied Signal had lots of hardworking, bright people, but they weren’t effective, and they didn’t place a premium on getting things done.”(3) Want hope? Practice it, don’t profess it.
• Absolutes… Complete this sentence, “I know for certain that ___”. Examine your response. Were they anemic absolutes (e.g. “I know my name is Tom”) or ample absolutes (e.g., “I know the 20% of our customers that represent 80% of our profit”)? Absolutes provide a foundation for hope. If you’re searching for something to hang your hopes on, remember the old saying “Methods are many, principles are few. Methods may change, but principles rarely do.” Instead of relying on fads, identify time-tested, fundamental truths to build your hope.
• Friends… Loneliness leads to hopelessness. Being surrounded by others leads to hope. When someone asked Wayne Huzinga why he sells instead of keeps successful businesses (e.g., Blockbuster Video) he replied, “One of life’s lessons is never fall in love with anything that can’t love you back.” Don’t put your faith in material things. Instead, put your hope in family, friends and caring people. Hope comes from hearing others tell you, “I’ve experienced what you’re going through and survived.”
• Giving… To get hope you may first need to give hope. There have been several times in my life when I’ve felt as though I had no hope. Then I would find myself in a position to help someone else. This summer a friend unexpectedly called me early one morning during a business trip. He had a monetary crisis and no savings. He asked for help. My wife and I responded to his need. As a direct result of our giving, my wife and I received a renewed hope that God would continue to work through us to meet the needs of others.
• Creativity… If you need hope, create something. Inventors are by nature optimistic, hopeful people. Creative people look at problems as opportunities, not obstacles. According to an ICMS survey, three obstacles have prevented thousands of organizations from implementing Activity Based Costing: (a) little time to implement ABC; (b) little budget yet big needs; and, ABC software too complicated for non-financial staff. ICMS has eliminated those obstacles with a new tool named CostMapper™.For most small to medium size organizations,
• activity-based customer profitability analysis, job order costing, and process analysis can be accomplished in less than one week using CostMapper™. To watch a free demo of CostMapper™, go to the ICMS.nethome page and click on the CostMapper Demo button.
• Jesus… “When you’re doing what God wants you to do, there’s always hope.” (4)Faith in Jesus provides hope. His resurrection brings victory to the hopeless. Before His resurrection, His disciples were disorganized, without hope. After His resurrection, twelve ordinary men with hope changed the world. Jesus said, “I am the resurrection and the life.” (5) He was saying to you and me “I can bring back to life your hope.”

You cannot see the wind but we can see its effect in hurricane Katrina’s impact on Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama. Similarly, you cannot physically hold hope, but its effects can be seen and heard in all types of situations:

• We see hope in the face of a patient when a doctor enters the ER.
• We see hope in the smiles of a team when a veteran quarterback enters the huddle.
• We see hope in the energy of an aspiring entrepreneur who meets a banker who believes in the business plan.
• We see hope in the confidence of a cancer victim after they talk with a cancer survivor.
• We hear hope in the optimistic words of a business owner who sees abundant improvement opportunities in the newly created Activity Based Cost reports.
• We see hope in the eyes of a wife that receives an e-mail from her husband serving his country in Iraq.
• And, we see hope in the applause of employees after their leader communicates an innovative new plan to grow the business.

Simply put, when life hurts, hurricanes hit, dreams fade or P&L’s bleed red, we all need hope. Do you need hope again?The good news during bad times is that hope is there for anyone and everyone who seeks it.

Send your comments on this article via e-mail to TomPryor@icms.net. Or, you can call ICMS, Inc. at 817-475-2945 to talk to an expert in cost management about the specific needs of your business.

(1) Hope Again, Charles R. Swindoll, Word Publishing, 1996
(2) A Psalm of Life, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Poems and Other Writings, The Library of America, 2000
(3) Execution: The Discipline of Getting Things Done, Larry Bossidy & Ram Charan, Crown Business, 2002
(4) The Ezekiel Option, Joel C. Rosenberg, Tyndale, 2005
(5) John 11:25 NIV