HOPE for Leaders

Hope Zoeller, Ed.D

BY DAWN ANDERSON | COURTESY PHOTOS

The past two years have challenged business leaders in ways they could not have imagined. Some missteps were inevitable, with so many decisions to be made with immediacy or on uncertain timelines. But hope is found with persistence, flexibility, and learning the lessons to emerge as a more decisive, compassionate leader. With the second volume of their HOPE for Leaders series, Dr. Hope Zoeller and Dr. Joe DeSensi have co-authored the guidebook for navigating challenging times and circumstances: HOPE for Leaders in the 2020s: New Issues to Face, New Problems to Solve, New Hope for the Future.

Dr. Hope Zoeller shares her own experience as a business leader, educator, leadership consultant, and published author. As a child, Zoeller wanted to grow up to be a teacher. She eventually received a Bachelor of Arts in Communication and Psychology from Bellarmine University and a Master of Education in Training and Development from the University of Louisville. Zoeller worked part-time for UPS in international customer service and then full-time for 14 years in Human Resources and Training & Development. She was mentored by a manager with a 40-year career at UPS and working on her Doctorate in Leadership Education from Spalding University, where Dr. Zoeller is now a professor instructing in the Master of Business Communication program.

Dr. Zoeller left UPS to work for a consulting firm before hanging out her own shingle “to be a motivator of other leaders.” When asked who inspires her, she mentions several impactful business leaders, both personal and more widely known. Zoeller’s first inspiration was her father, a third-generation business owner who had worked for his father and father-in-law. He is still running the business at the age of 77. “My father is a true servant leader,” says Zoeller. “His expectations are high, but he is always fair.” His advice to her has always been, “Be a good person to your people.”

The start of Oprah Winfrey’s media mogul and philanthropy journey also strikes a chord with Dr. Zoeller. As a broadcast journalist in Baltimore, Winfrey was effectively demoted, being told she was “too emotional and connected too much,” as Dr. Zoeller explains. Winfrey would double down on her communication style and land in Chicago, where she rebuilt her career, inked a syndication deal with King World, and began her broadcasting empire with The Oprah Winfrey Show.

Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg is the bestselling co-author of Lean-In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead. The fourth chapter of Lean In is titled It’s a Jungle Gym, Not a Ladder, a metaphor attributed to former Fortune magazine editor Pattie Sellers that has stuck with Dr. Zoeller ever since she read it. Sandberg challenges the “corporate ladder” concept, agreeing that, in her experience, the climb to success is more like a jungle gym with myriad ways to reach the top. “Build your skills, not your resumé.”

As Founder and President of HOPE (Helping Other People Excel), LLC, Dr. Zoeller facilitates leader success at every level of an organization and coaches business leaders on how to do the same. “I specialize in building C-suite to frontline connections. Leadership is like a skyscraper,” says Dr. Zoeller, to offer another metaphor. “The view is different at every level, but every view is reality. Pull any level out, and the building crashes.” She assists clients in defining what success looks like for them, welcoming diversity in the workplace, and bringing out the best employees have to give.

With the Hope for Leaders series, Zoeller and DeSensi wrote Volume 1 in 2015 as a reference guide with the Table of Contents developed with the intent for readers to dip into leadership topics on an as-needed basis. If Volume 1 was the “what,” Volume 2 would be the “how,” according to Dr. Zoeller. But five years later, the COVID pandemic changed the plan. They knew they had to acknowledge all the business leadership challenges their readers and intended audience faced.

Hope for Leaders in the 2020s offers fresh perspectives and ways to address contemporary business issues, “including leadership mindsets, project management, organizational culture, and workplace communications.” Volume 2 also reminds business leaders to care for themselves to serve others better, or “putting the oxygen on first,” as Dr. Zoeller describes it. The book then lays out ways of providing meaningful feedback and leading with love. “Each chapter could be a team meeting and exercise.”

Compassion fatigue is real, but Dr. Zoeller recalls the starfish story, which originated in The Star Thrower by Loren Eisely. With starfish scattered on the beach after a storm, a young boy begins picking them up and throwing them back into the sea. But each time, another washes ashore. When told the attempts are futile, the reply is, “Well, it matters to this one.”

Dr. Zoeller hopes this new book will help business leaders leave their mistakes in the past, or, to quote Maya Angelou, “Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better.” She urges leaders to examine what they got out of the last two years and how they can encourage others to do the same. 

Hope for Leaders in the 2020s is available in paperback on Amazon. Visit hopeforleaders.com and follow @hopeforleaders on Facebook. Connect with Dr. Hope Zoeller via LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/ hopezoeller/ or email at hope@hopeforleaders.com.