In 30 years of business travel, I cannot recall a six-month stretch without a flight. Then 2020 happened. And somewhere in the absence of that familiar ritual, I started thinking about what I actually missed — and it was not the travel. It was the perspective that came with it.
The Chaos Before the Calm
Ask anyone who travels regularly whether the pre-flight experience feels familiar, and you will get a knowing look. Pack your bag. Drive to the airport. Park the car. Get through security. Rush to the gate. Grab something to eat. Stand in the boarding line. Squeeze through the aisle. Wrestle your bag into the overhead compartment. Slide your carry-on under the seat in front of you. Turn on the air vent. Get out your headphones. Listen to the announcements. Wipe the sweat from your brow.
As the stress cycle goes into overdrive, you finally get a moment to look around and settle in. The boarding door closes. You take a deep breath. Maybe you close your eyes for a couple of minutes.
The 30,000-Foot Shift
Then it happens. The plane departs, and the magical bell rings. Suddenly, you are mentally and physically transported to a different experience. As the aircraft climbs past 10,000 feet, you are momentarily freed from the chaos, and an odd calm comes over you. The world gets farther and farther away. A sense of peace arrives.
My mind clears. The worries I felt just moments ago start to dissipate, or at least seem a bit easier to solve. There is something about being above the clouds with the sun coming through the window. I sip my small cup of coffee with one sugar packet and have convinced myself it tastes better than anything waiting for me on the ground.
Clarity Above the Clouds
At 30,000 feet, I have read great books, written blogs, listened to music, watched films, thought about friends and family, solved business problems, planned worship services, and blocked theater productions. The brain clarity that comes from altitude is real, and it has always given me hope.
That word, hope, has been all around me for the past 30 days. I felt compelled to write about it — and to share the resources that have shaped my thinking on it.
Where Do You Find Hope?
Here is my question for you: where do you find your equivalent of 30,000 feet? Where do you go to remove yourself from the cycle of stress long enough to gain perspective? The specific location does not matter. What matters is that you have one — and that you use it.
Hope is not passive. It requires a moment, a practice, a deliberate step away from the noise. The leaders I most admire have all learned to find that space, even when the conditions make it inconvenient.
Voices Worth Listening To
For those who prefer to listen, I encourage you to check out the Driving Change Podcast, hosted by Jeff Bloomfield. Two episodes in particular have stayed with me:
- Dr. Rick Rigsby: Are You Afraid to Hope? — a raw and honest conversation about the power of hope, even in the darkest of times.
- Linda Cliatt-Wayman: If You're Gonna Lead, Lead — on how leadership and hope come from stepping into places others won't, and choosing to lead through vision, love, and purpose.
Both conversations will challenge how you think about what it means to lead through uncertainty.
Books Worth Reading
If you are a reader, two books have shaped my thinking on this topic considerably — and I have returned to both more than once:
- The Longevity Plan by Dr. John Day & Jane Day — on how purpose, hope, and a focus on the future contribute to measurable improvements in long-term health outcomes.
- Resonant Leadership by Drs. Richard Boyatzis & Annie McKee — on the Renewal Cycle and how mindfulness, hope, and compassion restore leaders from the inside out.
If I told you that reading these books could improve your health and your leadership, would you do it? The evidence suggests you should.
The Science of Renewal
In Resonant Leadership, Boyatzis and McKee describe resonance as the state where a leader is fully present, emotionally attuned, and capable of bringing the best out in the people around them. The challenge is that leadership is inherently draining. The authors call this "power stress" — the accumulated weight of responsibility, decision-making, and the pressure to perform.
Renewal is what restores resonance. And renewal, they argue, is built on three things: mindfulness, hope, and compassion. These are not soft concepts. They are the practical architecture of sustainable leadership. Without them, even the most capable leaders eventually burn out, disengage, or lose the ability to connect with the people they are supposed to develop.
Hope and Your Health
The Longevity Plan takes this further. Dr. John Day and Jane Day studied communities around the world where people routinely lived past 100, in good health, with strong relationships and a clear sense of purpose. One of the consistent factors across all of them was hope — specifically, a forward orientation and a belief that the future is worth investing in.
The research shows that people with a strong sense of hope and purpose experience lower rates of plaque buildup in their arteries, reduced risk of blood clots, and better-controlled blood pressure. Hope is not just a mindset. It is a physiological state with measurable downstream effects on the body.
That is worth pausing on. The thing your team needs from you most — your steadiness, your forward orientation, your belief that things can get better — is also the thing most likely to keep you healthy enough to lead for the long term.
Take Action Today
In these times of constant pressure and stress, the invitation is simple: find your 30,000-foot moment. Find the place where the chaos recedes long enough for clarity to arrive. Build it into your routine, not as a luxury but as a leadership practice.
There is scientific and practical power in words like hope. It changes your biology, your relationships, and your capacity to lead. Sustainable change starts with you — and it starts with the deliberate choice to step back, gain perspective, and choose to believe that something better is possible.
Worth a conversation? Reach out to the Braintrust team to talk about what NeuroCoaching looks like for your leadership bench.
