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We Are For Good Podcast - The Podcast for Nonprofits
710. Stories That Fill the Hope Gap: Closing the Hope Gap with Story - Afdhel Aziz
00:21:23
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- [00:04]
A
Welcome to Stories that Fill the Hope Gap, a 10 part limited series created in partnership with Good Is the New Cool. And we are for good. Hey, I'm John.
- [00:13]
B
And I'm Becky. Together we're unpacking how story is becoming the most essential tool change makers have, not just to raise money, but to restore hope in a world that's running low on it. We're breaking down what it actually looks like to tell stories that fill that 27% gap between hope and despair and why the world desperately needs you to start. Let's get started.
- [00:45]
A
Hi, B. It's your favorite topic.
- [00:47]
B
It is my favorite topic. Let's get into story and let's get connected in our humanity.
- [00:53]
A
Absolutely. So, friends, last week at Impact, Up Story, the thousands of change makers gathered around a singular question. And that was, how does stories help us feel seen, connected and hopeful again?
- [01:05]
B
Yeah. And honestly, we just knew the conversation couldn't end when the live stream did. And it didn't, because we saw it in our chat, in our dm. We saw it live. It's been hitting us every day since then in the most beautiful way. And after all, I mean, that is not surprising because what starts here ripples, right?
- [01:25]
A
Totally.
- [01:26]
B
This community gathered, they got activated, and it was literally in nearly 50 local meetups and communities around the globe. Like people.
- [01:35]
A
It's an incredible number.
- [01:37]
B
I mean, it's a crazy number, John. And it just goes to show, I think, how hungry people are to get connected to their people in their community, in real life. And we saw it inside these quaint coffee shops and bookstores and breweries and beer gardens and co working spaces and community hubs and along the Nile River. It's just like so incredibly joyful. And all of these meetups remind us why we come together, why we are here, for honest, hopeful connection right now. And story is the gateway.
- [02:13]
A
Absolutely. And I feel like everywhere we turn, we keep hearing the same thing that people are looking for. Stories that don't feel overly polished or overly produced. They're just stories that tell the truth of this moment. And it helps us see each other, but also believe that change is possible when we just kind of get it out there. And I think that was really the genesis for why we wanted to create a special series on the We Are for Good podcast. And that's where you found yourself today. And we're calling this Stories that Fill the Hope Gap.
- [02:43]
B
So over the next 10 episodes, we're going to be bringing you a new episode, dropping each Wednesday with intros to the most incredible change Makers who are leading movements in new and breakthrough ways. They are sharing how they're uniquely using stories to cut through noise, how to build connection, how it shifts culture and how it moves people to action.
- [03:06]
A
And you know, we could not open this series or really the thesis of this series without giving space to the very inspiration and the convener of all these change makers featured on the limited series two that goes out to our friend Afdel Aziz. He's the chief creative officer of Conspiracy of Love and the co founder of Good is the New Cool. So today we are kicking off by sharing the keynote conversation that he led at Impact up. And it frames this big idea that runs through every episode that's going to follow, and that's that there's a hope gap growing in our world. And we believe that story might just be one of the most powerful tools we have to fill it.
- [03:44]
B
And y', all, we cannot wait for you to meet the people powering the stories. We're talking about our friends at Sesame Workshop who are storytelling around the globe to a hyper local hip hop therapy program that's helping kids navigate. Navigate their mental health in the Bronx. To the center for Countering Digital Hate. Oh, my gosh, John, this. I'm sending this to everybody. I know that episode because they're taking on some of the most haunting and daunting issues that are facing our time. Eight unique perspectives, all using storytelling to break through, connect, and create change. And honestly, like, even with the hardness of these topics, every single one of them left me feeling more hopeful. What about you, John?
- [04:27]
A
I agree. I mean, we left feeling so filled from recording these because they're not just conversations about storytelling. They're about our humanity. They're about connection and always about generosity. And I just. We have this fundamental belief of what becomes possible when people choose to take the hard road, going deeper into solving the problem instead of turning away. So we're so excited for you to meet these new friends because they surround themselves in community. And that's the invitation here for you too.
- [04:57]
B
Yeah, I mean, these are the stories of their community. And it is such a beautiful story that we're asking you to pour into. So this series is made for change makers who are ready to tell braver, more human, more hopeful stories. We're so glad you're here for it. Come along with us. We need your stories to help fill the hope gap.
- [05:19]
C
Welcome, everybody. My name is Athelaziz. I'm coming to you from Los Angeles. I am a Sri Lankan, but who lived in London and New York. And now la, which explains this very strange accent you're hearing. As John and Becky have said, I spent the last 30 years either running or advising brands, brands you may have heard of. My consultancy, Conspiracy of Love, works with folks like Adidas, Gap and Sephora. And the creative studio Good is a New Cool is dedicated to making stories that fill the hope gap, which is really the theme of what we're going to talk about today. Let me start off by talking about this moment that we're in. I don't know about you, but if I'm kind of scrolling through social media, looking at the news, it seems like we're living in a very dark moment in history as well. And I look at a lot of the stuff that's happened, especially here in the United States, where it seems like progress has taken a step back. I was trying to find the word to define how I'm feeling. And that word, I realize, is grief. So many of us have been either working for nonprofits who had their funding slashed or working in programs that got pushed back because of political reasons or because of economic reasons. And so it seems like a lot of the progress over the last decade has either halted or reversed. And I know a lot of you guys are feeling the sense of grief about what we've been doing and whether there's a possibility for it to return. I think we're also feeling a lot of fear, fear for the future. You know, what comes next. Is the work that we're going to do get compromised? Is it going to be funded? Are we going to be able to keep doing it? And so I think we're all dealing with this real cocktail of emotions that is causing us a lot of stress, causing a lot of sleepless nights. And one of the things I'm most grateful for that keeps me grounded is actually being a parent. And I don't know how many of you in the audience today are parents. Please stick it in the chat if you are. But I am the father of a wonderful 12 year old boy named Nuri. And I want to tell you a little bit about the story of how we became parents, my wife and I, and what that has made me think really about the proportionality of what we're doing and give me a sense of scale in this moment. So as I mentioned, I'm originally from Sri Lanka. I was born and grew up there. And so in 2014, my wife and I decided to adopt Nuri from Sri Lanka. We were two 30 something year olds living in New York City, living a kind of a carefree life and suddenly we had a one year old living in our house, which is, I gotta tell you, an abrupt shock to the system. But it turned out to be the best thing we ever did. Over time, Nuri has just given us so much joy, so much love, and I'm pleased to say he is a terrific 12 year old who loves Lego and Minecraft and Spider man and all the things that you think a 12 year old would love. But I think about this world that we're leaving him right now. And it's a world that's filled with danger and stress, whether you're thinking about climate change or AI or political strife. And I really think about what we do to help make the world better for our kids and the next generations. And I've been really thinking a lot about what we're going to need in this moment to really change the narrative, you know, and one of the things that I have the joy of living here in Los Angeles, every evening I go for a walk around my neighborhood and there's a point in this end of the street where actually I can see the Hollywood sign every evening. And so it's this interruption in my thoughts when I'm kind of spiraling to go, wait a second, I see the sign here and it reminds me that I live in the world capital of storytelling. You know, here in LA we've been making stories for 100 years or more and it's really the cultural capital of how stories get made, whether that's film or TV or nowadays social media. And they got me really thinking about how storytelling is really the single greatest tool we have to change how civilization works and how it evolves. Right. But I think there is a crisis of storytelling that's infecting our culture. And I want to talk a little bit about some of the things I've seen. And so I'll start by looking at movies. I love movies. There's nothing better, I love than going and sitting and watching one in a darkened auditorium with a bunch of people. But I started to think about how there is this narrative around the apocalypse and around gloom and doom, and it's permeating pop culture. Here's a recent sample of movies. A Quiet Place. I don't know if you've seen this incredible movies series about the apocalypse coming to us through aliens. There was the wonderful Netflix show Leave the World behind, which looked at AI as being the contributor to the apocalypse. And then of course, both fans of the horror genre, there's 28 years later, which is about zombies being the end of us. My personal preference is zombies because at least with zombies you get some cardio when you're running. But that just may be me. No better when you look at tv. These are a few selections of shows I've been watching. Silo Humanity lives underground because of climate change Fallout Humanity lives underground because of nuclear disaster. The last of us humanity lives above ground. But we're back to the zombies again. So not sure if there's a net positive there as well. So there's something in movies and TV which is just almost making it seem like the end of the world is inevitable, which is really strange when you think about it. It's no better in social media. I don't know about you, but social media is overwhelming these days. I've actually deleted social media on my phone because I would just get too stressed out. It's just flooding cortisol into my system. Even though I subscribe to so many people doing good things and good news, there's still this algorithm which is driven by conflict, which is desired. You know, it's a desire to like feed you cortisol into your system. The news is no better as well. This is a startling graphic. Since 2008, negativity in the news has increased three times faster. So whether you're doom scrolling on social media or switching on the news on cable tv, you're just getting this influx of bad news all the time, which is just contributing, I think, to our mental health decline and it's contributing to despair. And so it was no surprise when I stumbled across this thing called the hope gap. And it was actually first identified by a bunch of scientists at Yale who were measuring the gap between despair and hope as it pertained to global warming. But I think it's a pretty good proxy for just how we're feeling about the world in general. So back in 2010, when they started measuring this gap, it was a, a five point gap, 44 to 49. But today in 2025, it's a 27% gap and it's growing. It's 38% are feeling hopeful and 65% are feeling despairing. So you look at the widening of that gap and that's really, really troubling. I think this is one of the meta problems that we are all dealing with because as I keep saying, despair is paralyzing while hope is galvanizing. And so I started to think about what is the biggest thing that could fill that gap. And that's really where storytelling comes to mind as being the thing that's big enough. Here's another finding. I found out this gap is not just societal. It's happening in organizations as well. So Gallup did this survey of organizations around the world in 2026, and they asked them, what is the number one thing people look for from their leaders? And it turns out it's hopeful. It outpaces trust, compassion, and stability combined. And so there is a leadership problem that we need to fix where as leaders, we need to give the people in our organizations hope. Because if that doesn't happen, that's where we're now seeing massive declines in global employee engagement. And Edelman calls this a hope deficit where only 15% of people in developed countries believe the next generation will be better off. So there's something happening societally, there's something happening in organizations, there's something happening in culture. And that's why I spend so much of my time thinking about how we can fill the hope gap. And that's really the invitation I have for all you guys today. And I want you to think about story as being the engine to do that. Storytelling is like the most ancient technology we have. It's how cavemen got out of caves. It's how we started to build farms and cities and civilizations. And we are hardwired as human beings to understand storytelling ever since we were kids when somebody said, once upon a time and happily ever after, we all know how stories work. And it's the fastest, most powerful way to engage people in kind of getting engaged in doing something and participating as well. And that's why I've spent the last few years really thinking about how to make a new type of impact storytelling that fills the hope gap, but it's also entertaining and exciting. One of the examples I want to talk about is this show called the Solutionaries which we created. Good is the new, cool creative studio created with time, the incredible folks at Time Studios. So a solutionary is a term that's been around for a long time. We didn't invent it. Our definition of it is a game changing innovator solving a systemic problem with a radical solution. Right. And what I've realized in my work, you know, as a Forbes journalist, is there's hundreds, if not thousands of solutionaries out there. In fact, I'm sure all of you on the call today are solutionaries as well. And what they have in common is this thing I call the moral imagination. They don't just look at the world, they imagine how it could be better, and then they set out to try and fix it by Creating something, whether it's a nonprofit, whether it's a business, whether it's a new technology. And I'm fascinated by these people. I think this is what the world needs now. And so we did a three part docu series featuring three solutionaries. One of them is an incredible woman called Dr. Lisa Dyson. She is in Oakland, California. She invented a new process for making protein out of air. Yes, you heard me write protein out of air. That is not some voodoo science I'm talking about. This is a NASA technology that was created back in the 60s to feed astronauts on Skylab. And it's a very simple process that takes H2O CO2, an enzyme that then turns all of that, with the help of a little clean energy, into protein, flour in a matter of hours. And I visited her labs in Oakland and seen how this happens. I've tasted air. Protein, you can put it into any food. You can put it into pasta or chocolate, or make it its own thing. And it's this instant shot of one of the world's most needed macronutrients, created at a cost and a climate impact that is far lower than anything else out there. So Lisa's was one of the incredible episodes that we were able to do. Cyril G. From probably for the Oceans, another incredible nonprofit that we love. Their whole approach was about taking biomaterials, biotechnology, to replace the use of fossil fuels in fashion. And Cyril has been fighting for the oceans for all of his career. But this was a new approach to say, hey, what if we could create a new system where instead of using clothes that were based on fossil fuels like so many of our materials are, why don't we use biotechnology? Why don't we use the power of nature to create a whole new supply chain? And then finally, Rebka Huth Rams. I love Rebecca. She's in San Francisco. Her company, Glacier, is using AI and robotics to make recycling better. It's one of the biggest problems we're all facing. I think this is actually a great use of AI to identify all these different materials and waste streams and turn that into a new source of materiality as well. So please watch this document. It's on time.com. you can watch it there. One of the key lines in it is innovation is the highest form of protest. And I love this message from Cyril where he's talking about how we can innovate our way through this crisis. And so many of you on this call today are doing innovative things to help make the world better. Hold on to that. That is really what we need in this moment. So I want to end with the three step playbook for storytelling that fills the hope gap. It's very simple. As I said, many of you guys are already doing it today. Instead of starting with the despair, instead of talking about the problem, try and find those stories of people whose lives you have touched, where your work has helped them and show them as examples of success. So it's always about starting with hope. Starting with, yes, talking about the problem, but really quickly talking about how there is hope because there are solutions in place to solve these problems that you are all working on and starting to showcase and highlight folks whose lives have been positively touched. The second is spark wonder. So use the full power of storytelling to give people joy and optimism and hope. Don't just think about cortisol and stress and negativity. Try and spark a different part of their brains where they start to feel positive and engaged. And then thirdly, make sure you inspire courageous action. Always give them an off ramp of something to do with that storytelling. You know, we talk about people having time, talent, treasure. Make sure you don't just do all that storytelling and then have it peter off. But make sure people have something super clear that they can do next. But if you can take away anything from what I've said today, it's always start with hope. Hope is this resilient thing. It's not this fluffy thing. I think it's actually the operating system that we need right now in ourselves, in our organizations, in society. Because if you start with it, that gives you that resiliency, that determination, that tenacity to keep going. So I hope you can tell more stories of hope. Let's make a difference. Let's do it for the people right now in our lives and let's do it for our children. Thank you very much.
- [19:56]
B
Wow, what a way to begin, right, my friend?
- [19:59]
A
I know what I'm carrying from Afdel is just that invitation to not just tell stories about what's broken because that's so easy to fall into, but to become the people who are brave enough to really point toward what's possible. There's so much hope there. So as we lean in, we want to invite you to literally be a storyteller with us. We want to hear the story that you're telling. We'd love to hear your story. You can head over to weareforgood.com hopegap and friend, we are collecting your stories. We've already invited this question at Impact up and dozens of stories have already come in so at this website you can tell us your story and just find the roll up for this entire series. You'll find more resources and ways to get connected with the amazing change makers featured here. So check it out. We are forgood.com hopegap keep going.
- [20:48]
B
We're rooting for you in all things. Cannot wait to hear your stories.
- [20:53]
A
Hey friend, thank you so much for joining us today. If you find yourself looking for a place to stay connected and keep learning between episodes, I hope you'll come and join us inside the We Are For Good community. Yeah, it is free, it's full of incredible non profit leaders like yourself, and it's now an app in the Apple App Store and Google Play Store. So you can take this community with you wherever you go. Head over to weareforgood community.com to find us. We cannot wait to see you inside.