THE INSPIRATIONAL LEADER

INSPIRE DEFINED

Of all possible meanings of the word inspiration I want to think of it as the inherent capacity to breathe or blow upon someone knowing we do influence and guide others in everything we do.  To stimulate or create activity is spiritual, to touch the creative mind, to touch the imagination of those around us, to set alight, is spiritual.  This is what we do as leaders, we touch others!!

THE INSPIRATION GAP

People want to experience leaders who are inspirationa.l Ask them and they will tell you this.  Yet, this is not what they get from us.  What they get is a: we know better or we know it all attitude or a this is only about me attitude.  Put on top of this, ego and self interest, and you will have what we believe is the modern day leader.  This is not what we need.  We need leaders who can influence and inspire others. .

THE MYTHS ON INSPIRATIONAL LEADERSHIP

There are a lot of myths on great leadership these days.  One of them is the stereotype that the inspirational leader has to be someone that is extrovert and who is very charismatic.  Now this is the exception rather than the rule.  This is not true at all.  Another stereotype is to be found in the statement:  "People are fine and they don't need us".  Now this is also not true.  People do need inspiration, almost a divine influence and they can only get it from people like ourselves.

WHAT THEN WOULD BE TRUE OF AN INSPIRATIONAL LEADER?

I guess his ability to see the whole and then to focus on it.  Never allow others to take you off focus, never.  Once the vision is clear in your mind then you need to communicate it in such a way that people can understand it and become enthusiastic about it.  I guess we need to be inspired by our principles even more than our values, as this will allow others to experience us as more authentic and consistent in our behaviour.  People need to reflect more, this is the only way to fundamentally change the business.  We need to reflect on alternatives and allow more people to take responsibility for the outcomes they want.  But then we need to listen and become more accessible to innovative ideas.  We will only celebrate the successes in the process of getting there if people feel valued and appreciated.

IN CLOSURE

We need leaders that inspire and we need them now!!