How to Inspire Others

Drag others down and you’ll go down with them. The magnitude of your impact is determined by your ability to ignite passion in others.

You make a difference by
inspiring others to make a difference.

Those you inspire pull you forward. They don’t require pushing.

Five qualities of inspirational leaders:

Jeremy Kingsley, author of, “Inspired People Produce Results,” says inspirational leaders are:

1. Dedicated.
2. Loyal.
3. Visionary.
4. Planners.
5. Confident.

5 Questions:

Jeremy offers a series of questions to assess your inspiration quotient:

1. Do you absolutely believe in what your organization does and stands for?
2. Do you have a plan for tomorrow?
3. Do you enjoy planning your strategy?
4. Are you optimistic?
5. Do you motivate others easily?

I believe…

Leadership value is determined by the ability to inspire.

Don’t tell me what you can do. Tell me what you can inspire others to do.

Four surprising qualities of inspirational leaders:

1. Passion balanced with compassion. The pursuit of personal gain and glory doesn’t inspire, it threatens. Inspiration occurs when others believe you genuinely put them before yourself.
2. Strengths and frailties. The frailties you’re working through inspire others to work through theirs. Avoid whining. Focus on hope, progress, and benefit.
3. Belief. “The people who influence you are the people who believe in you,” Henry Drummond.
4. Optimism. Rise above the failures of others by believing in their future. Those who believe in others inspire others.

Lousy leaders push down. Successful leaders lift up.

“Keep away from those who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you believe that you too can become great,” Mark Twain.

Bonus:

I asked Jeremy how leaders inspire themselves. He talked about finding mentors. In his own words (2:35): 

Who has inspired you? How?

How do you inspire others?

Believing You Can When You Can’t

Some singers only think they can sing. Tell them they can’t and you have a hearing problem.

Believing you can when you can’t frustrates others and hinders you. Some leaders only believe they can lead.

Deadly weaknesses masquerade as strength.

What if you’re not really great at:

1. Delegating.
2. Organizing.
3. Motivating.
4. Encouraging.
5. Negotiating.
6. Public speaking.
7. Running meetings.

What if the issue is you, not them? Feels awkward doesn’t it?

When you believe you can when you can’t:

1. Issues, faults, and failures become their issues, not yours. The problem is their ears not your glorious voice.
2. Better is enough. “If you knew how I led meetings in the past, you’d stop complaining about how I lead them now.”
3. Improvement stops. Why would you improve your speaking skills when you are a great speaker already? What’s been attained is never improved.
4. Talking is skill. During a recent leadership meeting we discussed the importance of delegating authority rather than tasks. Delegating tasks creates followers. Delegating authority creates leaders. However, in the next breath we delegated tasks. I thought I was good at delegating because I talked the concepts. In reality, I hadn’t adequately defined scope of authority or vision. I ended up delegating tasks.

New Assumption:

You haven’t arrived just yet.
There’s further to go than you think.

1. Listen to and believe feedback that points to frailties.
2. Stop excusing and explaining. Remove, “That’s because,” and, “They don’t understand,” from your language.
3. Develop skills diligently and persistently.

Nearly everyone reading this post has someone over them they’d love to forward this post to, but don’t dare. Maybe it’s you.

How can leaders address the issue that they may have further to go than they think?

Bullies aren’t Strong and Compassion isn’t Weak

Great results require toughness. The belief that compassion is soft and toughness gets results explains why so little compassion exists in organizations.

I’m an either/or type person, it’s my nature. I wrongly believe combining contrasting qualities weakens both. But, toughness and compassion are perfect bedfellows.

Bullies aren’t strong and compassionate leaders aren’t weak.

Toughness infuses compassion with meaning.

Results:

Lowering achievable expectations isn’t compassion; it’s disrespect. Compassionate leaders respect talent by calling people to rise and meet challenges. Stretching is belief in potential.

Conflict:

Compassion’s toughness is seen in conflict. Weakness ignores or runs from conflict. Compassion faces conflict head on.

Inclusion:

Compassion includes super-stars and rising-stars in its inner circle. Reach beyond how others enhance your image; consider how you enhance theirs.

Toughness requires supportive environments.

Heart of compassion:

Compassion springs from authenticity. Phonies fear and reject compassion. Authentic leaders accept their own frailties and abilities, in so doing; they open their hearts to others.

Accepting weaknesses is the first step toward maximizing strengths. Phony leaders don’t accept weaknesses and seldom maximize strengths.

Realize or release:

Compassion realizes potential in others; if not, it reassigns or releases. Expecting achievement extends compassion. “I believe in you,” expresses compassion.

Toughness expects people to pull heavy loads. Compassion pulls with them.

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Great feedback on Facebook: “Compassionate leaders ______.”

How are you bringing compassion and toughness together?

What examples of compassion and toughness have you seen?

Seven Proven Ways to Inspire Others

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You make a difference by inspiring others to make a difference.

Here’s how:

1. Stop fixing.

If your passion for excellence and success drives you to constantly fix people, stop it. Problem centered fixers invite self-protective restraint in others.

2. Compassion wins. 

The pursuit of personal gain and glory doesn’t inspire, it threatens. Inspiration occurs when others believe you genuinely put them before yourself.

3. Share frailties.

The frailties you’re working through inspire others to work through theirs. Avoid whining. Focus on hope, progress, and benefit.

4. Leverage weaknesses. 

Your weaknesses are inspirational opportunities, especially if you’re loved. For example, acknowledging your inability to create systems gives place for system builders to step up.

5. Be great.

A life dominated by weakness and frailty never inspires. Bring positive value.

Value is determined not by what you tear down
but what you build up.

6. Believe in others.

“The people who influence you are the people who believe in you,” Henry Drummond. Rise above the failures of others by believing in their future. Those who believe in others inspire others.

“Keep away from those who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you believe that you too can become great,” Mark Twain.

7. See potential.

Potential motivates. See what could be not what is. People who believe in their potential dare to act. For example, a friend of mine is trying to earn a place in the Navy Seals. You don’t try that without believing in your potential.

Ralph Waldo Emerson said, “Our chief want is someone who will inspire us to be what we know we could be.”

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How can leaders inspire others?