Inspirational
Leadership

"Inspirational leadership, at its core, is about being able to pull those that choose to follow you towards a Just Cause, whilst providing the motivation that will push them along the way towards achieving your joint goals."

Behaviour 5

Every century or so, it is possible that through circumstance, status or environment, truly Great Men / Women arise. These people are very much the exception, and generally come at times of crisis when the people around them are actively looking to be led. When we dig a little deeper and ask ourselves the question: Why does this leader inspire me? then the answer is more commonly related to the fact the leader exemplifies a better us. Someone you would like to be. They have excellent control of the self, they understand the need to serve and facilitate the empowerment of others, and they can keep a cool head in a crisis, attending to the team, task and individual appropriately.

They typically arise when times are tough and are credited with turning around the company or defending their country against hostile invasion. The difference between those we call truly inspirational leaders and the rest, is that these people were / are successful, not as individuals but in coaxing, encouraging the people who have chosen to be led by them and in articulating the ‘Why’.

Eliciting greatness is what you are doing as an inspirational leader. You are no magician. You have no special powers. You are not creating anything from scratch. Be humble and accept that as an inspirational leader the only thing of value you are adding is exemplifying a better ‘us’ and illuminating the path towards a worthy just cause.

The traditional definition of inspirational leadership is ‘getting others to do things they ordinarily wouldn’t do. From some perspectives, when you see inspirational leadership in action, this might appear to be the case. In fact, it is more to do with effectively ‘Communicating the Why’.  As John Buchan stated.

                          “The task of leadership is not to put greatness into humanity, but to elicit it, for the greatness is already there.”