The inspirational leader
Inspire defined
Of all the 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 inspirational. Ask them and they will tell you this. Yet this is not what they get from us. What they get is often a ‘we know it better or all’ attitude or a ‘this is only about me’ attitude. Put on top of this your ego and self interest and you will have what we believe is the modern day leader. Ask people and they will tell you this is how they experience most of their leaders. Then they will also tell you ‘that this is not what they need or want’. What they need ‘is 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 of the inspirational leader has to be someone that is extrovert and someone who is very charismatic. Now this is the exception rather than the rule. This is not true. Another stereotype is to be found in the statement: ‘People are fine and they don’t need us’. Now this is also is not true. They do need inspiration (almost a divine influence and they can only get it from people like us)
What then would be true of an inspirational leader?
These leaders have the 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.
We need to be inspired by our principles even more than our values, as this will allow others to experience us as more genuine and consistent in our behaviour.
We allow for reflective sharing where we learn from one another. 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. 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 do feel valued and appreciated.
We need to allow for more risk taking and by that I mean we love entrepreneurial creativity.
In closure
We need leaders that inspire and we need them now!
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CALLIE ROOS – www.callieroos.com
From: Special Forces Operator. Land and Sea Survival Specialist. Pastor. Senior Military Staff Officer. Community Leader. Honorary Game Ranger.
To: Facilitator. Speaker. Author. Philosopher. Change Agent. Mentor.
Callie Roos has a unique blend of leadership experience crossing the boundaries of nature, military and the spiritual realm making him one of the biggest game changers of his time. Callie is able to use his philosophies and experiences from the wilderness and lessons learnt in the military and corporate world to bring new revolutionary thinking and solutions to everyday businesses, future leaders, youth and communities. He follows a unique approach as he uses the African Bushveld Savannah as the backdrop against which he unpacks businesses and their operations.