The most effective leaders are the most inspiring ones.
The world we live in today is uninspiring. It’s depressing, dark and filled with uncertainty.
It seems that more people are depressed than ever before. Simultaneously, more leaders are trying to impress others and be impressive like never before. I’ve seen more leaders in tight shirts, plucked eyebrows and unbreathable jeans than at any point in human history. I’ve seen cooler clothes, hipper furniture and cutting-edge ambiance. But, are we really impressed? Are our organizations, our teams and our people actually better for how impressive we appear? No, they aren’t. And if we live to impress or be impressive we will lead and live uninspired lives among uninspired people.
I have found and seen that historically the most effective leaders, the ones that get the most done, don’t do it for themselves, but they actually inspire others to be better, get stronger and go longer. If you want to see growth in your life, development in the lives of those emerging around you or a fresh wind blow through the lives of those in your organization, get outside yourself and learn to be a leader that inspires the best in others. Don’t worry about being fresh, cool or hip. Inspiration is fresh air. We have too many organizations, teams and people sucking stale air in new suits.
We get our English word for inspiration from from the Latin word that means “breathe into.” Therefore, literally, when you inspire another you are breathing new life into their lives. People need this–desperately need this. The world is cruel, unforgiving and deflating. An inspiring leader inflates or brings fresh air the lives of those around him or her gasping for life, for hope and for a future.
Impressive leaders have more fans than they do actual followers. To lead is to inspire others. And we live in a largely uninspiring world. We talk about dreams, but most of our dreams die. We talk about hopes, but half the people we know are borderline depressed. We talk about success, but wallow in defeat. We are impressed but empty.
An inspiring leader has the ability to elevate the way that you see yourself. An impressive leader has the ability to elevate the way you see them.
An inspiring leader directs their energy and focus on making those around them better and brighter. This kind of leader is more called than driven. There is a depth to their life that comes from the heart. Not only are they passionate about what they are doing, but they are even more passionate about why they are doing it and who they are doing it for.
Inspiring leaders have a selflessness that is refreshing in the midst of a self-centered atmosphere. In a cold, selfish world, a leader who inspires others warms them up by their selfless demonstrations of care and concern. This doesn’t mean they stay or shy away from the truth, but rather they have skill to lay truth as new life and energy into the lives of those around them. If you really want to make a difference, serve selfless those around you.
Inspiration is about energy. There are many people who work really hard who are unmotivated and drained. An inspiring leader has the ability to transfer energy into their followers lives or spark dormant energy that already exists. I find that most people aren’t as drained as they think. They are simply just living uninspired lives, seeing little value in their work and little lasting result from their efforts. They think they are drained. They don’t know how to endure, how to suffer and how to work for the win. 
“Care is like oxygen. When you don’t feel cared for it’s like lacking oxygen. A leader who cares for their followers blows fresh air into their lives.”
An inspiring leader creates value by caring for the heart. If you really want to win with others and win others, you have to win their heart. And there is absolutely only one way to win a heart: care for it. It’s safe to safe that in the climate of our homes, business and organizations, most people just don’t feel truly cared for. Not feeling cared for and cared about is like lacking oxygen. Each breath, each step is more laborious because you lack the molecules that sustain the drain on your energy. Inspiration is oxygen. When you come alongside of and care for and care about others, you pump fresh air into their lungs. And when the lungs get air, they can pump oxygen to all parts of a flagging and sagging body.
Be a leader who loves. Love is the greatest motivator and indicator of care on earth. Nothing, absolutely nothing beats love. True love is both sacrificial and selfless. Leaders who aren’t sacrificial, sacrifice their followers in pursuit of impressing others. Leaders who aren’t selfless demand to be served by those who are under their authority. Love never demands. And a demanding leader may get results, but they are always at the cost of draining the lives of their people and driving them away. An caring leader gains ground in the heart, which is the most important ground for a leader to gain.
Jesus said, “Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13). Jesus was the greatest inspirational leader to ever live. He loved others, cared for them and laid his life down as an act of ultimate service. We need more leaders that are willing to lower themselves, lower their opinions of themselves and learn to serve their people. A leader who serves his followers is a leader who cares about his followers.
Inspired people are loyal people. When you are inspired, you work harder, stay longer and give more. Loved people are the best kind of loyal. There are different kinds of loyalty. Loyalty is like a bond. Money can bond people. Opportunity can bond people. And even fear can bond people. These three types of bonds are actually very weak because they are easily replaced by a more favorable offer. Love is the most unbeatable and unbreakable bond. Why? Because great love once received is not given away or broken easily.
Inspiring leaders create the strongest bonds among their followers, constituents and partners because they demonstrate consistent, selfless and sacrificial love.
Don’t be an impressive leader. Why? People are too easily impressed. Life is hard and any accomplishment or measure of success can quickly and easily impresses others. Think of social media. It’s a web of false pretenses and filters we design to impress others with our own version of what we want our reality to be. If we see a celebrity or famous person, we try to get a picture with them and post it. Why? To impress others. We go somewhere others don’t have access to, we post it. We see something rare or unique, we post it. We change things up and do the “humble brag,” we post it. Why? Mostly to impress others.
True inspiration affects the heart, which is the seat of the soul, the very essence of who someone is. When others are impressed their minds and emotions are affected. It’s easy to give a better argument or flatter someone to make them feel better. When the heart is moved, the feet are sure to follow.
Do you want better followers?
Move their hearts and their hands and feet are yours.
Inspiring leaders capture and win the hearts of those around them by both strategic and spontaneous acts of kindness, expressions of encouragement and measures of appreciation.
Conversely, impressive leaders tend to bask in the glow of recognition and the admiration of those around them. They tend to celebrate results more than relationships. They tend to recognize performance over people. Impressive leaders create a culture built on performance and pressure. Performance in pressure in and out themselves are not negative things but they are unsustainable elements over a long period time. They have a diminishing returns. However, inspiration is not only sustainable, it’s transformational. If you want to see the lives of those around you change for the better, inspire them.
Inspiring leaders point to people, a lot. And inspiring leader redirects the attention to those they are serving. Attention is a form of energy. And inspiring leader redirects that attention/energy onto it into the lives of those around them. They easily recognize other and give credit. An Impressive leader enjoys the attention and like a vacuum drawls the energy into them selves. This has the unintentional effect of draining or neutralizing the energy in their followers. Energy is so important in organization between a leader in between followers because energy is what facilitates momentum. And momentum is what moves a people, an organization, a relationship, fulfills dreams and reaches goals.
Leadership is about people. Life is filled with them. The best, most effective leaders have learned that inspiring their people is far greater than impressing them. Don’t waste your time leading to impress others. Rather, invest your time serving to inspire others–it has the power to make a life, change a life and fill a life.
Don’t be impressive, be inspiring. The world needs it. Your world and your people need it.
(c) Alex Vann, 2018