How to Create Change #22: Two Levers (Continued)How to Create Change #23: To Inspire

• Neutral – The way I use the word here, it wouldn’t be leading. It’s managing. A command, direction, or expectation, with no forward energy behind it. I tell someone to do something.
• Motivation – Is a step up, but it has a bit of a dark underbelly. Motivation says I need to do this thing in order to not have some negative consequence. Motivation says do this thing because I want you to. Dire consequence for failure to obey will surely follow.
• Inspiration – This is what the General had in mind. Inspire them to want to do it. Help them find their “why”. Help them see what they will create and what it will mean not only to others but to themselves. They do it because they want to.

To be inspirational. To be one who inspires. Is it a gift? Sure. We all know people who are inspiring just to be near them. As if they were born with some magic, and perhaps they were. But what about the rest of us? Is the capacity to inspire a skill, focus, and practiced way of being? Can those be built and enhanced? I know they can.

More in two weeks, and I’ve got something pivotal to share! For now….

Do this: Sit and make a short list of some of the interactions you expect for the next day. Conversations you’re going to have, things you need to make happen.

Can you see yourself as a manager? Leading through motivation? Can you see yourself inspiring? What does that look like? What does it feel like? Which mode will you choose to be in? What will you do?

Choose to inspire and observe what follows.

If you missed any of our earlier newsletters, you can find them here. And if you’d like more guidance on any of this, feel free to email me.