I am very fortunate to have lived and worked in many parts of the World and experienced many cultures. Throughout this time I have met many leaders and had the opportunity to watch them work and see how they function as human beings. In my own life both personally and professionally I have enjoyed the benefits of both success and failure. In fact I have probably gained the most benefit from failure but along the way I have observed the following characteristics of Inspiration.
Where does it come from and what is the constant source of inspiration that we may look for as leaders? Is it financial? Is it the sense of achievement gained when we see revenue or financial targets being reached? Is it the feeling of success when we attract a new client or customer?
From the many leaders that I have known and observed I can see that in reality it is none of these things. Most of those things are transient and they come and go because they are only "material things". The reaching of financial targets is great but of itself has little to offer in giving me inspiration. Getting new clients are great but have little to do with inspiration although how I interact with those clients may have a lot to do with Inspiration.
Such Inspiration can only come from people and our relationships with them. When one is inspired then you feel good about yourself, you feel renewed, confident and act with a sense of purpose.
When you do something to help someone else then you will feel the same benefits. If you do it well for their benefit, if you give them hope (one of the clear characteristics of a truly Noble Leader) , if you give them confidence to do something which they felt was beyond their capability then you will have inspired them. In so doing you will enjoy the benefits back yourself-you in turn will feel inspired.
If is from our development of others that we can derive this sense of inspiration. When we can see that it is possible to transform people from being what they think they are into something which they would like to be then we can see the possibility in all people. Of course as we go we are all learning the skills of self development and as we learn more about others then we learn more about ourselves and in so doing we create another aspect of Inspiration.
In practicality Inspiration does not come from reading books or articles about Inspiration. It only comes from the practical application of reaching out to others to help them achieve their objectives and helping them to reach their aspirations and this process creates a catalyst for our enduring Self Inspiration.
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