[January 19, 2017] Great leaders know instinctively that those who can inspire others to learn, be, and do more in their lives possess the best and rarest leadership skills.1 They know that it’s not their title that makes them great, the money they are paid, or the number of followers; greatness only comes from inspiring others to achieve real results and spreading their passion. The fact is, great leaders inspire!
“Great leaders inspire. They maintain a hopeful attitude, even in the face of discouraging setbacks, constant criticism and abundant opposition. People don’t follow discouraged leaders. They follow those who persist with hope.” – Rick Warren, Ladies’ Home Journal, Oct. 2008
My best childhood friend, Wilson, use to tell me that there was little in our small town that he liked. Wilson was someone who needed motivation just to get out of bed in the morning. But he had picked up on something that I’d been turning over in my mind for years. What was it about rural Louisiana that inspired any of us to do well? Even the legendary populist (or infamous) state governor, Huey P. Long, from the 1930s had focused his energy in the southern reaches of the state and far away from where I lived.
As a little boy growing up in the Deep South there was much to inspire me. From the local volunteer firemen, to our grade-school teachers, to our Sunday School instructors, they all provided me a window into a world beyond my imagination and inspired me to much more than my mind could comprehend. Often they spoke to me on a level I could actually understand.
I was not particularly smart, talented, or a good looking kid … or even well behaved. I needed inspiration as much as Wilson did; lots of it. Wilson went on to do good things after his time with me in grade school. He became an Attorney at Law with a big firm in a city nearby our small town. He married and had four kids; all doing well. He told me years ago that if it were not for our small town’s good people, he would probably have been an alcoholic.
First grade was particularly difficult for Wilson and me. That was almost six decades ago. A couple of years ago my first grade girlfriend found me through Facebook. She confirmed much of what I wrote here but she saw something in me that it took many years for me to recognize. She saw that I could and did make a positive difference in others. I didn’t know it at the time but I had the ability to inspire and to inspire is what leaders possess.
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- John Quincy Adams once said that “If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.”