Being able to inspire others is not only an art form, but also the truest test of leadership. A leader knows that he or she has mastered something when they are able to have someone else master it as well.
The higher faculties of those we are generally inspired by are intuition, imagination, storytelling, willpower, empathy, consistency, and emotional balance. In other words, those that have the ability to remain calm and spread confidence to the crowd.
Emotional intelligence is not taught in traditional schooling. It is developed through the less traditional, more organic avenues of life.
The highly respected and quantitative “hard” skills of the last century are rapidly being replaced by artificial intelligence. Almost every industry needs to think and ask if computers are going to take over what they do? Typical left brain tasks are now given to the computers, and the computers naturally fulfill the left brain tasks of mathematics, memorization, and comparing apples to apples such as comparing legal documents with legal code. The hard skills are rapidly being transferred to automation and artificial intelligence.
Due to this fact the soft skills are no longer “soft.” These are the skills the computers are not good at and may never be as good at.
If a modicum of creativity/abstract thinking is required, a human is needed and it will be that way for quite a long time. We can’t forget, we are already quantum computers running on biological hardware.
In the book A Whole New Mind: Moving from the Information Age to the Conceptual Age by Daniel H. Pink, Pink persuades the reader to embrace creativity and emotional intelligence as your wisest avenues toward success and fulfillment because the left brain activities are already done perfectly by computers.
Computer software is getting better at writing its own software. The Google algorithm keeps becoming more complex through machine learning to the point that the Google engineers aren’t entirely sure how it works anymore.
The fact that emotional intelligence is important places an even higher demand on the already hard to find unicorn that is logical and emotionally intelligent.
A person like this usually ends up in the C-suite or as a founder because they can persuade through emotion or logic depending on the audience. They quickly discover personality styles in their audience and how they should present information.
They can maintain the attention and energy of an audience for several hours at at time if need be.
The only individual I have been able to see do this is Tony Robbins at an event in Boston with Tom Brady.
An empathetic leader can generate a strong bond in their group such as a family, mastermind, or a company. He or she is a strong link that does not forget about the weakest link and the significance of teamwork.
They know the functional ability of the weakest link defines the success of the overall team. The empathetic leader takes the time to get on each individual’s frequency and learn about what’s personally happening with each of them. They are vulnerable first and they allow others to feel psychologically safe so that they are heard and comfortable.
Psychological safety is crucial in business so that ideas are said rather than concealed out of fear of judgement.
A calm, reasoned, and personal approach is what the leader embodies to get to the core of an underlying issue or series of issues with a person, employee, customer, loved one, or sales prospect – you do this to come to an agreement on what’s wrong so that you can move forward together. You always meet others at the level they are currently at.
The empathetic leader holds calm energy so the other person feels comfortable enough to take off their mask and reveal what’s really going on, whether that’s professionally or personally.
They get to the the root of what’s really going on so nobody is deceiving anybody and the group is synchronized and seeing the reality as it is.
The empathetic leader understands how to help their people take mental ownership and feel proud of what they are working on. When workers or members in a group feel ownership in what they are building they do greater and greater things.
This is how all people become sold on ideas or products: they buy when they mentally take ownership of the product or service.
You buy the new car when it feels like it’s already yours before you have signed anything.
Help those people around you take ownership of what they are focused on. Help them feel comfortable and heard. Show them you listen.
Have a genuine interest in others and others will return the favor subconsciously.
This Level 10 Leader archetype shows up each day as the greatest version of themself for their internal team and external customers. That commitment and positivity is reflected back.
Life is kind of a boomerang like that.. you reap what you sow. An inspirational leader is a dealer in hope. He or she is effective at planting seeds of a better future in people’s minds.
That’s the kind of person that can create a movement that can move mountains.
A leader never makes the other people around them feel small. They make all of other people around them feel big, important, heard, liked and vital to the operation of the group. In a word, they empower those around them.
They do this because an inspirational empathetic leader knows the infinite game they play. They do not play for short term profits at the expense of trust. They play for long term harmony and long term results. The test of time shows that they are credible and their words match up with their actions.
Take dating for example.
Communication forms for the first 3-6 months and then at that point both people can decide if they think the other person is credible or not. After a certain length of time you can judge credibility, thats why hiring is one of the most difficult things to get right.
Leaders know they are in a marathon and in order to gain the trust of those around them they must be a pillar of integrity, honesty, and a positivity. After 6 months the group can decide if the leader is credible.
Authenticity bleeds through and people will be able to decide for themself if a leader is worth following or not.
When the purpose of the organization is understood by everyone involved that means that leadership has clearly transmitted the vision to all of the people in the organization. The attitude behind the vision is generated from inside the leader’s mind and shared outward.
Having a well defined set of values and an engaging mission works because people are either producers or consumers. A leader produces transparent direction and mission for others to follow. The customers and employees follow the vision because they feel the confidence that leadership has.
When the purpose is not well understood by others then the message has a low signal to noise ratio and the overarching mission gets lost in translation.
Leaders are always expert communicators.
The leader is a refined blend of both empathetic and inspirational qualities.
Leaders will always be undervalued because they are the minority. As mentioned, most people are consumers and not producers. Producers and leaders are two sides of the same coin. Producers define what the rest of society consumes whether that pertains to their physical health, mental health, what they learn, or what they think. Producers produce culture.
The producers engage the law of affection by effecting thousands or millions of people. The rewards they receive are in proportion to how many people they served.
Not many people can generate that level of certainty and positivity that inspires others to join in, take ownership, and take action.
As a closing note, there is a big difference between leaders and bosses. Bosses are bossy and arrogant. They want to make those around them feel small and subordinate.
A leader builds up others to make them feel heard, important, and significant.
LEADERS ALWAYS BUILD OTHER LEADERS.