Greatness and Leadership – Inspiring and Motivating

The basic quote is this one:

Good leaders push and drive and move forward, while special ones engage, collaborate and inspire others to greatness. 

The idea is that doing hard work by oneself can effectively move others to move forward. Modeling and congruence.

But that special act of involving and engaging people in the shared view of what could be accomplished, mixed with direct teamwork and support and all those things that generate a shared sense of community is what differentiates the best from the average.

Using an older illustration of mine, the reality is that most people do not have much of a vision about where they are going, be it in the workplace or in their lives in general. This shows that view on the left.

But we can share and help people create a better view of the world to better involve and engage that intrinsic motivation that already exists, and we can generate teamwork and peer support for those extra efforts. That is the view on the right.

SWs front back

The question is simple:

How do we get there from here? How do we teach the caterpillar to fly?


One useful exercise is around Visioning, and if you frame it this way, you manage roadblocks and impediments by already having manage them!

It’s 2018 and (our group) has been recognized as the (top performing group in the region). What did we do to accomplish those goals?

You can change the date, frame the group or department or company or school, and anchor the performance description to suit your environment. So, you ask the question and then let the tables of 5 to 6 people each play with the ideas and come up with examples of what was done. Identify a couple and then ask how they might be accomplished.


For the FUN of It!


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