The Inspiring Leader in All of Us

Dateline: November 13, 2015

Welcome to our Friday WRAP – one thought-provoking idea to think about over the weekend.

At KP Partners, we love leadership-oriented readings that spark new ideas. Recently we ran across an article at Harvard Business Review that made us think differently about inspiring leaders.  Nick Tasler, researcher and author of Domino: The Simplest Way to Inspire Change, recently published an article titled You Don’t Need Charisma to Be an Inspiring Leader.  In the article, Nick shares some of his research on how decisions made by one manager can inspire others in the organization.  He suggests that disruptions in how we think about the world can stimulate our brains to find new patterns and new possibilities in other areas, and this not only motivates us, but it makes us more skilled at finding new solutions.  Further, anyone, not just charismatic leaders, can make a decision that changes our thinking and inspires us to find new ways to solve problems.  Nick writes,

That inspiration didn’t come from big, hairy, audacious goals, lofty visions of the future, charismatic speeches, or demonstrations of their leaders’ innate genius or passion.  All that it required was an awareness of someone else’s unexpected decision to cut back on an old thing in order to do a new thing.  That is something every manager in every situation is capable of doing.

This was counter intuitive, but clearly what happens when we experience someone making an unexpectedly successful decision.  New avenues open up to our own thinking.  Nick’s article suggests anyone, not just the super charismatic leader like Steve Jobs, can be an inspirational leader.

Who has been an inspirational leader in your world?  What made them inspirational to you?  

That’s a WRAP!  Have a great weekend!

Speak Your Mind

*