Inspired or Expired

Written By Dave Evans

“I dream my painting, and I paint my dream…”

Vincent Van Gogh

 

What’s better? Inspiration or Expiration? We can call this a no brainer, but if that is all this means, this would be the first and last sentence. It isn’t!

As a supplement since the Leadership or Leadershit book was written in 2016, my wife Debbie and I have discussed Inspiration in all of its forms. The overall summary we make is that inspiration is from within first, always. Inspiration is overused as a word and real inspiration is taking action. You get inspired to do something, take action, and a new outcome occurs. How often does that actually happen?

 

We fall into the trap and overuse of ‘I am/ They inspired me” .Inspirational speakers tell us their stories. People leave the auditoriums (or virtual Ted talks) and say, “wow, I’m so inspired- YET- they do nothing different – so how can they be inspired? They may have been interested, amazed, intrigued by someone else’s fete, endurance or resilience yet inspired? I don’t understand how we can be inspired if we take no action.

Definition of inspiration makes someone want to do something or give someone an idea about what to do or create: a force or influence that inspires someone. : a person, place, experience, etc., that makes someone want to do or create something. : a good idea. (Meriam Webster, Oxford Languages)

 Exploring expiration

To fully understand the raw ingredients of inspirational leadership, we first need to understand expiration.  The definition is definitive, and it concludes that the state is final/complete. To expire in life is to die.  It’s the last breath.  It’s the end.  Leadership can reach this space. 

Think about the political leaders around the world, who are only ever in power for a period in time, and when their time does come to an end, they often do also.  Expiration has a further negative feeling; the people being led feel dissatisfaction with the person they perceive as their leader. In business, this is far too common. To remove the possibility of expiring, you must focus on inspiring yourself (selfish) and others.



Consider this analogy: you’re working as a senior manager in a company, as part of a team of nine.  Each of you run a part of the business, and you have enough responsibility to keep you busy for six days a week, but you are only contracted to do five.  The team has been together for three years. One day you’re in a meeting with the board, and two of the panel talk to you about one member of the peer group you are part of. They enquire about their effectiveness and your view of them, be it good, bad or indifferent.  This type of conversation takes place almost every day in businesses around the world. There is an argument here that says the leaders asking the questions are in the wrong.  They should be talking only to the person being discussed, a principle I would agree with.  This situation has another challenge, another symptom of expiration that could easily be missed.  The very fact the conversation is being had tells us that an expiration process has started. 

When you have a leader who is in a potential expiration process, it’s the whole leadership team's responsibility to act fast with integrity. Doing things well and ensuring that the difficulty that comes with it is dealt with, leaving space for an inspiration process that hopefully comes next.

Make inspiration a daily action

As a leader, you choose not inspiring and expiring yourself at some point or inspiring regularly and removing the chance of expiring ever happening. Also, businesses with no inspiration or Inspiration Strategy can easily fall terminally ill and, whether they like it or not, expire forever. Inspiration is a positive, powerful force - a breath of fresh air. It’s always welcomed and never rejected (as far as I am aware). I like to think it’s part of who I have chosen to be, and yes, I absolutely love to do this in front of large audiences, provided it’s not just mindless entrainment, but that there are severe and significant ‘take-aways’ for everyone present. But first, let’s look at Expiration Tools and the real possibility that you may have some of these tucked away somewhere!

Expiration Tools

1 - Lack of positive, clear messaging and communication

2 - Vague roles and responsibilities

3 - Dull, bland products and services

4 - Confusing multi-visions for the future

5 - No positive stories

6 - Can’t sum up the business in an exciting single sentence

7 - No one knows the Mission

8 - No one knows the Vision

9 - No shared values

10 - Talking about each other secretly and negatively

11 - Claiming that team members are lying

12 - Many people hate their workspace and hate coming to work

No surprise that this sad list can also be your Inspirational TO DO list. Go through these things and plan to fix them if you can’t fix them immediately. Then look at an Inspiration Strategy.

 Are you aware that in Dubai, there is a Minister of Happiness[1]We don’t we have one in the UK[2] or America? Sounds so obvious - so inspiring.

What about a Director of Inspiration? In my head, this is my job. I love it and enjoy the role in my own company and in every business we work with. I like to find my ‘replacement’ as soon as possible in a business and get that person doing this all-important role when I am no longer there.

 

 

5 RLC Tools & Techniques to Inspire self and others

  • Mindset tools

  • MindChangers

  • Stories

  • Good communication

  • Connection methodologies

9 Ways to inspire self and others

Personal development

  • Coaching

  • Training topics

  • Finding out what the team need/want regularly

  • Strong, healthy and positive internal messaging

  • Relaxed social media if appropriate

  • Great website

  • Group collectives for inspirational messages

  • Libraries for books and media that inspires

 

True Leadership Inspiration

We all read books, newspapers, watch the news and TV shows that capture brave people's stories. Innovative companies, brands that change the planet.  We all read about them, listen to them and can, for the most part, enjoy the pinnacles of other people’s careers or business decisions, whether it is Elon Musk, Tesla, the founders of Facebook, classic tales about Bill Gates past or present, Steve Jobs and humility of Wozniack, the secret sauce of Warren Buffet or even further back in time. Ford, the steel revolution or more.  They are inspiring, and as a reader, they help you think about what is possible if you dare to dream. 

Yet all of us have one thing in common with each of them.

 Their inspiration, their ideas of action, thoughts and opportunities all started in their head, first.  It was an internal job.

 

True inspiration is not found in exposed places, and it is not in the glamour, it is not on a TV show, it is not something that is often discussed, it comes out in a unique set of circumstances, it is discovered in places of real deep relationships.

 Someone who has been through some of the most challenging everyday struggles humans face, dusted themselves down, fought on and found a deep resilience and humility to fight. Fight through each day to be where they are today. Covid has demonstrated this to us in many ways globally. True inspiration is a moment when someone takes the time to open-up about someone they love, someone close to them to move others to act.

Over the years, we have been fortunate at RLC to share some magnificent experiences of people taking the time to be brave and share who truly inspires them.  Countless examples of human stories are incredible.  They have led me to conclude that general inspiration is found everywhere. True inspiration is a local experience.  It is somewhere near to you, right under your nose and when the observer then takes action to do things differently.

 

During Leadership courses , you will, at some point, get asked some tremendous classic development questions, questions used for a discussion about Leadership.  Many of us can be guilty of turning up to company led events, plagued by our thoughts and interference.  Ideas about ‘why?’ Why do we have to be there, and what is so important? We create waves of interference of all the other things we could be doing with our time, yet deep down, we all know that stopping for a short time is the only way to look at and plan tomorrow.  This is why I love our open retreats. They break moulds and inspire big ideas.

 

Inspirational Environments 

At RLC we hold leadership retreats regularly , focused on the inspiration of taking action. The ingredients around our retreats include inspiration that makes a big difference.  We choose a small venue, either a castle, stately home or large house, where people can experience a different and sometimes extravagant way of life for a change, comparison, that brings the delegates together in a way more than just being at a corporate event.

The locations we use have the romance of curiosity, isolation from everyday life, great food and drink, and unique surroundings. They form the foundation for challenging and deep thought provocation about you, your story, career/business, and life.  We avoid standard corporate locations that do little to “inspire” the brain cells and synonymous with ‘send texts and check emails’. Time and time again, we see people's finest traits: stories of love, dedication, tenacity and endurance, terror and fear, focus and brilliance, creative yet straight forward, a collection of moments when you hear the story or stories, they simply take your breath away.

Leadership retreats forge openness and vulnerability :

  • A single mum battling through life to provide for her family despite adversity

  • A working professional, managing two children and a disabled child whilst still achieving in the workplace, hardly sleeping each night – a superhero

  • A child beaten, abused, runs away, confronts the world of drugs and violence, makes tough decisions and goes on to overcome adversity, seeks help and is a high-flying exec today

  • Parents who prepare for and live for their children’s future

  • The older generation who have now passed on (grandmothers, grandfathers, aunties); role models who live in the memories and hearts of those they touched the way

  • Children talking about adult influencers who have changed their lives forever

  • A young dad who had to fly is mum halfway around the world to save her life, with no certainty that she would live

  • A dad who was shot in a foreign country and the son who fled to stay there nurses him before returning

 The list could go on and on.  People local to us are extraordinary if we only began to realise the fantastic talent on every street corner, in every household, every situation when tested. When put under real pressure and extreme conditions, there is something about the human spirit that rises-up and catches us by surprise.

 Our brains can provide the resources we need, no matter what the challenge. Inspiration is personal. Creating a business that inspires (take action) the people you lead and the market you are in takes time and requires commitment.

Making Inspirational Simple

When the film Dead Poets Society was launched in the late eighties where a teacher played by the late Robin Williams was inspiring a group of boys to believe in what could be possible in their lives through literature and poetry.  He used one of the most famous film quotes of the last century: “Carpe Diem. Seize the day, boys. Make your lives extraordinary”.

Horace, (Quintus Horatius Flaccus), Roman Lyric Poet in 65 BC, famous for carpe diem also as a teacher of scholars and writers in the wisdom of making the most of today and not trusting or waiting on tomorrow. 

“Carpe Diem, Cease to ask what the morrow will bring forth and set down as gain each day that fortune grants”

He argues that you cannot wait, idly depending that everything will fall into place for you, therefore taking action about your future today is the only validating strategy for greater life success. “Don't yield to that alluring witch, laziness, or else be prepared to surrender all that you have won in your better moments.”

Abraham Lincoln taught America to understand this principle in another as a straightforward thought process:

“Our past is the cause of our present. Therefore, the present is the cause of our future.”

Simple inspired actions and the thought in business asks lots of questions. In this book, we look at the essential Leadership Rules that you can apply daily steeped in this essence of simplicity.   

I have heard in different forms the quote from Albert Einstein:

 If you can't explain it simply, you don't understand it well enough

I have often quoted this in board rooms when the discussion is a new product. Using this phrase, I have also stopped the expiration of good products but could not be easily explained and therefore sold.
When processes are simple, people can excel.

  • When communication is simple, people can connect. 

  • When the mission is simple, people can navigate.

  • When the challenge is simple, we are more effective and productive and resolve faster

 When something is complex and complicated, we can make it simple, with fewer words, fewer steps to achieve through working through and thinking differently – inspirational thinking is linked to cognitive diversity.[3]

A simple task to undertake is to answer these three questions as simply as possible

  • What’s your top product in as few words as possible?

  • What’s your future story about in a few words?

  • What’s your team’s mantra in a single sentence?

 In British football, there has been a manager who has surpassed all other achievements in the game.  He is Sir Alex Ferguson, a sports phenomenon.  Famous for his work at Manchester United, he set records that are undoubtedly unlikely to be surpassed easily: 26 years as manager, 38 Trophies, 13 Premier League Titles, 5 FA Cups, 2 Champions Leagues, a UEFA Cup.[4]

One of the things he did more than most was that he assembled talent and coached and managed them individually.  He had learned the art of making it personal.  There are countless examples of players he worked with that, under his stewardship they achieved things more than they ever would have done on their own.

 The famous story of Eric Cantona [5]joining the team from their rival Leeds was the first real example of this awareness and insight from Sir Alex.  He realised it would take a different level of talent to enable the youth teams to do even more and take steps in moving towards their potential.  This greater level of skill transformed the academy and the squad, enabling a dynasty that lasted for a very long time. Sir Alex is now sought after worldwide to share his Leadership experiences in the sharp end of the super-rich sport.

 Authentic Leadership is, at its most, potent when it gets personal.  Personal demands that the leader takes the time to understand their direct leaders. Who, in turn, is expected to do the same.  When you tap into the power of human potential, you unlock another level of motivation beyond the day to the office's daily humdrum.  When a leader cares about the goals and ambitions they lead and couple that energy and focus on the firm's purpose, something magic happens.

Sometimes, people will choose not to share their real dreams for fear of rejection or not feeling safe enough to say.  Some goals and dreams can be personal, and therefore we have to take a different yet familiar approach with Leadership.  Taking the time to build memories and experiences to share and develop deep rapport in your team is the only way to encourage personal goals and real future thinking.  (Face four Connection or cut off gives an example of being aware of others ambitions makes excellent leadership and engaged employees)

 Deep rapport goes way beyond traditional rapport training and development.  It is not knowing the names of your dog or your spouse or loved one, and it does not know where you live or where you went to school.

 Deep rapport is sharing deep chunky big questions about you, who you are, what you care about, how you have become who you are, what you have overcome and much more.  As you can see, it requires effort and time. (refer to Face Four Primary Aim Activity and Workbook)

 Many years ago, I read the book Super Coach by Dr Michael Neil, where he illustrates a poem about how we come into a world full of perfection. Yet, through our home life, education and experiences, we lose that sense of what is possible, and, in the process, we lose the magic of who we are.

 The first step of inspirational leadership is to choose to inspire the people you lead, to believe in their natural human potential. Human belief is a choice. We are often forced into conditions and circumstances that shape what we believe is possible.  Inspirational Leadership deals with belief and knowing.  The Leader takes the time to get to know their people, coach, review, up-skill, develop, train, mentor and ultimately equip their people with the skills and beliefs required to fulfil their absolute best.  Many people write stories, blogs, programs and books about discovering how to be your best self.  This is something as humans we will need as long as life exists on this planet.   The way the brain records experiences, good and bad, helps and hinders our development, harnessed or left to develop by itself dictates that we will always need ways to learn and develop our potential.

 

As a Leader, it starts in a simple place.  It begins by sitting down with your people and asking questions about their beliefs, also instrumental in the world of coaching.

Inspiring you first

You can use these tests for yourself and then use with team memebers

SELF TEST

  • What beliefs do I have about my/your potential?

  • What have you always wanted to learn to do?

  • What do I believe is your destiny?

  • What beliefs do I have that do not support me?

  • Do I have beliefs that disable or enable who I lead?

  • ·Do my behaviours match my goals?

  • What beliefs would I change immediately if I believed I could?

  • How can I improve my belief system?

  • What do others believe about me that are not true?

 

TEAM TEST

  • What beliefs do I have about your potential?

  • What have you always wanted to learn to do?

  • What do I believe is your destiny?

  • What beliefs do I have that do not support me?

  • Do I have beliefs that disable or enable who I lead?

  • ·Do my behaviours match my goals?

  • What beliefs would I change immediately if I believed I could?

  • How can I improve my belief system?

  • What do others believe about me that are not true?

One of the simple and most critical steps in inspirational leadership is to make the resources available for your people to grow and improve.  I meet leaders who know that development is essential, and they under-budget development for their people.  The number of directors in mid to large-sized companies who ask for coaching budgets and are declined is staggering.  This is one example of firms choosing to stay where they are.  If you want people to grow, you have to create an environment to teach and train them what you need them to know over and above the ‘day job’.   There is a reluctance to prioritise development spend. Yet some companies also do a fantastic job -[6] Placing learning at the heart of the role, the heart of the culture internally and externally.

3 simple questions for identifying development opportunites

  • What resources do my people need to be better tomorrow?

  • What technology exists to make their role even easier?

  • What can I do to work on the skills needed to further their careers?

There is truth in hiring talent and deciding what to do with them next.  This comes with a health warning. Getting the most out of this principle, you have to be ready to devote time to development, the future, strategic development of the business, the people, the culture, and your story's development as a whole.  The right talent comes with a set of expectations.

As a coach and consultant, I believe that when someone makes the brave decision to leave a job, move their career to a new venture, it is a critical time for them and the firm.  The leader and company owner must ensure that the world and dream they sold have to match the one they joined.  When this is not the case, people usually leave.  The right talent goes first.  Having a development plan for all business elements is critical, covering the strategy, the mission, the future, the skills required, the behaviours, leadership and the overall communication and cultural development of your company.

Nurturing the talent, the story, the people you lead, is a must. 

There is an old story about the bamboo tree that captures the real spirit of nurturing.  Plants require several critical things to help them grow fertile soil, sun, and water.  The bamboo tree takes 4 to 5 years to develop.  There are no signs of growth in the first year, nor are there in the second, third, or fourth years.  Imagine every year the effort it takes to look after it, to protect it, to keep the conditions right.  Suddenly, in year five, it grows up to 8 feet in just six weeks.  All the activity comes at the end, the growth taking place under the surface.  Bamboo trees are some of the most flexible trees on the planet and can withstand storms.   Leadership is the same.  Some stories, some missions take time to come to life.  As a leader who intends to inspire their people, it is vital to ensure that it is done with the right balance of nurturing.

Inspiration through Pain and Pleasure

In life and business, the feeling of ‘mental pain’ can also misinterpret what is very positive, as the discomfort of making a phone call to a stranger - a potential customer of the future. Most people dislike the idea, and even more, will be unwilling to pick up the phone and dial the number- the pain being a personal discomfort, fear or worry about the outcome. Could it also be that pain in business or on the journey to potential success? Proven to be the case many times, not just for me but for the hundreds of people I have coached over the years.

 

The Top 7 Pains to Pleasures

1.    Doing the things that you least want to do first but need to

2.    Doing the worst task of the day first

3.    Speak to people that you’d prefer not to but need to

4.    Finish what you’ve started

5.    Laziness in preparation and planning

6.    Admitting when you are wrong

7.    Being the epitome of what you look for in others

‘Do the worst first’ and ‘do what you least want to do yet know you should - as quickly as possible. Similar advice has stood the test of time and continually works for those brave enough to accept and follow this approach. We have all seen many interviews with famous and successful people[7] who will list all of their trials and tribulations - challenges and hurdles that have daunted them on their route to getting their ultimate desired result.

Knowing what the top 7 Pain to Pleasures are can help discover a negative that you’ve never considered and making it part of your life going forward. Equally, noticing some of the things you do, which you feel are negative, has a positive solution.

Summary

To avoid expiration in a business or as a leader, you have to invest in inspiration. What this means to you depends on how far you want to take it.

Consider how you represent yourself, what inspires you to take action- do you do that for others?

Your options are:

1.    You can inspire a little and keep the pressure of expiration in all you do: high pressure and constant pain in business or dissolution of responsibility.

2.    Be a little aware and act reactively - one step ahead of things going pear-shaped. Still painful in the process of creating unrequired pressure

3.    Or encourage everyone you come into contact with by your attitude, behaviour, stories, and mindset transform the future of a thousand positive possibilities.

“Attitude is a choice. Happiness is a choice. Optimism is a choice. Kindness is a choice. Giving is a choice. Respect is a choice. Whatever choice you make makes you. Choose wisely.
”
— ― Roy T. Bennett, The Light in the Heart

I - It’s a choice

N - Now

S - Simple

P - Personal

I -

I’m possible
R - Resources
A - Action
T - Talent
I - Inspiration
O - Opportunity
N - Nurturing

Dave Evans
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