Inspiration - a path to a better life, a path to a better company, a path to a better world
/By Duncan Anderson and Rex Roseman. To see all blogs click here.
Reading time: 12 mins
One Sentence Summary: I find inspiration a core element of being able to enjoy what you do. I find inspiration a core element in having others want to join you in doing something.
"Public sentiment is everything. With it, nothing can fail; against it, nothing can succeed" Abraham Lincoln.
With inspiration almost anything is possible. Without inspiration everything is very difficult.
Leadership taxonomy:
L-100: 'Leading' through intimidation:
Threats
Coercion
Punishment
L1: 'Leading through information'
Traditional management
Processes, systems, timelines, deliverables etc
L10: 'Leading through inspiration'
Providing vision, storytelling, relationships and role modelling to grow others and the environment
Built not born. IMO inspiration is something one builds, not something you are borth with.
People proactively cultivate excel skills, people meditate to try to build better ‘calm skills’, people try to build management abilities.
I think one can, and should try to, cultivate inspiration skills. Details on this below.
Work * Inspiration = Fun
Jingle: Work * No inspiration = … Uninspiring
Inspiration - a core element of a well functioning team
Inspiration - an essential element of leadership
Inspiration - a path to a better life, a path a better company, a path to a better world
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Details
For companies = 1. Inspiration is a core element to get past go + 2. Inspiration is a core element to go from small to large
IMO the founders of large companies are almost always inspiring… as they have had to be to get the business started and then to build it to be big.
Large companies have many people from all sorts of backgrounds, inspiring such a diverse array of people requires a strong ability to inspire
They are effectively always working on how to improve their ability to articulatethe vision + Improving the actual underlying vision each week.
I try to link what we are doing in Edrolo products to ‘improving education’ multiple times a week.
I think I’ve slowly gotten better at this not because I was born good at it (fixed mindset), but because I work at trying to get better at ‘vision’ every week (growth mindset).
My growth plan = Spend hours each week trying to level up on things like vision and inspiration.
If I had not spent the time trying to improve my ability to inspire, I would be nowhere near the ability I have now
Inspiration - an essential element of leadership
Some quotes for you:
“It’s easier to catch flies with honey than vinegar.” Lincoln. What is one type of ‘honey’ in a modern day workplace? Inspiration.
“You can lead a horse to water, but can you get it to drink?” One key strategy to get a ‘horse’ to drink water? Inspiration.
“If you aren’t excited [inspired] about what you are doing, should you expect anyone else to be?” Elon Musk. One key strategy to get people excited? Inspiration.
From Anthony Meek - Leadership Taxonomy:
L-100: 'Leading' through intimidation:
Threats
Coercion
Punishment
I worked under a vice principal like this and it was horrific to watch him go about it.
One particular quote I remember was 'you have to DEMAND respect' when speaking about teachers and students, gross and weird.
L1: 'Leading through information'
Traditional management
Processes, systems, timelines, deliverables etc
All good, regular, getting stuff running smoothly and well
L10: 'Leading through inspiration'
Providing vision, storytelling, relationships and role modelling to grow others and the environment
DA comment
Kholberg’s theory of moral development / ethical reasoning.
All well functioning societies they know of have rules and regulations. No rules = Anarchy. Variable rules = Tyranny.
Regulation = Actions require proportional responses.
Downside: you get exactly the behaviour you allow. If something bad happens and you do nothing, expect more of it.
Upside: you get exactly the behaviour you celebrate. If something good happens and you do nothing, don't expect more of it.
In short I think leaders need to:
1. Craft and regulate rules / principles
2. Lead through information
AND, 3. Lead through inspiration.
AND, 4. Not allow bad behavior to go unproportionally responded to.
OR operate on all levels simultaneously of Kholbergs
Inspiration through company comms: 1. Vision * 2. Communication (done well) = 3. Inspiration
You don’t start life with the ability to talk, to do maths, to write… and likewise I don’t think you start life with the ability to be inspiring. In effect you start at Level 0. Like how one can learn to do algebra, I think one can learn to be inspiring.
IMO every single week / month try to build your ability to be inspiring.
I don’t think this should be just for the most senior people, I think it should be for everyone :).
I normally find trying to be inspirational for others is also inspiring for myself.
I also see some young people at Edrolo trying to find ways that what they are doing is cool and / or new cool things to do and getting excited / inspired. It’s infectious. Those people I’ve seen go far!
How I do this:
Try to write up / say a levelled up version of your vision.
I often use ‘forcing functions’ to make sure this happens, typical ones for me are trying to say something ‘inspirational’ at the start of my teams weekly meeting, the monthly company all hands where I try to say something new and inspiring about the product, quarterly board meetings where I try to have something new about how our products can help improve education.
Work on improving my communication.
I would have presented publicly at Edrolo 100s of times now, I still get nervous before every single presentation.
Presentation = 1. Underlying idea * 2. Word choice * 3. Tone * 4. Animation & gesticulation * 5. Humour (I think presentations should try at least to give others a smile - link) * 6. Personableness (likability, authentic vulnerability but not false humility, are you enjoying it, etc)
Good ideas can come from everywhere. Inspiration should come from everywhere.
Hopefully you work with some people you find inspiring. Hopefully you don’t expect all inspiration to come from others.
When a human is born they are almost 100% dependent on others. My goal is to work to get to a place where I’m self reliant, where I don’t need help from others but that I do want to be good at accepting help from others, and that I also hopefully help many others.
Rearticulation: I want to be inspiring to others, have others around me who are inspiring to me, and be inspiring to myself. Honestly, I hope inspiration in my life is equal parts from myself and from others.
It might be that when you start full time work almost all inspiration comes from others, but hopefully the inspiration you provide for yourself and others increases.
What a good outcome might look like:
A bad outcome involves minimal inspiration from others and to yourself.
An equation, Inspiration = 1. Intrinsic inspiration (Inspiration from yourself) + 2. Extrinsic inspiration (Inspiration from others)
1. Intrinsic inspiration (Inspiration from yourself)
Examples: Making progress towards a person career goal, communicating your own authentic view on a shared goal with your team, improving yours and others understanding of how to make the world a better place
2. Extrinsic inspiration (Inspiration from others)
Example: Role models, buying into the narrative around the companies vision, seeing feedback from users etc
When we first start our careers its hard to do intrinsic inspiration before we have some runs on the board and absorb extrinsic inspiration from around us
Over time we get better at intrinsic inspiration and there is a shift in what motivates us at work
In short, I think you should take a lot of responsibility for providing yourself with intrinsic inspiration.
“Those who look for beauty find it. Those who look for ugliness find it.” - Proverb
IMO those who proactively cultivate inspiration eventually do inspire themselves and others. Those who don’t proactively cultivate inspiration normally don’t inspire themselves and others.
A rearticulation: Apathy <=> Inspiration
Apathy = a lack of inspiration
IMO inspiration is built, it’s not something that is innately part of a person, a product or a business.
Apathy = Atrophy
Get busy living (cultivating inspiration), or get busy dying (atrophying).
The ability to inspire, is the product of hard work
1. Growth in inspiration ability = 2. Vision levelling up * 3. Communication / presentation skills * 4. Drive to level yourself up (aiming to be the best at what you do) * 5. You put in the hours each week to level up * 6. Credibility built through progress in output
Typically with each unit of time one is either building a unit of credibility or burning a unit of credibility.
At work 90%+ of the time I’m trying to level myself up, level others up, to build units of credibility. Non work time I’m typically trying to relax or do play (fun * no purpose).
I’ve written about this here, but IMO aim to be the best, do the work to be the best, have high standards for yourself, have high standards for others. This isn’t necessarily what everyone wants to do with their work life, but hopefully it's what many people want to do with their work life.
Inspiration from innovation
Inspiration = Problem solving ability * Progress
If you ain’t innovating (this can be in product, systems, people management, self management, etc) you are not making progress towards a high level goal (at Edrolo, this is improving education or improving humanity)
And if you are not making progress then I think it’s much harder to craft a narrative which will inspire yourself and others. Also typically innovation I find just fun.
Inspiration is an input and output.
Some activities can’t be inspiring, eg getting water from the kitchen. But many can. For example looking into how to build a better Year 7 Maths textbook.
Finding a way to see and explain the inspiration (inspiration as an input) of an activity I’ve found is a key way to enjoy an activity (inspiration as an output).
1. Activity has possibility of being inspiring * 2. Inspiration = 3. Enjoyable activity (Inspiration as an output)
1. Activity has possibility of being inspiring * 2. Don’t do inspiration = 3. Not enjoyable activity (No inspiration in output)
I’ve found you have to work to try and proactively find inspiration. So making time to articulate inspiration as an input = inspiring.
One recipe for Inspiration = 1. Find a place you think the world should be better + 2. Build a strategy you think will improve the world here + 3. Clearly explain why you think you can make progress
I see one of the core roles of the leader(s) of a company as creating the conditions where people can be inspired… but that others need to take some responsibility for their inspiration, it’s not 100% dependent on others.
We can think of inspiration in levels
None or below = Apathy or worse
Small = Feel inspired for some of the time
Medium = Quite committed to the work you are doing, able to inspire others
Large = Leaping out of bed in the morning to get stuck in your work, rant about how inspired you are to everyone
Small vs Medium vs Large inspiration
While I think the leaders in a company should be trying to have the conditions for all staff to be small+ inspired, I think ideally you have medium or large levels of inspiration, and the parts above ‘small’ are your responsibility.
Inspiration from leadership = 1. The product strategy * 2. Your ability to explain your product strategy to a diverse array of people
Sufficiency for the inspiration from leadership = When >90% of the company is small+ inspired to do their job
I.e It isn’t the responsibility of leadership to get everyone to large+ inspired, if this happens its good but to get the majority of people over a “small” of inspiration, it requires everyone in the business to focus on their own intrinsic inspiration
Another lens, Inspiration = (Why * How) * Quality comms strategy.
Another articulation of inspiration: Inspiration = Self-actualisation
Self-actualisation has the word ‘self in it’.
Self-actulization is on you to do for yourself, not others to do. I think a big part of inspiration in your life is your responsibility, not the responsibility of others.
You can’t expect to “become the most that one can be”, without the ability to inspire yourself
Intrinsic inspiration is a core responsibility if you want to exceed expectations and succeed in all your goals
If you only take away one thing
IMO inspiration makes things easier.
IMO inspiration makes things more enjoyable.
Inspiration makes having others join you to help do something far more likely.
I’ve found that inspiration abilities can be fostered like most mental skills. I’d honestly put inspiration ability as as important as problem solving ability. IMO constantly try and level up your inspiration ability.
The inspiration your feel, is a product of input around you but ultimately you are responsible to lift your inspiration to the highest possible levels