who did. They have each made big differences in the world. In every case, they can inspire us to become more of who we truly know we could be. Their passion can ignite ours.
There are also other leaders—each of us can name someone—who have made differences through the expression of personal passion and their ability to engage others in their direction. I can think of a small number of teachers and people in industry who stand out for me as having been real leaders in their sphere of influence. I would bet that you can, too. You probably had the teacher whom you fondly remember because of how you were changed forever by him or her at a critical point in life. Or maybe you remember the one boss who truly had purpose and connection, who inspired you to achieve. I know I can.
The moment that these special people opened themselves to the world and allowed others access to their passions and purpose, they became leaders. When we engaged their connection with humanity, we experienced a personal transformation. Through that contact, our world was irreversibly changed. Those people remain in our minds because of the impact they had on each of us as a person. We can still feel the emotions associated with them. We remember the experience of being with them. They had inspirational presence. So can you.
INSPIRATIONAL PRESENCE
Presence is that portion of another human being that you sense without consciously trying to do so. This presence can be small or large, compelling or repelling, indefinite yet palpable; it is the basis of connection between human beings. Each of us has presence, and that presence can be sensed by others around us. We do find, however, that some people have a presence that is more noticeable than others and often more compelling than others. Some are noticeable when they walk into a room. Others we notice when they get close to us. Some, we barely notice at all.
Presence, by itself, can be either positive or negative in its effect on others. We have all been around people who make our skin crawl for no apparent reason. We have been around people who make us nervous. We have also been around people who make us laugh or just feel good. Each of these has a different presence, big enough to influence our own state of being. But how does that presence relate to an ability to lead? Once people notice our presence, what does it take to have them want to move in the direction we are going, to buy in to our passion, and to commit their energy to our path?
When we become inspired, our presence becomes more pronounced. Our energy field gets stronger, and our impact on others is more positive. It feels better to be around inspired people than around people who are not. There is smoothness to their energy that compels us to stop, take notice, and listen. To begin to influence others at a personal level, we must have a connection with our own humanity and purpose and allow that connection to be accessed by others. We need a presence that is powerful and compelling. This is obtained through emotional availability and the resonance of a passionate purpose. Along with this purpose comes the optimism, enthusiasm, and self-confidence to pursue it. Then we can open ourselves and learn the transparency and authenticity that allows others to know us, to know what is important to us, and to connect with us around our passion.
Inspirational presence is the ability to connect authentically with others; to use our thoughts, feelings, and intuitions to guide action toward our deepest sense of personal mission.
INSPIRATION VS. MOTIVATION
Inspiration is a word that is used in many areas and in many contexts, but it’s not that often associated with leadership. Motivation is a more commonly used word when referring to leadership and management roles. Each of you will have your own preliminary definition or association with inspiration and probably can recall times when you found a person or an event or even a sunset particularly inspiring. We all know the feeling of being inspired and the many and varied ways that the word is used. For this book and this model, however, we want to condense it to a specific definition and a particular usage.
Let us start our exploration of the difference between the energy of inspiration and the energy of motivation with some definitions. The main entry for inspiration in the dictionary is “ecstasy,” which means to “stand outside the ordinary self.” Synonyms for inspiration are blessedness, bliss, delight, delirium, ebullience, elation, enthusiasm, exaltation, fervor, gladness, happiness, joy, and rapture. The main entry for motivation is “excitement.” Its synonyms are action, activity, ado, agitation, drama, enthusiasm, excitation, fever, flurry, furor, movement, stimulation, turmoil, and wildness. These are very different words that describe widely dissimilar emotional states. We can see that inspiration has connotations that allow us to be still within ourselves and in an inspired place. Motivation, with its orientation toward action, is more what we experience when we are bursting with energy and can’t wait to do something.
Most of us have experienced the meeting or event that is filled with motivational techniques. We get the bright lights, the loud music, the cheering from the stage. Invariably, these events will have us on our feet, clapping and making plenty of notes about what we will do next. These events can find resonance within us and spur us to action. This sort of energy definitely has its place. It jars us out of our seats, out of our comfort zone, and it charges our adrenaline. It has us making lists and setting goals. This is the key scene of so many feel-good movies, in which we see the rousing and moving half-time speech in the locker room of the big game. It is the speech that stirs our blood, bringing tears to our eyes and power to our limbs, leaving us pulsing with vitality and a renewed sense of determination and purpose. We breathe more freely, and our thoughts are focused. This is the energy of motivation that gets athletes to turn the game around in the critical second half.
But what about the other times? What about the early mornings when no one else is around? What about the quiet places in the day when we are looking for something else or the next place to direct our attention and energy? These times call for inspiration, drawn from deep within ourselves. It is the energy that we pull up from our deepest, most connected places. It sustains us through good times as well as adversity. We find it possible to be motivated without inspiration following. It is impossible, however, to be inspired without its being followed by motivation. To be truly inspired demands action.
We can take an even deeper meaning of inspiration—that it is the divine breath of life. For our purposes, we need leaders who understand their connection to causes greater than themselves. We need leaders who can connect with the people around them in deep and profound ways, coupling the drive of human passion with the wisdom and intelligence of strategic thinking. We need leaders whose stories can inform us as well as guide us. We need leaders who touch our hearts and awaken our minds. We need leaders who have found their inspiration. These leaders understand the ultimate divine breath of life—to live in the ebb and flow of a force that is greater than one’s self; to connect to a purpose that is higher than one’s self. This sort of inspiration, coupled with openness and transparency, is the root of inspirational presence.
LEADERS WITH INSPIRATIONAL PRESENCE
Our world needs leaders with inspirational presence, who are connected to a greater truth for their own direction. These leaders, when engaged, are transparent, authentic, and present, and they lead from a place that is outside of their ordinary self. They exhibit a style that is uniquely different, that is noticeable from a distance.
One of the questions I’m asked most frequently is “What do I have to do to be inspirational?” The answer to this is so simple that it sounds flippant: “Be inspired.” This is the first place of leadership. Each of us has to find the thing in life that really turns us on, that lights up our eyes, that makes us want to leap out of bed in the morning because we can’t wait to be involved with it. We find our passion in the middle of this space of caring, and
