The fifth ingredient for creating inspiration in a time of change is your ability to describe the future you want to create in a way that inspires you, and others, to long to make it happen.
There are several ways you might achieve this.
One is to define a specific, measurable, and time-bound goal. This was the approach that John F. Kennedy used when he announced America’s intention to go to the Moon:
“I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to the Earth.”
But being vague and metaphorical can work just as well. Moses promised his people:
“A land flowing with milk and honey”
No such land exists — but the inspiration it created was so strong that they followed him through the wilderness for 40 years.
Donald Trump promised to:
“Drain the swamp”
and
“Make America great again.”
both of which are equally vague goals. But they inspired enough people to vote for him that he became President of the United States, twice.
Defining an inspiring future isn’t about being specific or vague: it’s about articulating the outcome you want to create in a way that inspires your audience.
Usually this involves painting a positive picture. This is what Martin Luther King Jr. did when he said:
“I have a dream… I have a dream… I have a dream…”
He didn’t say,
“I have a problem I need you to fix.”
But equally, you can inspire people by describing a future filled with toil and struggle. In the bleak beginnings of World War Two, the British people didn’t need a “dream” — they just needed to keep going. For them, at that time, ‘inspiration’ simply meant not giving up. And Winston Churchill gave them that inspiration when he said:
“We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight…, we shall fight… We shall never surrender.”
These two speeches might seem to be the opposite of each other. But they both gave their audiences exactly what they needed: hope. And as Napoleon Bonaparte said:
“A leader is a dealer in hope.”
Your job, with this fifth building block, is to create that hope: first in yourself and then in other people. To paint a picture of the future you want to create, in a way that inspires you, and your audience, to long to make it happen.
The better you do this, the more antifragile you will become.
What is the future you are working to create? Is your description of that future clear and specific or vague and fuzzy? Is it bringing you and the people around you the hope and inspiration you are longing for?
Adapted from Inner Leadership: a framework and tools for building inspiration in times of change.
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Photo By S. Bhaskara Rao via StockPholio.net