In this time of change, your ability to inspire yourself and others is key.
There is no one right way of doing this. But there are seven standard ingredients that you can learn to combine to create your own unique recipe for inspiration.
The first of these ingredients is to speak with your own authentic voice.
Queen Elizabeth I of England provides a good example. Four hundred years ago she was confronted by a more difficult set of challenges than you or I will probably ever face. Many of her own countrymen thought she was unfit to rule, simply because she was a woman. Some of them were plotting to kill her. And then a major foreign power decided to invade.
Faced with these increasing existential threats, Queen Elizabeth could easily have run away. Or she might have tried to bluff her way through: “I am the best. Everything is fine.” Instead, she chose to speak her authentic truth.
Wearing armour (unheard of for a woman) she rode “like some Amazonian empress” into the middle of her assembled army, with an escort of only six men and two page boys.
Here, at the mercy of several thousand heavily armed soldiers, she spoke clearly and authentically what became her most famous words:
“I know I have the body of a weak, feeble woman, but I have the heart and stomach of a king — and of a king of England too!”
Her authenticity won her audience over.
And once they had decided to listen to her then they listened to what she had to say.
And once they had listened what she had to say then they did what needed to be done. The invader was repulsed, the country flourished, and Elizabeth I has gone down in history as one of the greatest leaders her country has ever known.
Before people decide what they think of your message they first decide what they think of you. And when you speak authentically about what you want to achieve, why, and the other ingredients you have chosen as part of your inspiring vision, people hear that and they know that they can trust you.
Then your words will resonate most strongly with the people who will join you for the long haul. And when you have an inspired team, working enthusiastically and pulling in the same direction, you can achieve almost anything.
In your life, and in your work, do you speak what is authentically true for you? What outcomes does that create? What would happen if you spoke more of your authentic truth — first to yourself and then to others?
Adapted from Inner Leadership: a framework and tools for building inspiration in times of change.
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Photo By mware2012 via StockPholio.net
Photo By Vicki Burton via StockPholio.net