The most important quality of a leader is the ability to inspire and motivate his or her subjects. Inspiration comes in many ways; the ability to keep the team focused on its goals, encouraging members to be creative and fearless while putting across their ideas and having a direct relationship with team members to understand some of the challenges they might be going through in their day to day activities. Particularly, the ability to motivate innovation comes handy in complex situations, like when the team is caught up between a rock and a hard place, and an extraordinary reaction is required to solve the problem. Take an example of a startup company that wants to roll out a product in the market, but they have a problem with the authorities on the legality of the business approach, maybe because the law is not clear or the description is insufficient. A great leader would motivate the team members to stay optimistic and roll out the product, then deal with the authorities later.
Inspiration comes from knowledgeableness when the members of a team believe in the ability of the leader. President Obama, for instance, has succeeded mainly because people understand his abilities and the fact that he is very knowledgeable about many issues that affect the world and the United States of America. That aspect has helped people to believe in his abilities and inspired millions of Americans to work hard and achieve their dreams. Of course, there are some situations where he has failed, and to his admission, like the military invasion of Libya. Nevertheless, he uses his charisma and mastery of leadership issues to inspire confidence across the divide. He also leads a family life that stands out as exemplary, despite the pressures of being the most powerful man in the United States. His family life has been lauded as a source of admiration by people across the world, and his ability to tone down in moments of pressure makes him a favorite of many people (Smallwood).
Keeping employees motivated and inspired to create cutting age solutions is a characteristic of the many successful leaders. Steve Jobs of Apple Inc managed to keep the workers in his company on their toes, by ensuring that they worked in an environment that inspired creativity and innovation, so much so, that Apple Inc rules the world of Smartphones and high-end personal computers for more than a decade. For one to achieve such fetes, they need to grasp the problems that face their industry and team members and prove to the employees that they can do the dirty work from bottom to the top (Winfrey). That end-to-end mastery of processes and standards encourages junior staff to put the long hours into learning and perfecting their skills, and keep the company at the summit of innovation in those particular industries.
In a family setting, the ability of the parent to offer inspiration to the children through effective communication and delegation of duties makes the kids develop strong characters and responsibility, in a way that prepares them to the outside world. For instance, a mother who allocates duties to the children regarding the menu for particular days of the week, with decisions on the menu of any day at the discretion of the child on duty, helps the child to develop confidence in making simple decisions that impact many people. That makes inspiration a broader subject that is just showing people that they can do it, to assuring them that they can be the best at what they do. The quality of a leader to convince people to perform at that level makes it easy for him or her to achieve results.
One of the most inspirational leaders in the history of America was Abraham Lincoln who guided the country during the civil war (Mukunda). He managed to motivate Americans of all ethnicities, color and creed to stand and claim their rightful place in history. Despite the loss of many soldiers in war, he managed to stay positive and mend the hopes of the people of the United States of America, and many of the rights people enjoy today are attributed to him.
Works Cited
Mukunda, Gautam. “Abraham Lincoln, Poster President for the Great Leadership Paradox.” Fast Company. Fast Company, 14 Sept. 2012. Web. 30 July 2016.
Smallwood, Norm. “Judging Obama as A Leader.” Forbes. Forbes, 4 Sept. 2009. Web. 30 July 2016.
Winfrey, Graham. “How Steve Jobs used masterful storytelling to motivate employees.” Innovate. Inc.com, 24 Feb. 2016. Web. 30 July 2016.
