Inspiration has its expiration. Unless...
Nir Megnazi
Executive & Team Coach | Co-Creator of Intel Corporation's flagship Leadership Coaching Program | Developing High-Performance Teams | Keynote speaker | Workshop Facilitator | Investor.
In 2012 I landed badly from a kick during a martial arts practice and tore my ACL. It didn't hurt, too much. My tibia slid out from under my knee cap. As a result, I crashed to the floor, knowing that this can't be a good sign.
The doctor said I have to have surgery to reconstruct my ACL. I had to rest before and after the operation with some PT in between. Total of 4 months on the couch! For a very active person, that's a challenge. What will I do for four months? How many series can I watch? I felt highly unproductive. I must do something!
Finding inspiration!
It was a Metallica song on the radio (Loved them since I was 16) that got me excited! I always wanted to play an electric guitar. I always wanted to play the cool riffs from "one" and even better, play "Fade to Black" from start to end. It was a childhood dream.
(I think this is the first clip of Metallica I ever saw)
I was already able to play some chords. A friend taught me how to play at college, during our late night brakes between studies. It was enough to play the opening of "Nothing else Matters" but no more than that.
Inspired that I finally have the time to invest in learning to play an electric guitar, I hired a teacher to come twice a week and teach me while I'm lying on the sofa. It was hard, and it was great! I'm going to become a guitar player!
After two months I was much better and could improvise my own riffs although I still couldn't play Metallica at the level I wanted to. I kept going.
Failure is inevitable
Being a manager, it was a relief to step away from work for a while, but the sense of responsibility started to kick in. I started connecting more to work and to work more from home. The more I worked, the less I had the urge to keep practicing. I had all the excuses for my teacher until I canceled our lessons. My #inspiration has expired.
I never retook lessons.
What happened to my #inspiration? Why did it fade away in the face of work? Why couldn't I practice every day so I could play my favorite songs?
Why it wasn't enough to be inspired
I didn't want it bad enough. It was a sweet dream. It could have been great to impress everyone, but it wasn't necessary. It wasn't important. It had no real impact on the world.
"#inspiration comes with an #expiration date."
It does when you don't have a worthy goal. It does if you don't have a failure strategy.
#inspiration will last if you give it a meaning — a powerful positive purpose. A purpose that will re-ignite #inspiration in the face of hardship. An impact that will radiate waves of goodness to the world. A feeling of we MUST do it and not we should do it.
Influence through inspiration
Most leaders understand that the best way to influence people to take action is to inspire them. It is only second to fear (Which I will not dive into as it has devastating results).
As leaders, when we inspire, we offer the people that choose to follow us to become part of something bigger than all of us! We must make that reason a MUST and not a should. It has to be positive and not harmful.
The best inspiration moment becomes a calling.
For companies, it will be hard to inspire people by setting goals of earning more money. Here is an example I often use at it inspires me every time. Volvo has a mission statement "No one will die in our cars by 2020". I feel instant #inspiration when I read that. I can imagine how their employees keep pushing through hardship because of their essential mission.
In the face of hardship
#inspiration is mainly challenged in the face of hardship, of challenge. It will happen. On your journey to a worthy accomplishment, we all face roadblocks and challenges. To remain inspired, to keep our team inspired, we need to have a strategy. A step by step action sheet of what to do when it's hard. And it will be hard. The most worthy goals usually are.
I almost didn't become a coach
I decided to learn to coach in my late 30s because my mentor Clara Rispler inspired me. I wanted to have the impact she has on people's lives.
The first lesson in Adler Coaching School was very hard for me. They asked me to take on a structure which I had a hard time to adopt. I wanted to quit. Maybe look for another school or even stop this mid-life crisis nonsense. An inner voice didn't let me quit after the first session. I knew my soul wanted to help others. It felt right. I decided to come to the next lesson.
Strategy for failure
In the second lesson, they asked us why we're here. We had to write down and share why we're spending our money and time on learning how to coach. The coaches helped us build a strategy. They helped me articulate a big enough WHY to keep coming and continuously communicated that it will be hard, but it will get better in time. And I did! Coaching changed my life. The challenge made me stronger.
Summary
If you want to #inspire others, make it positive, and make it big. If you wish to maintain inspiration, have a strategy, and remind them of the big WHY. Build a strategy on how to inspire when situations are hard.
My dream
BTW, I did fulfill my dream and played on stage. Yes, it was a small bar where my friend's band played. Yes, it was one song. Yes, there were only 7 people at the bar. Still, dream accomplished!
Share your experience
Was the article helpful? Do you think others can benefit from it? Please take a moment and share it along with a comment that describes your takeaway. Feel free to mention me, so I get notified. That would be very helpful.
If you want to read more, I invite you to visit my website NirMegnazi.com
Thank you for reading this.
Nir Megnazi - Leadership Coach
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Global Business Executive | Semiconductor and Electronics Manufacturing Capital Equipment, Software, Services | Building Teams To Generate Sustainable Growth
5 年Catherine Savage?Joseph Mott?Ira Feldman I would like to think that I inspire through #leadership. When we choose to lead, we must set an example. I stand for accountability, integrity, involvement. Walk the walk... every day, all day.
Applying Semiconductor Knowledge to Your Test Challenges | Training Technical Leaders Using a Skills Based Approach
5 年Debbora (Deb) Ahlgren?will definitely have something to add.? I'm sure that Karey Holland?will as well.? Anthony Fasano, PE?can bring his observations from the Civil engineering sector. Jill Murfin?has perspective as well. Megan Bigelow?has inspired many both in her Tech role and in her leadership of Portland Women in Technology. Mel Butcher?leads in the water management sector and creates inspiring podcasts.
Founder of Voyage Capital & M51 Entrepreneur Labs | Investor | Entrepreneur | Unusual Thinker | Dad
5 年Thanks for the mention Nir, I’m humbled. I really don’t like talking about myself and the effect I have on others - a bit weird, I know. From what people tell me, it seems I have the ability to bring out the best in people when it comes to achieving goals, business or otherwise. It’s just like you wrote in your post: in order to inspire, you have to be positive. I know it’s a cliché but nothing is impossible if you truly want it and work toward it so I guess me being an incorrigible optimist rubs off on people in a good way.
Responsable UAP chez Constellium
5 年Nice article?Nir Megnazi, thanks for the mention ! I liked the parallel between your own experience and the workplace. In coporate environnement, finding a good Why is key. If you count on just every month salary so that people come everyday at work with energy, you're making a mistake. Sometimes it's difficult to find the why for an entire departement, office, shopfloor, plant... But the more common it is, the more collaboration you will get through it.? To find that "why" of your organization, I liked to call it the "mission". You got to define that with your team. What are you here to do ? For whom ? What is your ultimate goal ? You would need only a couple of workgroup to define a common approach. It has to be a not to long sentence to that every one can easily remember and refer to.? But when the mission is found, you are ready to rely on it for every single decision of every single employee in the organization. Is what you're doing not in line with the mission? Then don't it.
Applying Semiconductor Knowledge to Your Test Challenges | Training Technical Leaders Using a Skills Based Approach
5 年No examples this late in the day.? What did come to mind- Simon Sinek's "The Golden Circle" Ted talk which points to great leaders "inspire" by having a compelling why.? The factoid about the Wright Brother's competitor declaring human powered flight can't be done during the same week that they flew- priceless.? It was a big idea- to fly. Also I was reminded what?Scott Crabtree?has stated that one way managers can grant their team autonomy is through inspiring them- buy-in.