A (5:03)

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B (9:22)

Yeah. Well, I love how you framed it, Scott, because you're exactly right that the high trust culture is half of it. The high trust culture that inspires that inspiration is the other half. And you need both halves in our world today to differentiate, to make a difference, to be the kind of organization and place where people feel like they can, where they're trusted and the Work they do matters and makes a difference, and they want to make a difference. And so how do you inspire? Well, first of all, let me say this, that I think you've identified, you know, to use the Wayne Gretzky metaphor, where he was asked what makes you so great at hockey? And he says, I skate to where the puck is going to be, not to where it's been, but to where it's going to be. I think in leadership, the puck, so to speak, where things are going is towards inspiration. Inspiration. And I think inspiration is actually the new engagement, the next frontier of engagement. We've been focused on engagement for the last 20 years, and it's a good thing. I'm not going to downplay engagement. It's vital to engage people so that they have that discretionary effort that they're giving. That's a good thing. We need to continue to move towards engagement. But I think there's another frontier, another level that's inspiration even beyond engagement. And there's actually a study from Bain & Co. That shows that inspired employees are, yes, 125% more productive than merely satisfied employees. Now, you might expect that, you know, satisfied is not enough, but they're even 56% more productive than engaged employees. So there's another frontier level that we can reach when people feel inspired. And inspiration to inspire comes from the Latin term inspirare. It means to breathe life into. So you breathe life into relationships, into teams and organizations, into culture. You light the fire that's within people. It's internal, it's intrinsic, it's inside of them. See, motivation is external, is extrinsic. So you motivate people with carrot and stick. That's. That can come out of command and control. And it's not a bad thing, per se. It's just that you're trying to move people through carrots, through sticks, to try to move people to do things. Inspiration is internal, is intrinsic, it's inside of people. You're trying to light the fire within and let that fire burn. And, you know, doesn't need constant new incentives, new stimuli thrown at it. It can live on. And if you can ignite that fire that's inside of people, that can burn on for years. And that's a higher level that we're trying to achieve, to tap into the desire for purpose, for meaning, for contribution. I think that's where things are going towards inspiration, to be inspired, to have that fire lit within. I'll give you an example of this. I was, I went and worked with the Pepperdine University, beautiful university in Southern California. And here's their. I worked with Jim Gash, their president, and their cabinet and their team, they send to the School of Business there, the Graziado School of Business, they establish a purpose that people really feel a sense of connection to that inspires them. And they phrase it this way, that our purpose is not to develop leaders who are best in the world. Our purpose is to develop leaders who are best for the world. You know, best for the world leaders. Now, to be best for the world, you got to also be pretty good in the world too, you know, so it's not saying it's not either or it's an and. But the overarching purpose is contribution, to make a difference, to matter best for the world leaders. And imagine what that does to inspire the professors. The fact the staff, the janitor, anyone working there feels like I'm part of developing best for the world leaders and tapping into that sense of purpose and meaning and contribution. That's what we want to do. So that, you know, tapping into that sense of purpose matters. But I think it's even possible to inspire people when we do it through caring as a leader that you care, you connect with people through caring in a sense of belonging as well as connecting people to purpose, meaning and contribution. So it can be grand in the sense of there's purpose, meaning and contribution, but it also can be micro in the sense of there's this. My. My immediate supervisor, my colleague, my peer. They care about me. I feel this sense of caring and that inspires me. I feel a sense of belonging and that inspires me. And every one of us as leaders can do that. Everyone can inspire. It's a learnable skill through a sense of caring and purpose as well as connecting people. Excuse me. A sense of caring and belonging as well as connecting people to purpose and to meaning. That's the idea. It's learnable. It's not just for the charismatic. Everyone can inspire. It's a learnable.

A (14:41)

Skill. Yeah, I was going to say it's, you know, like sometimes some of the points that you're bringing up, it's not just for a leader who is a charismatic evangelical, first class on stage, public speaker. When you're talking, the things that you're talking about, if we unpack them a step further, there's sort of two things that I pulled out from that. So you have an organization that has clear purpose, mission, culture, and they actually focus. Focus on making sure that the, the mission statement on the website is more than just the mission statement on the website. It's something that the whole company believes in, buys into, maybe even adds into. But then you also have at a leadership level, an individual level, you have people that are just being very high eq, empathetic individuals caring for each other. So it's something that permeates all the way throughout the entire organization. And that's what I guess you're saying, when somebody's living and breathing that every single day, that's what actually gets them to go. The whatever, the 125% or whatever that number.

B (15:42)

Was.

A (15:42)

Yeah. Is that correct? Okay.

B (15:44)

Absolutely. That's it. It's that simple and that.

A (15:48)

Difficult.

B (15:49)

Yes. But I love, you know, your point is this is not just for the charismatic. I think too often we've equated inspiration with charisma, thinking you got to be this charismatic soul to inspire people. But think about it, Scott. I bet you're like me. I. And I bet our listeners and viewers feel the same. I know people, some people who are very charismatic but who aren't necessarily inspiring because it's all about them. And, you know, they might be charismatic, but I don't know if that inspires me. I know other people who no one would necessarily describe as charismatic, but who are extremely inspiring because of who they are, how they care, how they connect, how what they do matters. So let's separate charisma and inspiration. And everyone can inspire. And you named it. You inspire when you connect with people through caring, through a sense of belonging. And then you inspire when you connect people to purpose, to meaning, and to contribution, like Pepperdine University is doing and others are doing. And we can learn to do that as leaders in both fronts. And if all you do as a leader, if all you do is focus on caring for others, caring for people, caring for those that you serve, empathy, compassion, showing that that actually will inspire them when they sense that you care for them. And I like how Maya Angelou put it, the great poet, civil rights advocate champion. She said, I've learned that people will forget what you say, they'll even forget what you do, but they'll never forget how you made them feel. And when you have a sense of caring that people feel and a sense of belonging that inspires like almost nothing else, and that will move the needle. And we can learn to do.

A (17:56)

That. Thanks for tuning in. If you found this valuable, don't forget to hit that subscribe button so you never miss an episode. And if you want to dive deeper into this conversation, check. Check out the links in the description to watch the full episode. See you in the next.