The Inspiration Code: How the Best Leaders Energize People Every Day

by Kristi Hedges Narrated by Amy McFadden

Overview

All it takes is the right conversation . . . Great leaders inspire action with their words. They spark enthusiasm and commitment. With a single conversation, they can change the direction of someone's life. Everyone wants to be the kind of leader who energizes and mobilizes others-yet too few are. Why is it so challenging to crack the code? Executive coach Kristi Hedges spent years studying exactly what inspiring leaders do differently. Informed by quantitative research and thousands of responses from leaders at all levels, she reveals that inspiring communication isn't about grand gestures. Instead, those who motivate us most do a few things routinely, consistently, and intentionally. Eye-opening and accessible, The Inspiration Code dispels common myths about how leaders communicate-and guides them in cultivating qualities that authentically excite. Inspired companies need inspirational leaders. Learn to unlock motivation, lift peoples' sights, and lead them into the future.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

Hedges delivers an exceptional leadership book.” –Success Magazine

“Filled with profound insights and compelling data…Hedges uncovers a set of consistent, learnable behaviors that dramatically enhance leadership success.” — Eric Jacobson on Management and Leadership

“[Hedges’s] extensive research and survey into what inspires people is fascinating.” –Skip Prichard Leadership Insights

“…packed with information, inspiration, wisdom and practical applications…an absolute joy to read. I felt that Kristi was my personal coach and I loved every minute of it.” —PW World Journal

“…will excite leaders who want to inspire their teams into action…provides a formula that empowers leaders to effectively tackle the three elements of inspiration: ‘transcendence, motivation, and evocation.’” –TD magazine

“Read it if you're looking for the secret to building an enthusiastic and committed team.” —Connect Magazine Corporate

“…all of us would love to say that we were inspired [at work]. Hedges shows leaders how to improve the odds of that happening with proven strategies for being more present, personal, passionate and purposeful in their conversations.” –-Hamilton Spectator

“…thoughtful and insightful message to those in leadership positions regarding the manner in which they can develop ways of providing a methodology of encouragement.” —Choice

“Conversations as recommended by Ms. Hedges, will yield a strong workforce and higher productivity...One day, you'll look back and not believe how far your workplace come.” —Santa Barbara Free-Press

“This book is packed with insight on how to be a motivational and energizing leader, and it's impossible to put down.” –Bryan Adams, Inc.

“….relying on a framework informed by hundreds of interviews, survey data and communications studies… [Inspiration Code] takes complex leadership concepts and translates them into actionable steps.” – HR magazine

Product Details

BN ID:	2940169935578
Publisher:	Brilliance Audio
Publication date:	06/01/2017
Edition description:	Unabridged

Read an Excerpt

WHAT IS INSPIRATION EXACTLY?

For twenty years, psychology professors Todd Thrash and Andrew Elliot have been studying the process of inspiration. They've produced numerous studies that uncover what transpires within us when we catch the spark of inspirational light.

Thrash and Elliot have determined that inspiration is a culmination of several components coming together, not just a one-sided event. Inspiration may feel as if it just happens, but in fact, there's a rhythm or process to it. Thrash and Elliot have found that inspiration involves three defining elements:

1. Transcendence: We can see beyond our ordinary preoccupations or limitations to discover new or better possibilities.

2. Motivation: We feel energized, or even compelled, to bring an idea into action or carry it forward.

3. Evocation: We are receptive to an influence beyond ourselves that creates the inspiration within us.

We can't will ourselves to be inspired, though we often wish we could. Rather, there's a trigger. This may be a person, an idea, or both. We are exposed to an inspirational force that causes a profound reaction within us. Thrash and Elliot further state that inspiration actually involves two separate component processes: We are inspired by something as well as to an action. I was inspired by a leader to go out on my own. It's both an insight and an energetic push.

In an interview with me, Thrash put it this way: "There's always a transmission process of one sort or another. What exactly that transmission means can vary. Transmission could start with an insight, an exemplar, language, or the assistance of another person who helps you envision possibilities you might not have recognized on your own. The person getting inspired has to become aware of a better possibility. That's how the process starts. After that, they get motivated to bring that possibility into fruition."

The research also makes it clear that inspiration can't be forced. It can't feel like manipulation or even influence. In The Power of Presence, I wrote about influence. There are many situations where that's the right approach. Inspiration, however, is a different route, though sometimes complementary. Inspiration is an invitation, and since it fosters a personal insight, it can't be heavy handed. A person decides to be inspired for herself, and isn't beholden to someone else's agenda. There's positive energy around it. People don't go home after work and say, "What a great day today, I was influenced!" But they would love to be able to say, "Today I was inspired."

By being an inspirational person, we are not the driver but the catalyst. As Thrash says, "The person who seeks to inspire others would have to look at their task as not making the person inspired, but rather as providing the context where spontaneous processes get triggered."

Think about how much more engaged we would be at work if we were truly inspired in this way—if we had leaders who viewed their jobs as triggers for an inspired workforce. When we're inspired, we work the hardest and most creatively. We don't need to be overmanaged because our energy pulls us along. We elect to do more and go further. It feels a whole lot more like fun than like work.

If we want to have inspired companies, then we need inspirational leaders. And that involves being the kind of leader who communicates in a way that creates the conditions for inspiration in others. It's about making the right connection and letting the inspiration take off from there.

Excerpted from THE INSPIRATION CODE by Kristi Hedges. Copyright © 2017 by Kristi Hedges. Published by AMACOM Books, a division of American Management Association, New York, NY. Used with permission.

All rights reserved. http://www.amacombooks.org.

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