Motivational Value

Motivational speakers are a dime a dozen. Motivational leaders are your friends for life.

Leaders who motivate become your friends because they add lasting value to your work and to your relationship. Think about the most motivational leader you've experienced -- whether it has been at work, at school, at sports, at church, or at some other organization. How did they motivate you? What effects did it have?

I remember being motivated by my assistant track coach in high school, Mr. Hursey because his approach was so different from that of the main coach. While the main coach seemed aloof and bossy, Mr. Hursey was filled with enthusiasm, patience, and yes - love for every athlete on the team. It didn't matter if you were fast, talented, winning, placing or simply showing -- Mr. Hursey gave each of us attention, instruction, and patient support.

You could see it in his smile. You could feel it in his concern. You knew he touched you deeply, with his presence and care. That instruction, patience, and love led me and others to perform far better than we'd ever performed before. We practiced harder. We ran faster, jumped higher, and stayed with the program hour after hour.

Mr. Hursey showed us tricks of the trade we could never learn on our own (for instance, how running up and down the stairs of the stadium could increase your vertical leap). We saw far more of him than we did of the main coach. As a true test of motivation, consider that I think of Mr. Hursey often, decades after his influence, and I can't even remember the name of the main coach.

There have been other great motivators in my life and I'm sure that you can think of many as well. Chances are, it's not what they said that motivated you the most, but what they did.

- Support
- Instruction
- Care
- Patience
- Discipline
- Insights

I've got nothing against motivational speakers - I enjoy many of them often. But it's been the motivational leaders in my life that I remember.

What will it take for you to be more of a motivational leader?

Will you start that today?

-- Doug Smith
http://frontrangeleadership.com

Comments

Everything CountsJuly 10, 2009 at 2:07 AM
Motivational leaders help us gain self-confidence by motivating us towards our goals. Not everybody can be a good motivational speaker. The qualities that have been mentioned here are really all that takes to be motivational speaker.
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Doug SmithJuly 11, 2009 at 7:40 PM
Yes. I don't know if Mr. Hursey ever did any motivational speaking, but he certainly motivated many young athletes.

Thanks for your comments!

Doug Smith
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There Is No License for Laziness

I like to take a day off once in a while. I enjoy long walks with nothing to do but walk. It's not all about outcomes and goals. But those outcomes and goals ARE still important. We earn our leisure, don't we? The trouble with casual laziness is that it's contagious. And, laziness is persistent. And, before you know it, laziness becomes a way to be. Don't be lazy. (That's me, talking to myself. Listen in if you want to!) I like to come up with crazy ideas. I like to do weird work. I like to take long walks with nothing to think about but thinking. I've lived long enough to be eccentric. But not long enough to be lazy. Now, get busy... -- Doug Smith

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Every conversation is an opportunity to make someone's life better. Take the chance. -- doug smith

Try Not Lying

High performance leaders communicate without lying. That's harder than it sounds. So hard, that hardly anyone ever does it. -- doug smith

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Show Integrity

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It would be nice to win the game. But, do you ever feel like you're in a game that keeps shifting the rules and making it easy to make progress but impossible to win? You've probably noticed lots of game elements creeping into service. Points, incentives, expiring coupons followed by new expiring coupons, leader-boards...on an on a relentless attack on service comes from playing a game designed -- you guessed it -- to maximize profit. If the customer is happy, fine, but the point is to make money. Not to put too fine a point on it but that's a lousy point. What if there could be something better? What if customer service excellence became playing a game where the customer always wins and that makes you happy? You don't have to. "give away the store" to achieve a winning game for all of the players. Just stop stacking the rules against customers and watch how much more they will want to do business with you. -- doug smith

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