Happiness Through Humanism: What makes an inspirational leader and how someone can strive to be one?

I don’t think inspirational leaders strive to be inspirational. Instead – they are focused on solving important problems and the result is they inspire others. People who strive to be inspirational – tend to come off as – fake. Being inspirational is NOT a good goal. Solving important problems that impact real people – is a good goal. The people who do work hard to solve important problems- are the people we find inspiring. So don’t try to be inspirational – BE inspired and you will inspire others.

A reporter contacted me about inspirational leadership. Here are the questions they asked and my answers.

What type of values do inspirational leaders have?

Inspirational leaders are aspirational people. They have personal dreams and goals they work towards. Those goals are almost always altruistically motivated. Meaning – they aren’t motivated by selfish things (like wealth or fame). They are instead motivated by their concern for others. And it is this that motivates them to work so hard to make things better for other people. What are the specific values? Compassion is probably the core value. It’s hard to imagine anyone inspiring others if they are NOT fundamentally driven by their sense of compassion and personal responsibility.

What skills do they possess?

They are strategic. It’s not enough to want to do good. In order to actually do good and succeed at doing good, you have to apply reason and critical thinking so that your actions have a positive impact. Wanting to do good – that is what compassion gives us. The desire to do good. Strategic and critical thinking – help us to figure out what will actually work. This is what helps us – BE Good.

What do they do and what don't they do?

They focus on fixing the problems. What they don’t do is worry about their reputation or status. They just focus on solving the problem with compassion and dignity. They don’t waste time on interpersonal pettiness. They don’t waste time on things that look good, but don’t fix the problem.

The other thing they don’t do – is they don’t sacrifice their personal values in pursuit of solving the problem. They understand that HOW you solve your problem matters. If you hurt people to help people – you aren’t helping people. So they tend to be ethical, compassionate and dignified in all of their professional and personal relationships. And it’s this last part that pushes them over the edge. Lots of people try to do big important things. But if you think of the people you find MOST inspirational – they are people who are caring, compassionate, loving, and dignified with EVERYONE they meet. They don’t reserve their concern for certain people. EVERYONE is treated well by them. Their personal and professional ethics – are the same and integrated. That makes them people – you want to be around and to work with and be inspired with.

It’s sad that most people are unable to be the caring compassionate ethical and dignified person we all aspire to be. Inspirational people – inspire us to be better – by being that truly good person we all aspire to.

Who do you consider to be an inspirational leader (not including yourself)?

Hillary Clinton. She is insanely competent, and always focused on helping others. From her work to help children get health care and to help change the way children are treated in the courts, through her entire life. It’s clear that compassion drives her and that she is super smart and super strategic and able to navigate and maintain her grace and dignity – even in the face of seriously horrible personal attacks. She has accomplished so much good in the world. My son has benefited from her work and I will be forever grateful to her for that. But she’s done all that under intense hatred directed towards her. And not once has she responded in kind. She’s the sort of person – I aspire to be.

What do you think makes them stand out from the rest?

They fight and win – using reason and compassion. They don’t fight dirty. They win, not by fighting, but by refusing to back down. They maintain their compassion and professionalism and patiently keep pushing for change – big and small.

What about them captures your attention and do you think makes them inspirational?

For me – it’s how they maintain their grace and compassion and dignity and don’t resort to dirty tactics in pursuit of their goal.

What kind of impact does an inspirational leader make?

They change the world. By being a good, decent, hardworking compassionate individual, who doesn’t let setbacks prevent them from doing what they think is right, they provide an inspirational model for the rest of us to aspire to.