David leads a large group in an organization that has over 80,000 people. They’ve been getting hammered in the news for months now, trying to recover from mistakes made by the then-CEO five years ago. Unfortunately, they’ve just had to announce layoffs. There’s a tremendous amount of unsettling re-organization and re-shuffling going on. Where people will land is up in the air. The future of the organization is uncertain and morale is at an all-time low.
David’s group is the only inspired group in the whole organization. They’re engaged, focused, forward-looking. And helping the new CEO turn the whole organization around. That wasn’t always true.
They’re inspired not because conditions are better for them, but because David changed the story he was telling them.
When David first came for Beyond Persuasion, his attempts to “inspire” his team were falling flat. He was saying all the right things: the new vision, the plan, the priorities, the outcomes, the call to action. All good, but none of it was working.
He said, “If I don’t inspire them, I’ve lost them. I need them aligned and engaged. I need them focused on what we can do, not what’s happening everywhere else.”
That’s a hard assignment when the only conversation in the halls is the latest trash in the news, who got laid off, who’s afraid of getting laid off, how all the “good people” are leaving, the shattered trust in management, and whether the future is worth investing in.
Most leaders respond by pushing harder on logic. More explanation. More rationale. More data.
And while logic is necessary, it isn’t sufficient, especially when people are discouraged, uncertain, or afraid.
Inspiration doesn’t come from more logic
It comes from new life.
The word inspire comes from the Latin inspirare which meant to breathe life into. That’s exactly what effective leaders do when conditions are difficult. They don’t deny or sugarcoat reality. They animate people within it.
David learned that inspiration isn’t about hype or motivational speeches. It’s about infusing four essentials that bring the human spirit back online:
Purpose. Hope. Imagination. Courage.
In a single presentation, David shifted how his team saw their work and their future. He gave them a fresh sense of purpose, not corporate purpose, but human purpose. Purpose ignited passion.
He stirred their imagination. They found themselves drawn toward a new future worth creating.
He built hope they could do it.
He created courage. Willingness to face the reality of the present fearlessly, tackle it head on and make it happen.
David inspired them. Logic without inspiration doesn’t move anyone.
The effect was immediate. Morale shifted. Energy returned. Focus sharpened.
And something unexpected happened next: his group began influencing the rest of the organization. No formal declarations, just a huge shift in what happened in their daily meetings.
Inspiration spread, quickly and quietly. It changed the organization, how they work, how they create the future. How they feel about it all. It’s building a new organization from within.
News media is now “cautiously optimistic”. For the first time in a long while, that optimism feels justified.
Every senior leader eventually runs into this moment.
You can manage around reality. Or you can learn how to speak in a way that brings people back to life, even when conditions are difficult.
This isn’t charisma. It’s a learnable capability.
And when it’s present, outcomes become extraordinary.
Be the cause!