Effective Leaders Inspire

I have repeatedly discussed the need for effective leaders to build strong relationships in a culture that nurtures and encourages rather than destroys and discourages.  

Effective leaders inspire there team members to grow, produce, and perform.  Notice that the verb is inspire and not mandate or direct.  Effective leaders are exceptional at not only cultivating strong and productive relationship, but also at tapping into those relationships to achieve even the most difficult objectives.

The effective leaders know that people are the most productive when they feel appreciated, needed, and wanted.  Far too many people in positions of leadership view their people as subordinates rather than equals.  

I love the story from the late great Coach John Wooden when he was the head basketball coach at UCLA.  When he was hired in 1948 to be the head coach at UCLA he was promised a new basketball arena would be soon built.  Apparently 'soon' was a relative term as UCLA did not play in a new facility (Pauley Pavilion) until 1965, Lew Alcindor's (later Kareem Abdul-Jabbar) first year on the UCLA varsity basketball team.  In the interim, UCLA played in the Men's Gym, jokingly called the B.O. barn (for obvious reasons... it had very poor ventilation).  Wooden would sweep the floors before and after practice, because it needed to be done.  He led by example, did not view himself as 'too good' to do any task, and spent his career teaching character.  In later years Abdul-Jabbar, who went on to an illustrious 20 year career in the National Basketball Association and is considered by basketball experts to be one of the top 10 greatest player of all time, stated "The wisdom of Coach Wooden had a profound influence on me as an athlete, but even greater influence on me as a human being.  He is responsible, in part, for the person I am today."

That's inspiring leadership!