All human beings need inspiration to perform at our best.  And as I’ve starting encouraging you on Fridays, as leaders this is even more important to us.

Let’s start with reading.

You may be reading to education, edification or entertainment.  All of those are valid reasons to read.  But what about consciously, intentionally reading to be inspired?

For me that could be something by Dale Carnegie, Zig Ziglar, Og Mandino, Maxwell Maltz, David Schwartz, Napoleon Hill, Bob Burg, Steve Farber, Jon Gordon (links to to specific books by these folks is fodder for future posts,  and you know how to use Google) or the Bible.

Yes there is education in all of these, but there is also inspiration.

For you, perhaps the list is different – it may include prose or poetry or whatever.  What is on your list matters less than that you HAVE a list.

Most important is that you dip into that list and READ from it.

Regularly.

Starting right now.

The bottom line is that maintaining and infusing our life with inspiration is an important conscious behavior that drives good leadership skills.

If you want to provide more innovative leadership, you need inspiration.

Books can provide knowledge and edification on our path to learning leadership, but books can provide so much more than knowledge, they can, when we choose carefully, provide inspiration, which provides confidence and an impetus to action.

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Kevin Eikenberry is a recognized world expert on leadership development and learning and is the Chief Potential Officer of The Kevin Eikenberry Group. He has spent over 30 years helping organizations across North America, and leaders from around the world, on leadership, learning, teams and teamwork, communication and more.

Twice he has been named by Inc.com as one of the Top 100 Leadership and Management Experts in the World and 100 Great Leadership Speakers for Your Next Conference. The American Management Association named him a “Leaders to Watch” and he has been twice named as one of the World's Top 30 Leadership Professionals by Global Gurus. Top Sales World has named him a Top Sales & Marketing Influencer several times, and his blog has been named on many “best of” lists. LeadersHum has named him one of the 200 Biggest Voices in Leadership in 2023.

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  1. Some of the best insights are so simple. What is the point of success if the definition of your success is not informed by inspiration? Thanks for this great message.

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