Inspire

Todd Henry [00:00:02]:
In the early 1980s, Ibrahim Abouleish, an Egyptian pharmacologist working successfully in Austria, made what many considered to be a really foolish decision. He gave up his really comfortable life to return to Egypt with a seemingly impossible dream to transform a piece of desert into a thriving, sustainable community. The location he chose was 70 km northeast of Cairo, a harsh expanse of desert that experts deemed unsuitable for agriculture. Against all odds and facing significant skepticism, Buliash founded Sikkim. It's ancient Egyptian for vitality from the sun. His vision wasn't just about farming. It was about creating a holistic community that would combine sustainable agriculture, social development, and cultural activities. Most people thought he was delusional, out of his mind.

Todd Henry [00:00:51]:
But what made Abouleish an unlikely but inspiring leader wasn't just his unconventional background or his ambitious vision. It was his ability to motivate others through a combination of practical demonstration and unwavering optimism. He started by using biodynamic agricultural methods, a technique that many considered impossible in desert conditions. He worked alongside the initial team, physically demonstrating the possibilities while simultaneously teaching them about sustainable practices. And the results were remarkable. Within a few years, the first patches of desert began transforming into fertile soil. This visible progress inspired local farmers, who had been skeptical, to join the initiative. Bouliush then expanded his vision, establishing schools for children, vocational training for adults, and a medical center for the community.

Todd Henry [00:01:40]:
Now, what's particularly inspiring about Abouleish's leadership was his ability to connect immediate practical needs with larger philosophical goals. He didn't just tell people what to do. He showed them how their daily work contributed to a greater purpose. He created a culture where every person, from farmers to teachers to healthcare workers, understood their role in building a sustainable future. By 2023, his organization, CECUM, had transformed 684 hectares of desert into fertile land. It employed over 2,000 people, and it established numerous educational and cultural institutions. The initiative has inspired many similar projects across the Middle east and Africa. Most importantly, it demonstrated how sustainable development could work in practice, not just in theory.

Todd Henry [00:02:29]:
So Obliash's story is remarkable because he wasn't a traditional business leader or politician. He was just a scientist who became a visionary community builder. His success came from his ability to inspire others to see possibilities where they had previously only seen limitations. He showed that leadership isn't about position or background. It's about the ability to motivate others to believe in and work toward a better future, even when the odds seem insurmountable. This story exemplifies how inspiring leadership can transform not just organizations, but Entire communities creating lasting change that spans generations. But what is it about inspiring leaders that makes us want to follow? After all, if no one's following you, are you really a leader? On today's episode, we'll explore what inspires us to follow great leaders and maybe how we can inspire others to be part of our cause as well. This is Daily Creative, a show for creative pros who want to be brave, focused, and brilliant every day.

Todd Henry [00:03:32]:
My name is Todd Henry. Welcome to the show.

Adam Galinsky [00:03:38]:
I'm a social psychologist by training, but I've been teaching in business schools and doing research in business schools for the last 25 years. And I study leadership negotiations, ethics, diversity, decision making, like all the things that have to do with how we function as social beings in organizations.

Todd Henry [00:03:58]:
That's Adam Galinsky. He's also the author of a new book called Inspire, in which he explores what makes leaders especially inspiring, which to Adam is a really important topic, especially at this point in time. And the core part of his theory is something he calls the leader amplification effect.

Adam Galinsky [00:04:16]:
The leader amplification effect is a term that I coined that basically just recognizes that as when we're in positions of leadership or held in high regard, we're essentially on stage and people are paying close attention to everything we do. And therefore our words, our expressions, our interactions are sending signals to other people and impacting them. And basically, because we're on stage, because there's a tension on us, all of our actions get amplified and then our reactions to leaders get intensified. What might be just an offhand constructive comment can become humiliating criticism when it comes from a leader. But there's also good news in the leader amplification effect, which is a casual compliment, can also become glorious praise from a leader. And I think that it's really this idea of recognizing that we have when we're in these positions of influence, we have deep impact on other people. And that gives us essentially a profound responsibility to self reflect and become self aware about how our own behavior is influencing, impacting, and affecting other people.

Todd Henry [00:05:21]:
Because of the leader amplification effect, Adam says that it's often the small things that have great impact on a culture.

Adam Galinsky [00:05:29]:
My. My favorite story that I tell in the book is about a man named Barry Salzberg who became CEO of Global Deloitte, which is tens of thousands of employees. And about six months into the his being CEO, he noticed that there was bananas at every meeting and he's oh my God, I've been at Deloitte for 35 years. Is. Are bananas an important Symbol that I somehow missed. And does someone really important love bananas? So he went to his assistant and said, why do we have bananas every meeting? And she's. Because you love bananas. He's, wait, what? And the very first meeting, she was very, paying very close attention to him, cuz he's the new CEO.

Adam Galinsky [00:06:03]:
He picked up a banana and looked like a little delighted by it. And so she coded that Barry Salzberg loves bananas. Have bananas at every meeting. Right. And that's a good example. You said just the posture, just even an eyebrow raise could send people scurrying to corner the banana market. Right.

Todd Henry [00:06:20]:
Wow, that, that's. I mean, it's a great example. Right? And, and we, and it's so funny because again, to your point, like the the slightest gesture, the slightest little comment can suddenly become incredibly important in, in someone's world and how they perceive you. I love what you call your VEM diagram, not your Venn diagram, even though it is a Venn diagram. VEM diagram. Vem. Could you share for us the three qualities of inspiring leaders?

Adam Galinsky [00:06:46]:
Sure, yeah. I'll just, I'll give you just a little background. How I came up with it in two sentences, which is that I started asking people all over the world and eventually started to ask tens of thousands of people over the world just two simple questions, right? Tell me about a leader that inspired you. What was it about that person? Tell me about a leader that infuriated you, what was it about that person? And getting these thousands and thousands of examples, you can start to distill them, code them scientifically, and realizing that they fall under sort of three buckets. And one bucket of the them is visionary, exemplar and mentor. Those are the three. And so visionary is how we see the world, view the world, communicate about the world. It's an exemplar is how we are in the world, and then mentor is how we interact in the world.

Adam Galinsky [00:07:35]:
And I'm happy to go through each one because there's nuances and specifics about each one. But I think the single most important thing about the VEM from my research is it's truly universal. So these are the three categories that exist in every country, in every culture in the world. There's not a single inspiring versus infuriating distinction that is unique to any country. And so it's really embedded in the very architecture of the human mind. We are, in some ways we're conditioned towards this inspiring, infuriating continuum, this universal distinction between these leaders that impact us sometimes with this wellspring of hope and possibility. And sometime with a seething cauldron of rage and resentment.

Todd Henry [00:08:20]:
Exemplary Visionary Mentor let's reflect for a minute about the story at the top of this episode. Ibrahim Billiash's remarkable journey exemplifies each of these three qualities. As a visionary, Bouliash demonstrated the ability to see possibility where others only saw limitation. His vision transcended just agricultural development. He imagined a holistic community that would integrate sustainable farming, education and cultural growth. By articulating a future that others couldn't yet see, he created a compelling narrative that drew other people into his mission. Abouleish's exemplary leadership was evident in his hands on approach to transformation. So instead of merely directing from above, he worked alongside his team in the desert, physically demonstrating what was possible.

Todd Henry [00:09:06]:
This willingness to get his hands dirty and lead by example earned him credibility and respect. And perhaps most significantly, the third element. He excelled as a mentor by developing others capabilities and understanding. He didn't just train people in agricultural methods, he educated them about sustainable practices and helped them understand their role in a larger vision. So these three qualities, visionary thinking, exemplary action and transformative mentorship, worked together synergistically. His vision inspired other people to join the cause. His example showed them it was possible. And his mentorship equipped them to carry the mission forward.

Todd Henry [00:09:46]:
The result was not just a transformed desert landscape, but a transformed community of capable, purpose driven individuals who could continue the legacy. So Adam breaks down each of these three qualities. Exemplar Visionary mentor in his book Inspire.

Adam Galinsky [00:10:05]:
Being visionary is how we what and how we communicate. And so one is the what, right? And that's big picture. So seeing the broader perspective and this sort of optimistic, meaningful big picture vision of the future, right? That's the what. It's. There's a couple different elements there. It's big picture, it's meaningful and it's optimistic, right? How the world is going to be in the future. And then there's a little bit of the how, right? And two really important things are to take that big picture optimistic vision of the future and simplify it into its essence. And I call that the Inception rule from the movie Inception where they're trying to plant ideas in people's minds and dreams.

Adam Galinsky [00:10:45]:
And one of the characters says it's not how deep you go, it's how simple you go so that it grows naturally in people's minds. Exemplar is really lead by example. And it's much about what we do and how we act and our presence and our Persona and our. And the way we are in the world. And I focus on three, three distinctions, right? And the first one is this idea of being a calm and courageous protector, right? And so during a crisis, are you the eye of the hurricane? Are you taking on risk and protecting other people from risk? The second component is, are you super in your competence so you're so good at what you do? Right. And the third one is being authentically passionate, this idea of being true to themselves. But if we go back to the leader amplification effect, we talk about that, things get amplified. And one of the effects of that is that we take on the emotional states of our leaders.

Adam Galinsky [00:11:41]:
So when our leaders are calm, we become calm, right? When they're passionate, we feed off that passion. But when they're anxious, that anxiety infects us. Emotions are generally contagious, but they become deeply infectious when we're a leader. And so that's again, that sense of, I gotta learn how to control my own emotions in this situation.

Todd Henry [00:12:01]:
The third element of being an inspiring.

Adam Galinsky [00:12:03]:
Leader is being a great mentor. There's a few studied mentorship too, separately. But I think that one of the most important things about being a good mentor is I have three E's that I talk about. One is that they empower people, that they elevate people, but they also empathize with people. And empowerment, I think, is really a key one. I ask people around the world, tell me about a leader that inspired you and infuriated you. Usually the infuriated one, they often use words like, they micromanaged me, right? They didn't. They didn't trust me.

Adam Galinsky [00:12:32]:
But for the people who are on the inspiring side, it's that they believed in me, they trusted me, they gave me responsibility, they let me learn, they let me stumble, but guided me along the way. And so there's that sense of empowerment that is just really. And there's this great quote from Confucius, right? It's tell me and I will forget. But it's only when you involve me that I truly understand, right? And so it's involvement is really a requirement for doing that. Elevation is another one that I think is really important, and this is one that I've studied for a long time, is that when we acknowledge the contributions of others, we elevate them. And people feel so honored, inspired. But when we. The inspiring leader shares credit and takes on blame, and the infuriating leader steals credit, hoards credit, claims credit, and then blames everyone for anything bad that happens.

Adam Galinsky [00:13:28]:
And that's part of that kind of universal continuum of inspiring versus infuriating. There's nothing more infuriating than having someone steal credit from you. You do workplace surveys. There's just drives people crazy when people claim credit. But when a leader acknowledges the contributions of others, it's elevating to those individuals. And that's again, the leader amplification effect. That little bit of, oh, I had this great idea, but Todd was the one who put it in my head. And that really was.

Adam Galinsky [00:13:57]:
I want to acknowledge Todd for that great insight that is just elevating. But here's the thing that I've shown my researchers is most interesting, is that when we acknowledge the contributions of others, we actually elevate ourselves. What I've shown is that people who are insecure about their status think status is zero sum. Therefore, I got a forward contract, I got to take credit. But they actually hurt their own status in the process. But when they're generous with others and they acknowledge the contributions of others, they not only raise that person's status, but they raise their own status in the process. And so if you want to motivate people, move people, you gotta meet them where they are essentially, and help guide them to a better place. Since part of being a good leader is evolving with others as they grow and change and evolve over time themselves.

Todd Henry [00:14:46]:
Adam Galinsky's book is called Inspire. It's available now wherever books are sold. I think he raises a really important point. All of us feel things and all of us want things in the world, but are we willing to be the kind of leader that others will follow in that vision? I encourage all of us this week to think about how we're being the leader that other people need us to be. We're being the leader that other people want to follow. How is your vision? Are you exemplifying what it means to lead in an empathetic way? And are you being a mentor to others around you? Are you entering into their world? Are you cultivating empathy? And are you leading from beside them, not from above them? If you'd like to hear my full interview with Adam or any of our guests, you can do so in the Daily Creative app at DailyCreative app. There you'll also find daily episodes, guides, Q and A segments, courses, and much, much more. Again, that's DailyCreative app.

Todd Henry [00:15:49]:
My name is Todd Henry. You can find my work, my speaking, and all of my books wherever books are sold or at Todd Henry. Until next time, may you be brave, focused and brilliant.