The Inspiration Code: How the Best Leaders Energize People Every Day

by Kristi Hedges

All it takes is the right conversation . . . Great leaders inspireaction with their words. They spark enthusiasm and commitment. With asingle conversation, they can change the direction of someone's life.Everyone wants to be the kind of leader who energizes and mobilizesothers-yet too few are. Why is it so challenging to crack the code?Executive coach Kristi Hedges spent years studying exactly whatinspiring leaders do differently. Informed by quantitative research andthousands of responses from leaders at all levels, she reveals thatinspiring communication isn't about grand gestures. Instead, those whomotivate us most do a few things routinely, consistently, andintentionally. Eye-opening and accessible, The Inspiration Code dispelscommon myths about how leaders communicate-and guides them incultivating qualities that authentically excite. Inspired companies need inspirational leaders. Learn to unlock motivation, lift peoples'sights, and lead them into the future.

Genres: Leadership, Business, Self Help, Nonfiction, Personal Development, Management

288 pages, Hardcover

Published June 1, 2017

About the author

Kristi Hedges is a nationally recognized expert in leadership communications, and coaches CEOs and senior executives at leading global companies. Her workshops and keynotes have reached thousands of leaders from the Fortune 50, to the U.S. government to nonprofits. She’s the author of The Inspiration Code and The Power of Presence.

Kristi writes about leadership for Forbes.com and is regularly featured in publications such as The Wall Street Journal, The Financial Times, Entrepreneur, BBC, Chief Learning Officer and CNBC. She is a teaching faculty member of the Georgetown University Institute for Transformational Leadership.

Reviews

[Marilea · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyed this motivational book. It provided good thoughts and action plans that are workable to improve my leadership ability as well as being a better leader and helping others receive their leadership potential.

[Marina Klimova · Rating 4 out of 5]

I only read the bold text lol that’s enoug though cause I got some good points about how to motivate people and understood a bit about how I find meaning in my work. My favorite line was “purpose exists at the place where we’re doing what we’re good at and enjoying it; feeling useful; in relationships with others; and feeling forward momentum.” It explains why I find so much fulfillment at a fast food job and why photography stopped being meaningful for me.

[Rick Yvanovich · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's a pretty simple code yet like a lot of simple things, its very hard to do ... persistently, consistently, over a very long period of time.
It explains all the reasons why you need to do it and explains a lot how you need to do it, now you just need to remember and just do it.

[Darren · Rating 3 out of 5]

Learn how some of the world’s best leaders energise and inspire people daily through their words is the promise behind this book. This reviewer remains a bit on the fence.

The book just didn’t spark enthusiasm and commitment to this reader – actions that it says a great leader will do whereby, through a single conversation, they can change the direction of someone’s life. Maybe, to be fair, it could change the direction of your life, but maybe it won’t also. The book claims to dispel common myths about how leaders communicate and guide the reader to emulate the best practices of experienced communicators: to this it may have achieved its aims, but is that sufficient?

Whilst being interesting at times, I struggle to see that this is so ground-breaking. There are other leadership-type books that have inspired and been more giving. It wouldn’t be fair to describe this as an also-ran either, but an average player that may be worth a browse at least if you can could be a fair summary… At least the book wasn’t so expensive!

It just did not have a ‘wow factor’ or inspire this reader. Yet it wasn’t a one-star wonder either. Your views may vary.

[Kathy Cowie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Reviewed in the September-October issue of Global Business and Organizational Excellence

[Vinita Mohan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pygmalion effect ,

[Adrian · Rating 5 out of 5]

very helpful tips

[Leandro · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting book. Makes you sit back and see some areas of your professional life as a leader in a different way. Get the ebook.

[Leo Africanus · Rating 3 out of 5]

I turned to this audiobook looking for means and methods of inspiring a team and wasn't disappointed. The fundamental take home point was that of authenticity - aligning purpose, speech and actions.

Key tools of leadership include vulnerability and competency.

"Calling out potential" by recognising the strengths of others can be hugely inspiring.

Active listening for text and subtext by listening NATO (Not Attached To Outcome).

Show energy and convey mood (mood contagion!)

OUT in body language (Open Up Toward).

Purpose (personal and organisational) is crucial.

Important to prioritise people and activities that inspire you.

All in all, several tools and multiple opportunities to reflect on developing a cohesive team and inspiring towards a shared purpose.

[Cindy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just simply based on the number of notes I wrote and passages I highlighted this book deserves a very strong rating! Usually I am pleased if I learned at least one new concept that I can incorporate into my work life. This book far exceeded that low bar. It's easy to read, has the right amount of redundancy to help with retention and it provided me with a number of concepts together with practical advice on how to incorporate them into my work day. As a side benefit it also reinforced much of what I teach as part of Growth on Purpose, a program built for fast growth companies to help their employers and managers grow as fast as their company in order to sustain the company's growth (www.growth-onpurpose.com).

As Kristi shared, inspiration comes more from listening and how you listen than from giving speeches. You need to create space for others; exactly what business coaches model for leaders every day. One tidbit I loved is the acronym NATO that stands for Not Attached To Outcome. This is loosely based on a Buddhist concept that you have to let go of your attachment to your desires. In a business conversation this can be applied as letting go of your original expected outcome and going into every conversation really listening and being open to many possible opportunities.

If at any point the book starts to feel a bit too touchy feely for your taste, keep reading! Emotions and how we and others feel plays a large role in whether or not you will achieve inspiration.

I recommend this book for anyone in a leadership role whether you are a new team lead or an experienced C-level executive.

Thank you to Netgalley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.