Our very own Leading Coach, Toni Reece, has been engaged in a project called The Get Inspired Project. When she interviewed me for the project, she showed me a whole world I never considered before…that of seeking to inspire, intending to inspire, causing inspiration on purpose…as if you could follow a system or methodology to generate inspired results. Over the years I’ve had folks tell me I’ve inspired them, and I’m always inspired by, and moved by other people, but I always thought that was just a matter of timing, leadership resonance, or subject matter alignment. It never occurred to me to be accountable or intentional about inspiring others. Hmmmm.
So what does this mean for us as executive coaches? Are we supposed to be inspiring our leader clients? Is that an inherent role in our profession? Sounding board, strategic thought partner, guide and inspiration-causer? Or is it precisely because we do not set out to cause inspiration that we do?
What do you think?