Real Women, Real Leaders: Surviving and Succeeding in the Business World

2 Inspires and Motivates Others

“When you are living the best version of yourself, you inspire others to live the best versions of themselves.”

—Steve Maraboli

The ability to Inspire and Motivate Others is the quintessential characteristic that many people associate with transformational leadership. How to define it, however, is exceedingly difficult when inspiration can come in so many forms. When asked to provide examples of an excellent leader, many people choose the individuals who have inspired them, who have made them feel like anything was possible and that they could accomplish things of which they were not previously capable. This chapter shows the ways that our Real Women have been able to capitalize on this characteristic and have inspired millions to be the best versions of themselves through their own examples.

Author Kendra Cherry offers these suggestions in order to be a transformational leader who inspires and motivates:

• “be genuinely passionate about ideas or goals
• help followers feel included in the process
• offer recognition, praise and rewards for people's accomplishments”¹

These three distinct qualifications suggest that, in order to inspire and motivate others, leaders must not only inspire others with their own examples of excellence, but also must further convince others to expend additional effort, elevating themselves and their performance to a certain bar, idea, or notion. A number of applicable behavior traits epitomize this competency, including charisma, ...