Open Your Eyes with McKay Christensen S2E23 - Chief Inspiration Officer
What’s the most important role in an organization? Despite what you may think, it’s not a CEO, CFO, or CMO. It’s actually CIO - Chief Inspiration Officer. A CIO has a job to inspire others and lead by example. So, how can you become your team’s CIO? You’re about to find out! In this week’s episode, McKay talks about the key characteristics that an inspiring leader must have: credibility and integrity. He dives deep into the power of inspiration - the driving force that moves a team forward and helps them achieve higher levels of performance.
McKay starts the episode by telling us a story about a young group of Boy Scouts and their heroic deeds during a terrible train accident. From this inspirational example, we learn the basic principles of great leadership - leading by example. As a leader, you must show your team the way by practicing what you preach. In other words, walk the talk. Next, McKay goes on to share a few valuable lessons on becoming a Chief Inspiration Officer. He talks about building competence, confidence, and character, which are some of the key traits you should have as a CIO. Finally, McKay asks us to imagine ourselves as Chief Inspiration Officers of our homes, teams, or organizations. Whatever that’d be for you, open your eyes and seek to inspire.
The Finer Details of This Episode:
- Eli Skrypczak and the Amtrack train accident
- Walking the talk and leading to inspire
- Discussing the most important role there is - CIO
- The importance of credibility for great leaders
- Leading by example
- The incredible power of inspiration
Quotes:
“Can you picture it? A group of scouts putting into practice what they had learned, and caring for hundreds of injured passengers.”
“That’s what happens with leaders: they inspire by who they are, the goals they keep, and the actions they take. And when they do what they say they will do, when they do their duty, they inspire. Leadership IS what you inspire others to do.”
“As Ralph Waldo Emerson said, ‘Trust men and they will be true to you; treat them greatly and they will show themselves great.’ This leads us to the first lesson of being a Chief Inspiration Officer, and this is very important… trusted leaders have credibility. ”
“When we personally have gaps between our values and what we do, we experience dissonance or anxiety. It robs us of our strength. Likewise, when we don’t walk our talk, it robs us of our leadership influence. ”
“Nothing is as powerful as you when you decide to be the Chief Inspiration Officer of your house or team or life.”
“To be more inspiring, open your eyes to this fact: the people on our team and in your family are not just people, they are gifts. It’s the leader’s job - your job - to nurture those gifts.”
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