Inspire! What Great Leaders Do

The key to extraordinary long--term performance lies in a transformational commitment not to motivating people, but to inspiring them. Lance Secretan's Higher Ground Leadership concepts have been widely used to increase profits and quality, slash staff turnover, and achieve record organizational and personal performance. Praise for Inspire! Inspire! What Great Leaders Do is a very important book. The ideas it contains have changed our lives and our organizations and the lives of tens of thousands of our employees. It has touched the lives of millions of people whom we serve every day. And it could change your life–and your organization too . . . Excerpt from the foreword of Inspire! written by 15 CEOs and senior leaders "Lance Secretan’s message is a great testament to the need for a renewed type of leadership–one that serves with courage, authenticity, service, truth-telling, and love. Our businesses, governments, communities, and the world need this critical mass of inspiration now more than ever before." —Bill George former Chair and CEO of Medtronic, author, Authentic Leadership "Lance Secretan first inspired me in 1996 when I read his book, Reclaiming Higher Ground. I had taken over the Canadian operation of The Home Depot and faced many difficult challenges. His words influenced me. This new book, Inspire!, What Great Leaders Do, is a road map for leaders who want to inspire people in their organizations. Lance has an ability to read the needs of our society. Post Enron and 9/11, leaders need to find better ways of responding to the changing needs of the human spirit. Lance has found that way." —Annette Verschuren Division President, Expo Design Center (a Home Depot Company), and Home Depot Canada "This is a tour de force, a must-read for everyone who leads others–Lance’s groundbreaking work is inspiring people, changing their lives, creating jobs, building organizations, and changing the world!" —Marianne Williamson author, Everyday Grace "Leaders know that they have to be on higher ground and guide others there. That’s the easy part. Knowing what the high ground is–that’s the hard part. Secretan’s Inspire! guides us through the hard part." —Gerald Schwartz Founder and CEO, Onex Corporation "Lance Secretan has touched our leaders with his message of values, spirit, and soul in the workplace, inspiring us to greater levels of achievement. His principles have universal application that can guide any organization to be a workplace that honors the individuals within and those they serve." —Pam Bilbrey Senior Vice President, Corporate Development, Baptist Health Care, Pensacola, Florida "Inspire! takes on the biggest question facing corporations, nonprofit organizations, and even nations today: how do we overcome fear and tension and replace it with confidence in the potential of the human spirit? Most importantly, Secretan offers a road map for leaders, showing them a way to build confident and inspiring organizations that succeed. What a treasure!" —Tim Shriver Chairman, Special Olympics "I started reading Inspire! and found myself so absorbed that I could not put it down–so much profound thought. Lance introduces a refreshing approach to corporate culture that will not only inspire greatness in organizations but will also help us be more responsible stewards of this planet." —Don Ziraldo CEO, Inniskillin Wines A top business consultant and speaker lights the path to a positive, productive work environment What do the best leaders do to achieve greatness in the modern workplace that is muddled by fear, pressure for productivity, overwork? Inspire! offers business leaders a clear vision of what a positive, productive, inspiring organization looks like in these challenging and chaotic times, and how to get there. The key to extraordinary long-term performance lies in a transformational commitment to inspiring people rather than motivating them. Lance Secretan's Higher Ground Leadership concepts have been widely used to increase profits and quality, slash staff turnover, and achieve record organizational and personal performance. Inspire! describes Lance's breakthrough thinking, often in the words of the pace-setting leaders who are implementing them and building legacies. Countless examples, stories, and case studies demonstrate the magic of these brilliant ideas. Six essential values form the foundation of positive, productive, and profitable organizations and a meaningful and fulfilling life-courage to begin the transformation; authenticity that lets people contribute all of themselves and excel; service that fosters a spirit of cooperation; truth-telling that builds trust and loyalty; love for others that leads to inspired results; and effectiveness, the attainment of results. Inspire! shows leaders in any organization how to foster these essential values that lead to personal and organizational greatness. Lance Secretan (Alton, Ontario, Canada) is one of the world's foremost thinkers on self-improvement and leadership. He is an author, award-winning columnist, philosopher, corporate coach, and a renowned public speaker and business consultant. He served as chairman of the Advisory Board of the 1997 Special Olympics World Winter Games and is also a former ambassador to the United Nations Environment Program.