"A good leader should not guide his/her followers, but should inspire them". Do you agree?

Use this forum to discuss the May 2021 Book of the month, "Fear Not, Dream Big, & Execute: Tools To Spark Your Dream And Ignite Your Follow-Through" by Jeff Meyer.
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Wildflowertheorist
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Re: "A good leader should not guide his/her followers, but should inspire them". Do you agree?

Post by Wildflowertheorist »

kridz21 wrote: 01 May 2021, 14:42
S P wrote: 01 May 2021, 04:43 I think it's definitely fair to say that leaders should inspire their followers. However, even Jesus himself offered guidance to his followers through the words of his parables. I think that good leaders need aspects of both in order to be successful.
I agree, good leaders should both inspire and guide their followers. However, I believe inspiration is better than guidance. Inspiration opens your eyes to new possibilities, new perspectives, essentially guiding in itself because the act of inspiring someone makes them want to do or create something. Guiding is having a direct influence on a course of action, and is that not what inspiration does? Hope this makes sense.
It does make sense and I do agree with you on this.
To be inspired is to be free, to chose on one's own. But if we are lost, guidance is also needed na. And of course it has a direct influence on whatever we do next, but that is because we don't know what else to be doing (could be because we're lacking inspiration).
"When you gaze long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you."

-Friedrich Nietzsche
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Ondijo Junior
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Post by Ondijo Junior »

I agree a good leader should inspire. They should lead by example, they inspire by taking part on the task involved. Indeed I agree with you.
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Ahbed Nadir
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Post by Ahbed Nadir »

I believe it should be a little bit of both. A good leader must be someone who people look at and feel inspired or motivated to emulate. A good leader must be an ideal to aspire to, a level of excellence that causes followers to be lifted up and desire to achieve that same level. However, if the leader fails to guide his followers in the path he or she has taken to achieve his level of greatness, often or not, the followers can be lead astray. A leader needs to both guide and inspire.
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Naaya123
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Post by Naaya123 »

I believe a leader should simply inspire their followers rather than guide/push them into the direction they believe is 'right'. It is better to teach and inspire one, so when push comes to shove, the follower is able to survive. Guiding the followers will eventually result in them becoming dependent rather than independent.
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Kavita Shah
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Post by Kavita Shah »

Leader, the name suggest a person who leads. If a leader can take the group forward being together then that's good. Jesus was a leader who knew what is right for all. But leaders don't have to maintain hierarchy, there are some who work on same level, like a captain.
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Post by Sydney Lee »

I disagree. Yes, a leader should inspire, but they do need to guide their followers. Inspiration isn't going to get a group to accomplish anything if they're all over the place. A leader needs to step up and guide the followers to achieve what they've been inspired to achieve.
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Jennifer Garcia 555
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Post by Jennifer Garcia 555 »

I believe a truly good leader will do both. Lead the way but also inspire their followers. Just inspiring may not be enough if there is no path to follow.
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Post by Qer »

I believe a good leader lives out the principles they expect to see in their followers, as in the example of Christ. Inspiration is critical as it allows people to discover strengths and talents they never knew they had. However, the leader should also be available to guide in case guidance is needed, as Christ did with His followers.
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Post by Brigid Musumba »

A good leader should do both. He should inspire his team to bring out the best in every member and also guide them in the activities. He should lead by example, be a mentor and role model for his team members.
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Post by Manish987 »

I completely agree with the statement that leader should inspire the followers. It wouldn't be wrong to say that the work done out of inspiration is far greater in quality than the work done by receiving orders. This is so because the latter case has a room for corruption where the follower has a different point of view from the leader whereas when the follower is inspired by the leader he will do the best that he can.
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Post by PJfiremeyer22 »

Man, I love this thread! Thank you for taking the time to share all of your thoughts. And, thank you, @Sushan for posting this awesome question. As a leader, I have certainly been directive and provided guidance. In my experience, the people entrusted to my leadership have responded with more vigor and determination when they discovered the answer to their own struggle or question than if I just pointed them to the answer and told them to go. I have actually had that approach backfire (when it didn't work out for them.) Ha! And, the reason for the title of this Lesson (pg. 7....People Are Not Used To Being Coached) is that a significant amount of people don't want to do the hard work of discovering their own answers. We all can fall into the trap of finding someone to give us quick fixes. This, in my opinion, is short-sighted and stunts our growth. Thanks again for this thread! Love it. Wish we could jump on a Zoom call and have a chat.
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Post by Michele H »

A good leader should definitely inspire. A good leader also understands their followers and knows how to inspire them. A good leader will provide guidance through the knowledge they have of their followers and how to inspire them.
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Post by _claudi_ »

As a leader, you can't do one and leave the out other. To be considered a good leader you have to guide the people you are leading.
So I disagree with the notion that you do not have to guide the followers.
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Post by cd20 »

A leader is meant to inspire and guide. They are to lead by example. That is what Jesus did and that is what we are called to do.
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Post by Danelle Cale »

I do not agree that a leader should inspire without guidance. In my opinion a leader is supposed to guide, that's why they are the leader. They are capable of guiding a group forward, while encouraging new ideas and growth. With guidance inspiration will typically follow. In summary guidance and inspiration go hand in hand.
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