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The Inspirational Leader: Inspire Your Team To Believe In The Impossible
Can you inspire your team hearts and minds every day? If you can, your organization will become one of the best in the world, and your team will perform at heights you never imagine. Harvard Business School gathered data from assessments of more than 50,000 leaders, and the ability to inspire stood out as one of the most critical competencies. Inspiration creates the highest levels of engagement, it is what separates the best leaders from everyone else, and it is what employees want most in their leaders. The Inspirational Leader, Inspire Your Team To Believe In The Impossible was written to help all leaders successfully navigate all the disruptions in today fiercely competitive world we need a new generation of leaders who care deeply for the well-being of their team and who understand that their people are the heart of their leadership. Whether you are the leader of a large, medium or small organization; a Teacher, a V.P., CEO, Father, Mother, Police Officer, or Hustler; this book was written to help you inspire your team to believe in the impossible. Each chapter in this book will push you to become the leader you were destined to be; a leader of influence, a leader of value, a leader of vision and most importantly, an inspirational leader.
147 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 2019
1129 people are currently reading
1814 people want to read
About the author
Gifford Thomas
14 books33 followersI am the founder of Leadership First and the author of The Inspirational Leader, Inspire Your Team To Believe In The Impossible. At Leadership First, we are committed to publishing the very best inspirational leadership quotes and articles to inspire our 1.4M+ community of leaders every day to believe in the impossible and inspiring leaders to create an environment free from toxic, fearful and intimidating practices. We believe everyone can and should enjoy their work, but it must start with the leadership leading by example to inspire their people to become the very best version of themselves.
I am a member of the Harvard Business Review Advisory Council, a Council member with GLG, an advisor with visaQ Inc out of Japan, and one of the leading writers on Quora for Leadership Development. Leadership is all about people; it's about inspiring people to believe in themselves, to believe that anything is possible, and to believe in something much greater than their own self-preservation; when we have that type of influence as leaders, great things happen.
I am a member of the Harvard Business Review Advisory Council, a Council member with GLG, an advisor with visaQ Inc out of Japan, and one of the leading writers on Quora for Leadership Development. Leadership is all about people; it's about inspiring people to believe in themselves, to believe that anything is possible, and to believe in something much greater than their own self-preservation; when we have that type of influence as leaders, great things happen.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 64 reviews
January 2, 2020
Needs an editor
While I gleaned a few good nuggets from this book, each chapter is basically a summary of various leadership books. Does a good job of defining what leadership is but doesn’t provide actionable steps. Found many typos and grammatical errors throughout.
While I gleaned a few good nuggets from this book, each chapter is basically a summary of various leadership books. Does a good job of defining what leadership is but doesn’t provide actionable steps. Found many typos and grammatical errors throughout.
July 19, 2022
This was my "down with COVID" book. I enjoyed this. I felt like there were a lot of great takeaways. It is a focus in servant leadership and a focus on individual strengths rather than that of the overall project. Nice quick read with some good reminders.
May 10, 2019
This book was excellent... hit the points that are needed for successful organization and change management for the millennials. Love it I need a sign copy
We need inspirational leaders, we need to inspire this generation and the next generation and the next generation, on what great leadership is all about. According to Drucker, we need leaders who can lift a person's vision to higher sights, the raising of a person's performance to a higher standard, and the building of a personality beyond its normal limitations.
We need inspirational leaders, we need to inspire this generation and the next generation and the next generation, on what great leadership is all about. According to Drucker, we need leaders who can lift a person's vision to higher sights, the raising of a person's performance to a higher standard, and the building of a personality beyond its normal limitations.
March 19, 2022
Inspirerende med mange gode pointer om hvad god ledelse kan være
August 25, 2019
Approachable insight for the methodical thinker!
Great read. Giving insight of behaviors commonly experienced in professional work cultures. Companies should invest in their leaderships development by influencing personal and professional development and living it themselves
Great read. Giving insight of behaviors commonly experienced in professional work cultures. Companies should invest in their leaderships development by influencing personal and professional development and living it themselves
July 12, 2023
Great read on leadership, short book but great reference to tone up your leadership skills.
April 15, 2021
Kisaca, calisanlarinizi ve is arkadaslarinizi sevin diyen bir kitap. Okumasi kolay, Turkce cevirisi oldugunu sanmam. Olmasa da cok birsey kacirdiginizi soyleyemem.
May 30, 2020
One of nice book with facts how a good leader should be.
This book opens many thoughts in my mind that I have to improve my leadership skills. Also, inspired me in a way that I will try to become an inspirational leader of my team.
I realized wrong things that I did as a team lead when it comes to managing people. Definitely, I will correct and succeed as an inspiring leader.
This book opens many thoughts in my mind that I have to improve my leadership skills. Also, inspired me in a way that I will try to become an inspirational leader of my team.
I realized wrong things that I did as a team lead when it comes to managing people. Definitely, I will correct and succeed as an inspiring leader.
July 25, 2020
This was a pretty good book with solid, practical reminders on how to excel at servant leadership in the current social climate. While it contained good, research-based reminders, the book contained a significant amount of typos, wording errors, etc. that detracted from the value of its message. The information provided was largely gleaned from other sources and, in combination with the significant lack of editing, left me questioning if I was truly on good hands professionally or if I could just as easily have gotten the same information from a book that was more polished, I was excited by the title, as being an inspirational leader is my daily goal, but sorely disappointed by the delivery on this one & hope the author selects a different editor next time.
February 5, 2020
The book is a general ‘Golden Rule’ book about leadership but has so many typos and grammatical mistakes that it is hard to read. The errors are very distracting!!!
April 29, 2022
Painful to read. The book is full of overgeneralized comments about how things should be, without providing any concrete actionable examples of achieving those ideals.
The author likes to make wide, grand, sweeping self-evident statements that express the ideal leader, without delving into the nitty-gritty details of how they manifest in everyday interactions:
"I must admit their expression and descriptions of their workplace were very, very inspirational"
"Purpose led companies generates significant revenue"
"Moreover, intemperance, in any of its various forms, destroys the endurance and the vitality of all who indulges in it."
"Leadership is all about people and inspiring people to believe in themselves, believe in their gifts, believe in their dreams, and, most importantly, to help the next generation of leaders become inspirational leaders." ("leaders become leaders"?)
"Inspirational leaders can capture people's attention effortlessly, and influence the lives of many people. It is an effective way to elicit change and get things accomplished by enlisting your people's help. Still, the leaders' intentions are the problem, which results in the negative side of inspirational leadership."
Sentences read like a word salad. I often don't understand what I need to do to implement the ideals being sketched out in broad, crude strokes.
The book is also full of annoying asides, anecdotes that draw the topic away from the central thesis:
"I have this habit of observing my surroundings, especially when it comes to watching people and their interactions with other people"
"Seemingly overnight, the company [Microsoft] was back with a vengeance. The company's shares surged past its all-time high price of $59.56."
"Once in a while, you come across an individual in a leadership position that appears to be genuine on the surface, but when you get to know this individual further, you have this funny feeling in your gut."
Finally, the book contains several grammatical flaws and fluffy prose that uses lots of words without saying anything of meaning:
"If a manager has no respect for his/her team, how can you expect any respect in return? They will follow their instructions because of their position on the org chart, but they will not support them voluntarily, and all trust will be lost. When all trust is broken down, a company can never function at an optimum level; the company will experience a high"
・Support "them" voluntarily? (Who is them?)
・"All trust will be lost" -- way to sound extreme. It's more nuanced in real life.
・"the company will experience a high" -- the chapter ends here. The book has lots of strange, incomplete or nonsensical sentences.
Tenses often change mid-sentence, confusing whether the statement refers to the future or a past experience. Nouns and verbs don't agree. Vocabulary isn't used in a natural, native way, leading to nonsensical sentences. Pictures are abnormally stretched with blurry, low-quality font.
"Great Leaders are not the smartness in the room"
It's clear the author isn't a native speaker of English, and hasn't had one edit the book with any competence.
The author doesn’t talk like a leader. He talks like a disgruntled worker ranting about his overly hands-on boss. If a leader must lead by example, and a leader exudes empathy, the author certainly doesn’t exude empathy by example. He is constantly snooping in on conversations from the employee side, refusing to delve into what might make a boss or manager. He provides no tactics to defuse a tense situation or turn a would-be taskmaster into a leader of people.
As such, this book is a total waste of money. Steer clear!
The author likes to make wide, grand, sweeping self-evident statements that express the ideal leader, without delving into the nitty-gritty details of how they manifest in everyday interactions:
"I must admit their expression and descriptions of their workplace were very, very inspirational"
"Purpose led companies generates significant revenue"
"Moreover, intemperance, in any of its various forms, destroys the endurance and the vitality of all who indulges in it."
"Leadership is all about people and inspiring people to believe in themselves, believe in their gifts, believe in their dreams, and, most importantly, to help the next generation of leaders become inspirational leaders." ("leaders become leaders"?)
"Inspirational leaders can capture people's attention effortlessly, and influence the lives of many people. It is an effective way to elicit change and get things accomplished by enlisting your people's help. Still, the leaders' intentions are the problem, which results in the negative side of inspirational leadership."
Sentences read like a word salad. I often don't understand what I need to do to implement the ideals being sketched out in broad, crude strokes.
The book is also full of annoying asides, anecdotes that draw the topic away from the central thesis:
"I have this habit of observing my surroundings, especially when it comes to watching people and their interactions with other people"
"Seemingly overnight, the company [Microsoft] was back with a vengeance. The company's shares surged past its all-time high price of $59.56."
"Once in a while, you come across an individual in a leadership position that appears to be genuine on the surface, but when you get to know this individual further, you have this funny feeling in your gut."
Finally, the book contains several grammatical flaws and fluffy prose that uses lots of words without saying anything of meaning:
"If a manager has no respect for his/her team, how can you expect any respect in return? They will follow their instructions because of their position on the org chart, but they will not support them voluntarily, and all trust will be lost. When all trust is broken down, a company can never function at an optimum level; the company will experience a high"
・Support "them" voluntarily? (Who is them?)
・"All trust will be lost" -- way to sound extreme. It's more nuanced in real life.
・"the company will experience a high" -- the chapter ends here. The book has lots of strange, incomplete or nonsensical sentences.
Tenses often change mid-sentence, confusing whether the statement refers to the future or a past experience. Nouns and verbs don't agree. Vocabulary isn't used in a natural, native way, leading to nonsensical sentences. Pictures are abnormally stretched with blurry, low-quality font.
"Great Leaders are not the smartness in the room"
It's clear the author isn't a native speaker of English, and hasn't had one edit the book with any competence.
The author doesn’t talk like a leader. He talks like a disgruntled worker ranting about his overly hands-on boss. If a leader must lead by example, and a leader exudes empathy, the author certainly doesn’t exude empathy by example. He is constantly snooping in on conversations from the employee side, refusing to delve into what might make a boss or manager. He provides no tactics to defuse a tense situation or turn a would-be taskmaster into a leader of people.
As such, this book is a total waste of money. Steer clear!
October 26, 2022
I wish there was a way to give zero stars; I have no idea why this book is rated so highly. Reading this book was like reading the rough draft of a review paper. I have nothing against self publishing, but this book’s publication as-is helps strengthen the argument of those who strongly oppose it. This book needs an editor, rewrites, and serious proofreading; sentences are so disjointed and incomplete that Chapter 15 ends with a cliffhanger. If there are any takeaways from this book, they are shrouded by the weak writing and countless errors. Anything that I did find of merit I had already read in three other books that did a much better job of driving the point home in a unique way. You cannot simply publish a book of quotes and Google Image screen grabs of famous leaders that don’t appear to be free use eligible and say you are a leading voice in leadership; I would have to see far better work attached to this author to plant any seed of belief in that.
August 5, 2021
A collection of basic leadership skills and traits
I was attracted by the title of this book but I must admit that its content did not meet my expectations.
Every time I finished it I thought the next one would be better. When I got to chapter 12 of the 20 chapters, I realized that I wasn't going to learn anything new.
This book seems to be a summary of several other books that the author has read here and there, punctuated with quotes from famous and charismatic personalities. That's it.
I expected more and better
I was attracted by the title of this book but I must admit that its content did not meet my expectations.
Every time I finished it I thought the next one would be better. When I got to chapter 12 of the 20 chapters, I realized that I wasn't going to learn anything new.
This book seems to be a summary of several other books that the author has read here and there, punctuated with quotes from famous and charismatic personalities. That's it.
I expected more and better
April 21, 2022
Ok for starters, needs a lot of editing
I regularly read books on leadership, especially those by John Maxwell. This one is ok for people who don’t know much about leadership. I also missed its references since not all the names he mentions are known to me and he doesn’t indicate who the person is. The book has a lot of grammatical errors that made it at times difficult for me to find my flow while reading.
He references other authors and as such ends up giving a summary of other peoples work.
I regularly read books on leadership, especially those by John Maxwell. This one is ok for people who don’t know much about leadership. I also missed its references since not all the names he mentions are known to me and he doesn’t indicate who the person is. The book has a lot of grammatical errors that made it at times difficult for me to find my flow while reading.
He references other authors and as such ends up giving a summary of other peoples work.
July 23, 2024
I’ve seen this book posted all over LinkedIn and other social media sites, so I was excited to read it. However, the book fails to go in depth on inspirational leadership and mostly gives broad overviews of other leadership books and principles already out there. There were a few good quotes or statements that I did like and take away from the book. The book would have benefited from more editing, as there were quite a few grammatical and spelling errors throughout. Overall, I was disappointed with the book.
October 13, 2025
Items of Note:
* We need a new generation of leaders who care deeply for the well-being of their team and who understand that their people are the heart of their leadership.
* Leadership is not about being the best. It's about making everyone else better.
* Inspirational leadership is rooted in authenticity—leaders must exemplify genuine character and integrity to earn the trust and respect of their team.
* We need a new generation of leaders who care deeply for the well-being of their team and who understand that their people are the heart of their leadership.
* Leadership is not about being the best. It's about making everyone else better.
* Inspirational leadership is rooted in authenticity—leaders must exemplify genuine character and integrity to earn the trust and respect of their team.
September 8, 2020
Buen libro, muy ameno
Buen libro es muy ameno y muy informativo, me hubiese gustado tener más referencias a estudios más formales que a tanta literatura, ejemplos, citas o vivencias.
Todos experimentamos diferente los libros y puede ser interesante para personas con un perfil menos cuadrado, pese a eso lo disfruté mucho y me resonaron algunas cosas que decía y opinaba.
Buen libro es muy ameno y muy informativo, me hubiese gustado tener más referencias a estudios más formales que a tanta literatura, ejemplos, citas o vivencias.
Todos experimentamos diferente los libros y puede ser interesante para personas con un perfil menos cuadrado, pese a eso lo disfruté mucho y me resonaron algunas cosas que decía y opinaba.
August 7, 2021
Really enjoyed reading this book and being reminded about why I want to be and how to be an inspirational leader. It is all about the people, servitude, learning from mistakes and purpose. It has really motivated me to look at my leadership philosophy and continue to learn and make tweaks to ensure the people I lead have every chance to grow.
September 13, 2021
Leadership Skills
I absolutely gain a lot of insight on how to be a better person and leader from reading this book. It was a great read . It was detailed and full of helpful information. If you are searching for ways to improve your leadership skills this book will not disappoint.
I absolutely gain a lot of insight on how to be a better person and leader from reading this book. It was a great read . It was detailed and full of helpful information. If you are searching for ways to improve your leadership skills this book will not disappoint.
October 31, 2025
Grest Book
For anyone looking to become an inspirational leader, this book is for you. Great insight from leaders like John Maxwell and Simon Sinek. He even throws real-world examples to back up his recommendations. I just recommended this book to one of my associates who is looking to become a leader and I said this book will help you tremendously..
For anyone looking to become an inspirational leader, this book is for you. Great insight from leaders like John Maxwell and Simon Sinek. He even throws real-world examples to back up his recommendations. I just recommended this book to one of my associates who is looking to become a leader and I said this book will help you tremendously..
January 1, 2020
Inspiration and leadership are inseparable.
Great book on helping us understand how we can inspire others to help create an incredible organization. Inspire your people to be great and everyone wins.
Great book on helping us understand how we can inspire others to help create an incredible organization. Inspire your people to be great and everyone wins.
July 8, 2020
Very inspiring!.
Very inspiring! I like how easy of a read this book is. I felt as though it encourages me to be a better leader. I have always thought you get more from people of you show them kindness! I would recommend this book to anyone in a leadership position.
Very inspiring! I like how easy of a read this book is. I felt as though it encourages me to be a better leader. I have always thought you get more from people of you show them kindness! I would recommend this book to anyone in a leadership position.
October 8, 2020
Highly recommend! A quick read for traveling leaders.
Very inspiring message and a great reminder of the difference in leading and managing a team. I highly recommend this quick read.
Very inspiring message and a great reminder of the difference in leading and managing a team. I highly recommend this quick read.
November 5, 2020
I found this book to be extremely helpful
Excellent read from start to finish. I agree 100% with every concept shared. Leadership is definitely about people. Its unfortunate that so many leaders don't get and understand what effective leadership is and is about.
Excellent read from start to finish. I agree 100% with every concept shared. Leadership is definitely about people. Its unfortunate that so many leaders don't get and understand what effective leadership is and is about.
March 18, 2021
Must read
This book was inspiring and motivating. Gifford has it right when he said we have an opportunity, as leaders, to make a difference in someone’s life every day. Don’t delay, get this book now!
This book was inspiring and motivating. Gifford has it right when he said we have an opportunity, as leaders, to make a difference in someone’s life every day. Don’t delay, get this book now!
October 17, 2021
Inspirational Leader
I truly enjoyed this book. I am one of the fortunate individuals who is blessed to be mentored by 3 great leader's. All 3 have their own strengths and weaknesses. But were all inspirational leaders. Thanks for writing this book.
I truly enjoyed this book. I am one of the fortunate individuals who is blessed to be mentored by 3 great leader's. All 3 have their own strengths and weaknesses. But were all inspirational leaders. Thanks for writing this book.
November 27, 2021
Needs to be proof read
The style and content of the book was consistent with the title. I am a firm believer in leading by inspiration and developing your team. Where the book fell down was in several examples of poor grammar and spelling.
The style and content of the book was consistent with the title. I am a firm believer in leading by inspiration and developing your team. Where the book fell down was in several examples of poor grammar and spelling.
March 5, 2022
Listened to the audiobook and found a lot of insight into the skills needed to be a leader. I would certainly recommend this book to anyone in a leadership position no matter how many years experience they have as a leader. We can all learn something new from this book!
March 27, 2022
The content of the book was great; however much of it felt like it was a book quoting and referencing other books and not like new information and material. My biggest issue with this book was the lack of editing- it proved to be a distraction.
March 2, 2023
LOVED, LOVED, LOVED this book! Just ended a career because of poor leadership and this book it all the reasons why. I think this book should be a mandatory read for anyone who is going into a management or leadership role. Thank you Gifford Thomas for this gift.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 64 reviews