Recently I found a portion of the book Management Wisdom from the NY Yankees Dynasty fascinating. The book discusses how the Yankees picked their captains. Apparently there were eight Yankee captains between 1922 and 2004. They were officially designated captain for four reasons:

1. Their accomplishments exceeded the accomplishments of their peers.
2. They inspired others to superior performance.
3. They embodied the core values of the organization.
4. They were recognized and respected as team leaders by their teammates.

I find that there is a huge gulf between information and inspiration. I also get frustrated with the deluge of information that is pushed at us daily. Most of it comes as a statement of fact, but never contains a practical solution.

Here's a great example of what I mean:

The photo below is a little river (or creek) near our home. Every day I pass by and over this Little Campbell River.

Very recently little signs began to pop up saying, "Save the Little Campbell, Save the little Campbell," and everyday our family would drive by the river and read the signs.

And then one day my wife Jenn and I laughed and laughed at what we saw...

Someone who drove by these signs daily (just like us) must have become frustrated (just like us) but did something about it... He or she put up a sign that said, "HOW?"

We receive INFORMATION or STATEMENTS of information daily, but most of us have an underlying frustration because  these statements very seldom arrive with SOLUTIONS attached . The best leaders in my life create inspiration by closing the gap between the STATEMENT and the SOLUTION.

Inspiration comes in many forms, but creating or brainstorming how to do what needs to be done is key to helping people un-frustrate (is that a word?) their world.

How can we inform and inspire, delivering the information in a way that creates inspiration? Now there is a good leadership question (see Friday, June 6th's blog entry entitled "A Leadership Secret" one for more ideas)!  After awhile, repeatedly dispensed information alone creates stale recipients, but inspiration creates HUNGRY people and that's the GOAL, right?

Leaders like you, often deliver public and private messages to large groups (this is what I do for a living.) There is a key structural concept or understanding to master as you leaders look to cement your message into the Minds and Hearts of your people, customers and clients.

Here is the secret; Logic creates THINKING... but Emotion creates ACTION.

These two outcomes (Thinking and Action) need to be understood and proactively shaped when connecting with stakeholders. Many coaches and leaders in my NHL past were good at loading what they communicated with facts, figures, statistics and information but were light on generating the team`s emotional feelings that helped people receive this information. Other leaders in my past focused on the "Raw, Raw" (trying to force feelings) and were often light on the important logical content that teams need to win.

Balancing the Logic/Emotion connection is the key to delivering a message that sticks in both the Mind and Heart of your audience. As you may have noticed in my e-newsletter format (and during every session that I deliver for Corporations around the World) I believe that the best way to create the emotional side atmosphere is through metaphors or stories.

How HUNGRY impacts YOU!

Over the course of my lifetime it has been my great pleasure not to be in prison but rather to meet with people on the inside of prisons. Recently I was working with a large number of correctional institutes to encourage and inspire the leadership qualities of their correctional officers (COs) through Leadership/Team Regeneration Sessions. Visiting inside has never bothered me but during my last visit inside with guards and prisoners my eyes were really opened. I was taken by the guards to their storage center for confiscated criminal contraband, and what I saw there shook me to my core.