Motivating

There are great speeches, the kind that motivate entire nations, like Churchill’s address to the House of Commons in May 1940, the source of that famous line: “I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat.”

I really like the one Kennedy gave at Rice University in 1962, the famous speech where he says “We choose to go to the moon and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard.”

We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win, and the others, too.

Kennedy had good speeches, like the one where he says “Ich bin ein Berliner”,

Two thousand years ago the proudest boast was civis Romanus sum [I am a Roman citizen]. Today, in the world of freedom, the proudest boast is ‘Ich bin ein Berliner’… All free men, wherever they may live, are citizens of Berlin, and, therefore, as a free man, I take pride in the words ‘Ich bin ein Berliner!’

It seems they don’t make speeches like those anymore, with eloquent phrases. Today’s speeches tend to have a simpler style, but they are no less motivating for it, like this speech by Steve Jobs:

As you can see, you can connect the dots and deliver a direct, motivating message without resorting to grand rhetorical devices. These days, those “lines fit to be cast in bronze” can sound a bit old-fashioned.

The essence of these motivating speeches is showing that we all face problems, those of us in charge and those who collaborate in the process, but that even though things look hard, we can get past them; that what matters is not being afraid of challenges.

When you are in charge of a group of people, when you are a leader, this is very important. Nothing is worse for a team than a withdrawn boss who doesn’t take the time to motivate or encourage them.

I have had quiet bosses, who tell you nothing, reveal nothing, and keep the whole company in a state of uncertainty. And you know what? That attitude ends up making people get bored and start to leave, and good people are lost in the process. Just as you have to be careful when a member of your team is too quiet, you, as a boss, have to avoid being too reserved and not very motivating.

If you are a boss, or a business owner, or in charge of a team, consider making some time to motivate them. Set up a special meeting where you tell them how the company is really doing, the challenges ahead, or how you expect the next project to go. Your team will always thank you for it, and you will see things start to improve.