How to Become an Inspirational Leader
Pushing Beyond the Obvious - Helping Entrepreneurs Succeed
Release Date: 01/20/2026
How to Become an Inspirational Leader
Pushing Beyond the Obvious - Helping Entrepreneurs Succeed
In this episode, I discuss how to become an inspirational leader. I believe that leaders should not start with the goal of becoming an inspirational leader, as that is a self-centered perspective. Instead, becoming inspirational is a result of certain actions and learnings. Key ways to become an inspirational leader: 1. Be inspired In order to be inspirational, you need to be inspired. One way to be inspired is by keeping the company of other inspired people. Inspiration, like energy, is contagious. Another way to be truly inspired is by having a clear purpose or intention behind all...
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The Play Advantage - Why Fun is the New Frontier of High Performance Leadership
Pushing Beyond the Obvious - Helping Entrepreneurs Succeed
Premise For decades, the standard leadership playbook has been built upon an ironclad, yet increasingly fragile, triad: vision, strategy, and execution. While these pillars are foundational, they are no longer sufficient to navigate the complexities of the modern knowledge economy. A significant, transformative chapter is missing from the manual—one that addresses the human engine of performance. We have been conditioned to believe that leadership is exclusively "serious work" and that joy is a frivolous activity, which is at best emerges as after work activities and at worst considered...
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Here is Why You Are You Stuck in Middle Management According to India's Top Executive Coach
Pushing Beyond the Obvious - Helping Entrepreneurs Succeed
Premise In this podcast episode, we host India's biggest and best Executive Coach Shital Kakkar Mehra. She has trained more than 1000 CxO's and more than 40000 leaders about how to develop their executive presence. We talk about how the we lead and what is expected from us shifts as we continue to grow in our careers and what makes us successful early in our career is no longer enough when we become managers (managing people) and it changes again, when we start leading managers and agains shifts when we start leading functions and organisations. Apart from all the technical skills and the...
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The Hidden Leadership Skill: Leading for Evolution
Pushing Beyond the Obvious - Helping Entrepreneurs Succeed
Premise: Almost all leaders today lead in an environment that is ripe with disruptions and ever changing competitive landscape. The challenges of leading in this constantly evolving landscape are very different from that of leading in a stable environment where the current management practices are rooted in. So, if we have to succeed in this new world, we need to change the lens through which we view leadership and management practices. That begs the questions - where can we draw inspiration for the new way of leading. Thankfully, we don't need to look far. We can learn from . Leading an...
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The Bomber with No Guns: 3 Lessons in Strategy from a World War II Secret Weapon
Pushing Beyond the Obvious - Helping Entrepreneurs Succeed
In this episode, I want to share a brilliant story written by one of my favorite marketers, Dave Trott, titled "Strategy is Sacrifice". The story takes us back to World War II. At the time, standard military strategy assumed that for a bomber to survive, it needed more armor, more guns, and a larger crew. Planes like the British Lancaster and the American B-17 were massive, heavy, and slow because they were weighed down by defenses. But Geoffrey de Havilland had a different idea—a creative strategy. He asked a simple question: What if the enemy couldn't catch you?. Instead of adding more...
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The Most Important Question You Can Ask Your Team: "Are You Okay?"
Pushing Beyond the Obvious - Helping Entrepreneurs Succeed
Welcome back to another episode of Pushing Beyond the Obvious. I recently read a blog post from the MIT Sloan Management Review titled "Your people are not all right," which highlights the immense overwhelm and stress employees are currently facing. This inspired me to talk about a critical responsibility we have as leaders: having a clear understanding of what is happening in our team members' lives, not to spy on them, but to genuinely ensure their wellbeing. In this video, I break down the subtle but vital differences between an average leader, a good leader, and a leader worth following....
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How to Be Remarkable And stand out from the crowd
Pushing Beyond the Obvious - Helping Entrepreneurs Succeed
Standing out starts with choosing to see, think, and act differently from the default, and then designing your work, relationships, and systems around that choice. This means intentionally questioning “how things are done here” and repeatedly experimenting with better ways that reflect who you are and what you care about.youtube Why being different matters Most environments quietly push people to conform, to not make waves, and to follow existing templates for success. If you obey those pressures blindly, you become invisible, even when you are talented and hardworking.youtube ...
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Here is how to build an engaged team
Pushing Beyond the Obvious - Helping Entrepreneurs Succeed
Teams that are engaged perform better, collaborate more, and stay longer. I often talk about how employee engagement sits at the heart of every high-performing team. The real question is: how do leaders actually build it in day-to-day work? Hire for Attitude Before Skills Engagement starts much earlier than most people realise — right at the hiring stage. I believe that while skills can be developed over time, attitude is much harder to change. Hiring people who naturally align with the team’s values and energy creates a stronger foundation for engagement. At the same time, we need to...
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3 Ways to come up with Breakthrough Ideas
Pushing Beyond the Obvious - Helping Entrepreneurs Succeed
Premise: In today's fast-paced world, every organization and leader feels the relentless pressure to innovate. We're taught to hunt for that game-changing idea, that single "Eureka!" moment that will redefine our market. But waiting for a random stroke of genius is an ineffective and stressful strategy. The myth of the lone visionary struck by a sudden, brilliant insight is just that—a myth. True innovation isn't about luck; it's about process. Generating breakthrough ideas can be a systematic, repeatable activity. By moving beyond passive inspiration and adopting active methods, you...
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The Confidence to be VISIBLE with Sheena Yap Chan
Pushing Beyond the Obvious - Helping Entrepreneurs Succeed
Introduction Confidence doesn’t always come naturally, especially when you grow up rarely seeing people like you represented in leadership, media, or success stories. In a world where visibility often determines opportunity, learning how to show up fully becomes essential. Sheena Yap Chan, a keynote speaker, leadership strategist, and author, shares powerful insights on confidence, identity, and visibility, particularly for Asian women navigating personal and professional spaces. Why Representation Matters More Than We Think? Growing up in Canada, Sheena often felt the absence of...
info_outlineIn this episode, I discuss how to become an inspirational leader.
I believe that leaders should not start with the goal of becoming an inspirational leader, as that is a self-centered perspective. Instead, becoming inspirational is a result of certain actions and learnings. Key ways to become an inspirational leader:
1. Be inspired In order to be inspirational, you need to be inspired. One way to be inspired is by keeping the company of other inspired people. Inspiration, like energy, is contagious. Another way to be truly inspired is by having a clear purpose or intention behind all your actions. To be inspired, we need to live in the present moment. This means not only being present but also "showing presence". Showing presence is being fully engaged in that moment, in partnership with whoever you are with.
2. Help people achieve their aspirations: Inspirational people are often just trying to be helpful. People feel seen, heard, and understood by them. Inspirational leaders actively help people achieve their aspirations "faster, cheaper, and better". They want to see others succeed. They inspire others to achieve and be more than what they thought was possible.
3. Believe in the potential of people: Inspirational leaders spot potential in people and believe in it even before the person sees or believes in the potential themselves. Leaders who spot limiting beliefs in the people they lead and help them change these beliefs by reiterating their belief in the person's potential are seen as inspirational.
4. Believe in and aspire for something bigger than all of us: This belief can make a leader feel inspirational. It is about making the people in our charge feel that they are part of something much bigger than their individual selves. This can be done by creating a vision that is both challenging and inspiring, and by creating a sense of togetherness and camaraderie. This sense encourages everyone to do and be better.
Conclusion:
The shift needed to become an inspirational leader is to move from thinking about "me" to thinking about "you" (the people you lead), and then to "us" (everyone put together). This requires showing presence, being empathetic, and genuinely wanting to help people achieve their goals and aspirations. The intention to help must shine through, not just to become an inspirational leader, but because it is the right thing to do. Becoming an inspirational leader is a byproduct of doing everything else right.