Leadership By Inspiration

Inspiration is the stimulation of the emotions and mind to a higher level of feeling and activity.

My friend’s 77-year-old father completed the marathon a fortnight ago. Two months shy of his 78^th birthday, Uncle Kor ran a 4 hour 39 minutes at the Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon. That is an amazing time for a septuagenarian, who had a heart bypass when he was 70 years old, runs two marathons a year, and has completed 11 of them!

I find it inspirational that at such a mature age – when most would be doing active sports like lawn bowling, speed chess, and feeding Japanese carps – that Uncle Kor would be participating actively in a grueling sport like marathon running. It gives me hope that I may, one day, still lead a fairly active lifestyle at a ripe age. Perhaps, I would cross the finish line at the Ironman World Championships in Kona, Hawaii! Or, even complete my 40^th marathon!

Inspirational people create a sense of hope for us. They motivate us through their actions. They lead by example. They inspire us by moving our intellect and emotion or prompt our actions or invention. Look around you – there is plenty to be inspired by! Stay open-minded and be impressed by the talents, performance and abilities of others.