How Joel Osteen Inspires Millions

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You may have a title that suggests "authority " over someone else—chief executive, manager, supervisor, director, teacher. But you will never be recognized as a true leader until you inspire people around you and make them feel confident about the future.

Turning Employees into Heroes

I spent time with Wayne Leonard, the chief executive officer of Entergy, a public utility company serving several southern states including Louisiana and the cities hit hardest by Hurricane Katrina. After the hurricane, more than 1,000 Entergy workers were displaced, many having lost their homes. Those who lost their homes were told to return to work when they could, but no deadline was placed on them. That's how much trust Leonard had in his people. Astonishingly, most everyone returned immediately to help restore power for the residents of New Orleans. They did so because Leonard had always filled their emotional tanks with positive, optimistic energy and language. Here is what Leonard (BusinessWeek.com, 4/20/06) told his employees in the days after Katrina:

"The task before us is awesome, but not insurmountable. We will be challenged at every turn, but this is what has always defined Entergy. We are at our best when the challenge is greatest. Our response to this crisis will make the people we call Entergy remembered and revered for all time. We are bruised but not broken. We are saddened but not despondent. We are at that remarkable place in time where hearts, minds and souls of the good cross with challenge and opportunity to set the course of history. Future generations will stand in awe at what you have endured and accomplished. "

How many managers would communicate in such a way with their teams when faced with a serious challenge? Very few, I'm afraid. They would be too busy protecting their own backs to encourage the people around them. And yet employees desperately want to hear words of encouragement. They don't want to hear that something cannot be done. They want to hear about how the world will be a better place once that something is accomplished.

Your employees, or customers, or colleagues are not much different from Osteen's congregation. Of course you don't have to be a pastor to speak words of encouragement, but as an evangelist for your own brand, lifting people's spirits will gain their respect, admiration, and loyalty.

Carmine Gallo, a business communications coach and Emmy-Award winning former TV journalist, is the author of 10 Simple Secrets of the World's Greatest Business Communicators and Fire Them Up! He writes his communications column every other week.