Motivation vs. Inspiration
Motivation, to my way of thinking, is about 1) moving people to take action 2) in order to achieve a short-term goal, 3) by giving them an incentive.
Coaches during half-time, military leaders before a battle, and managers of all sorts who want their people to dedicate themselves to a short-term goal should be giving motivational speeches.
If you want to see a great example of a motivational speech, watch this clip from the movie Patton. The speech is taken almost word for word from the speech the general actually used to give his troops before sending them into battle. What action does he want them to take? Kill. What’s the short-term goal? Win the battle. What’s the incentive? If you kill them, they won’t kill you.
You can’t give a motivational speech and expect it to last. You constantly have to stir people up.
Inspiration is about 1) asking people to be their best 2) without any promise of reward other than the satisfaction that comes from within. The best way to inspire other people is to be someone worthy of emulation.
A great example of an inspirational speech comes from another American general, Douglas MacArthur. You can watch a clip of Gregory Peck delivering it here. (You can read the entire speech here. It’s beautifully crafted and worth the read.) He isn’t trying to rouse his audience to take immediate action. He doesn’t speak about any short-term goals. And he certainly doesn’t offer them any incentive. Instead, he inspires them to be officers worthy of their uniforms by assimilating the values of West Point: duty, honor, country. He was, at the time, the most highly decorated U.S. officer, a five-star general, and the former commandant of West Point. He was, for the audience he addressed, the embodiment of an officer they would want to be like.
A good inspirational speech may touch people for a life time, forever changing how they seek to be in this world.
Do you have any examples of either motivational speeches or inspirational speeches to share?
Tags: inspirational speeches, motivation vs. inspiration, motivational speeches
December 11th, 2009 at 7:59 pm
[...] held beliefs and values. (For my discussion about how inspiration is different from motivation, go here.) Obama ended his speech on an inspirational note: “So let us reach for the world that ought [...]