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Adam Galinsky is a social psychologist and professor of leadership and tthics at Columbia Business School. He conducts behavioral science research, having published more than 200 scientific articles. He has been a damage expert in numerous defamation cases and is also a producer on two documentaries shortlisted for Best Documentary at the Academy Awards. Whats the big idea? Every leader leaves their mark on the hearts and minds of a workforce. This can go one of two ways: Leaders can leave behind a legacy of inspiration, or infuriation. Based on thousands of perspectives collected from around the globe, Adam created a systemic formula for choosing and earning the lasting impact you want to have on others. Below, Adam shares five key insights from his new book, Inspire: The Universal Path for Leading Yourself and Others. 1. Inspiring leadership is made up of three universal factors Inspiring and infuriating leaders exist on an enduring continuum that is made up of three universal factors. The exact same characteristics emerge in every culture and country across the globe. The three universal factors are: Being a Visionary, which represents how we see the world. Being an Exemplar of desired behavior, which represents how we are in the world. Being a Mentor, which represents how we interact with others in the world. We can inspire others through our words, actions, and interactions. There are three universal factors because each one fulfills a fundamental human need: Being Visionary fulfills the need for meaning and purpose. Being an Exemplar fulfills the need for protection and passion. Being a Mentor fulfills the need for belonging and status. These universal dimensions are demonstrated by a remarkable pilot, Tammie Jo Shults. She was the captain of Southwest Airlines 1380, traveling from New York to Dallas when an engine exploded and tore a hole in the side of her plane. During the crisis, Tammie Jo was visionary, helping her passengers understand what was happening. As the plane was descending, she gave her passengers a reassuring WHY: We are NOT going down, we are going to Philadelphia. Those simple words transformed the cabin from pure panic to possibility. After Tammie Jo amazingly landed her plane with no additional injuries, an EMT evaluated her, asking, How do you get through security? When Shults looked confused, he replied, How did your nerves of steel not set off the metal detector? Youre completely calm. Throughout the crisis, she was an exemplar, a calm and courageous protector. After the plane landed, Tammie Jo Shults went row by row, making sure her passengers were okay. She understood her role as mentor, to not only protect but also to comfort her passengers. 2. Both inspiring and infuriating leaders are a big deal Leaders either inspire or infuriate because their behavior greatly impacts others. I call this the Leadership Amplification Effect. When we are in a position of leadership, all our words and expressionspositive and negativeget amplified. Constructive comments feel like humiliating criticism when they come from a leader. The phrase I need to talk to you sends shivers down our spine when it comes from our boss. And when leaders dont respond to our queries, their silence can feel deafening. But its not all bad news. When a leader compliments or shares credit with others, it becomes glorious praise. The Leader Amplification Effect occurs because when we are in a position of leadership, all eyes are on us. We are onstage. That means all our utterances, gestures, and interactions are intensely attended to and scrutinized. As my research shows, attention amplifies the impact of any stimulus and intensifies our reactions to it. We will have an impact, whether we like it or not. The Leader Amplification Effect tells us that leaders rarely produce neutral reactions. That means we will have an impact, whether we like it or not. However, we have control over the type of impact. We always have a choice of whether we inspire or infuriate. We have control over the words we use and the visions we set. We can be better exemplars by regulating our emotions and tapping into our passion. And we have the capacity to be a motivating mentor by empowering and elevating others. 3. Inspiring leaders are made, not born We are not born as inspiring or infuriating individuals. Rather, our current behavior inspires or infuriates us. Because there is a universal and systematic set of inspiring attributes, those skills can be taught, nurtured, and developed. Lets consider how we can become more visionary. We must present the right message in the right way at the right time. Inspiring leaders offer a big-picture, optimistic vision of the future, while infuriating leaders are small-minded pessimists. But how you present the vision matters, too. Inspiring leaders simplify their big ideas to their essence and then bring them to life with vivid language. For example, make our customers satisfied is not as motivating as make our customers smile because we can viscerally see and feel that smile. My research with Vita Akstinait shows that politicians who use more visual language in their nomination speeches are more likely to be elected. Equally important is when you present your vision. You want to present it again and again and again because repetition increases clarity and understanding. When Blaine Horton and I analyzed TED Talk viewership and investments in entrepreneurial pitches, we found that repeating a core idea was the key to success. So, how can we become more visionary? We can do so by attending to our core values. In one of my recent studies, unemployed individuals who contemplated their values for 15 minutes were twice as likely to find a job over the next two months as those who didnt. Reflecting on our core values helps us see the big picture and be more hopeful. To be more visionary, we can also practice simplifying and visualizing our messages. Similarly, we can guide ourselves to be more calm and courageous protectors through daily practices like meditation and visualization. And we can be better mentors by training ourselves to let go of the reins and stop micromanaging others. 4. Inspire people by thinking like an architect Just as an architect designs a building to produce specific reactions within people and facilitate certain interactions, we can design policies and protocols to encourage desirable responses and behaviors. As leaders, we are affecting people even whn were not present. The policies and processes we set up influence people daily, encouraging some actions while discouraging others. Lets consider designing a weekly meeting. The goal of many meetings is to learn from each other so we can make wiser decisions and produce more innovative ideas. We could take a laissez-faire approach, believing that a lack of constraints will unleash creative insights. But that design choice often invites chaos, conflict, and inefficiencies, where the loudest people reign supreme. Making wise decisions requires staying on track and encouraging participation. Thinking like an architect helps us be more visionary by recognizing the need to craft a clear and well-thought-out agenda. It helps us solve an offshoot of the Leader Amplification Effect: the Leader Silencing Effect, where authority silences other voices. One design choice we can make is when to speak. When we speak first as a leader, it sets a powerful anchor that can weigh the whole discussion down and make it harder for people to share their perspectives, especially if it doesnt align with what we just said. In contrast, when a leader speaks last, others feel free to share their thoughts. Similarly, what we wear can reinforce or reduce the Leader Silencing Effect. During mission debriefs in the U.S. Army, one thing is left outside the room: uniforms. The military needs every perspective to ensure a full understanding of the completed mission, so they reduce rank differences by having these discussions in civilian clothing. When we speak first as a leader, it sets a powerful anchor that can weigh the whole discussion down. We can take the idea of empowerment one step further by designing a rotational system of responsibility for meetings. Sherry Wu of UCLA has found that letting workers run a 20-minute weekly meeting not only increases their satisfaction but also boosts their productivity. Thats how I run my doctoral seminars: Each week, a different student co-leads the class discussion with me. Thinking like an architect can also help us resolve conflict. By establishing voting rules in advance, my colleagues and I reduced the discord that had permeated our hiring meetings. Similarly, I turned my warring sons into more loving siblings simply by changing their drop-off order at schooldropping my more impatient son off first made all the difference. 5. Reflecting makes you more inspiring Reflecting on times when we felt powerful and in control turns us into inspiring exemplars: it makes us more authentically confident, calm, and courageous. And when we want to improve at elevating and empathizing with others, we can reflect on their perspectives. Two broad but powerful reflections can help us stay on the inspiring end of the continuum. Once a month, reflect on when you were inspiring and also when you may have been infuriating. When did you see, or fail to see, the big picture? When were you anxious and cowardly rather than calm and courageous? When did you empower, elevate, and empathize with othersor fail to do so? Second, engage in the same reflection Ive shared with thousands of people worldwide. Consider an inspiring leader from your own life and how you can emulate that person to foster a similar sense of hope and possibility. Also, reflect on a frustrating leader and how to avoid making others blood boil. Finally, turn those reflections into practice. Here is one daily practice guaranteed to inspire those around you: Every morning, reach out to at least one person and praise a task that person did well or thank them for making your life easier. A CEO told me it takes him only minutes over his daily coffee to brighten someones day. But heres the amazing partit brightens his day too. His morning missives receive effusive replies that put a spring in his step. His daily gestures have created a virtuous cycle of inspiration. This article originally appeared in Next Big Idea Club magazine and is reprinted with permission.
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When Moath al-Alwi left Guantánamo Bay for resettlement in Oman, accompanying him on his journey was a cache of artwork he created during more than two decades of detention. Al-Alwi was detainee number 028an indication that he was one of the first to arrive at the U.S. military prison off Cuba after it opened in January 2002. His departure from the detention center on January 6, 2025, along with 10 fellow inmates, was part of an effort to reduce the prisons population before the end of President Joe Bidens term. For al-Alwi, it meant freedom not only for himself, but also for his artwork. While not all detainees shared his passion, creating art was not an uncommon pursuit inside Guantánamoindeed it has been a feature, formally and informally, of the detention center since its opening more than 20 years ago. As editors of the recently published book The Guantánamo Artwork and Testimony of Moath al-Alwi: Deaf Walls Speak, we found that art-making in Guantánamo was more than self-expression; it became a testament to detainees emotions and experiences and influenced relationships inside the detention center. Examining the art offers unique ways of understanding conditions inside the facility. Art from tea bags and toilet paper Detained without charge or trial for 23 years, al-Alwi was first cleared for release in December 2021. Due to unstable conditions in his home country of Yemen, however, his transfer was subject to finding another country for resettlement. Scheduled for release in early October 2023, he and 10 other Yemeni detainees were further delayed when the Biden administration canceled the flight due to concerns over the political climate after the October 7 attacks in Israel. During his detention, al-Alwi suffered abuse and ill treatment, including forced feedings. Making art was a way for him, and others, to survive and assert their humanity, he said. Along with fellow former detainees Sabri al-Qurashi, Ahmed Rabbani, Muhammad Ansi, and Khalid Qasim, among others, al-Alwi became an accomplished artist while being held. His work was featured in several art shows and in a New York Times opinion documentary short. During the detention centers early years, these men used whatever materials were at hand to create artworkthe edge of a tea bag to write on toilet paper, an apple stem to imprint floral and geometric patterns and poems onto Styrofoam cups, which the authorities would destroy after each meal. In 2010, the Obama administration began offering art classes at Guantánamo in an attempt to show the world they were treating prisoners humanely and helping them occupy their time. However, those attending were given only rudimentary supplies. And they were subjected to invasive body searches to and from class and initially shackled to the floor, with one hand chained to the table, throughout each session. Furthermore, the subject matter for their art was restricteddetainees were forbidden from representing certain aspects of their detention, and all artwork was subject to approval and risked being destroyed. Despite this, many detainees participated in the classes for camaraderie and the opportunity to engage in some form of creative expression. A window to freedom Making art served many purposes. Mansoor Adayfi, a former Guantánamo Bay detainee and author of Dont Forget Us Here: Lost and Found at Guantanamo, wrote in his contribution to the book on al-Alwi that initially, we painted what we missed: the beautiful blue sky, the sea, stars. We painted our fear, hope and dreams. Those who have been transferred from Guantánamo describe the art as a way to express their appreciation for culture, the natural world, and their families while imprisoned by a regime that consistently characterized them as violent and inhuman. The Statue of Liberty became a frequent motif Guantánamo artists deployed to communicate the betrayal of U.S. laws and ideals. Often, Lady Liberty was depicted in distressdrowning, shackled or hooded. For Sabri al-Qurashi, the symbol of freedom under duress represented his own condition when he painted it. I am in prison, not free, and without any rights, he told us. Other times, the artwork responded directly to the mens day-to-day conditions of confinement. One of al-Alwis early pieces was a model of a three-dimensional window. Approximately 40-by-55 inches, the window was filled in with images carefully torn from nature and travel magazines, and layered to create depth, so that it appeared to look out on an island with a house with palm and coconut trees made from twisted pieces of rope and soap. Al-Alwi was initially allowed to keep it in his windowless cell, and fellow detainees and guards would visit to look out the window. But as far as we know, it was eventually lost or destroyed in a prison raid. Art as representation and respite In another example of how artwork can be an expression of what former detainees call their brotherhood, Khalid Qasim, who was imprisoned at the age of 23 and held for more than two decades before being transferred alongside al-Alwi, mixed coffee grounds and coarse sand to create a series of nine textured, evocative paintings to memorialize each of the nine men who died while held at Guantánamo. Especially in periods when camp rules allowed detainees to create artwork in their cells, the artists use of prison detritus and found objects made the artwork more than simply a depiction of what the men lacked, desired or imagined. Artwork helped create an alternative forum for the mens experiences, especially for those artists who, along with the vast majority of Guantánamos 779 detainees, never faced charge or trial. The pieces served as symbols and metaphors of the detainees experiences. For example, al-Alwi describes his 2015 large model ship, The Ark, as fighting against the waves of an imagined, threatening sea. In creating it, he wrote, I felt I was rescuing myself. Constructed out of the materials of his imprisonment, the work also points to the conditions of his daily life in Guantánamo. Made from the strands of mops, unraveled prayer cap and T-shirt threads, bottle caps, bits of sponges, and cardboard from meal packaging, al-Alwis shipshe went on to create at least sevenreveal both his artistic ingenuity and his circumstances. Guantánamo artists talk about the artwork as being imprisoned like them and subjected to the same restrictions and seemingly arbitrary processes of approval or disappearace. The transfer to Oman of al-Alwi and his artwork releases both from those processes. It also creates an opportunity to inform the public about what Guantánamo meant to those who were held there, and to the 15 men who remain. Alexandra Moore is a professor of human rights in literary and cultural studies at Binghamton University, State University of New York. Elizabeth Swanson is a professor of arts and humanities at Babson College. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
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Perhaps youre coming out of a wave of layoffs or a down year. Maybe youre preparing for a run of performance reviews where you have to deliver tough feedback. If you have tense conversations on the horizon, there are ways to prepare for it. In many cases, the anticipation of a high-conflict conversation creates more stress than the actual experience. Its normal to feel out of control in moments like thisto feel like your internal world is compromised and you must attempt to control your external world. Neural circuits responsible for conscious self-control are highly vulnerable to even the mildest of stressors. When those neural systems shut down, primal impulses go unchecked, and mental paralysis sets in. But as a leader, it is critical to learn how to de escalate tension in the moment. How to prepare for conflict Putting feelings and emotions into words can help calm your nervous system. Practicing resonant self-talk and understanding your Default Mode Network (DMN) can help you connect with yourself, bringing you back into your body and helping you remain present in the moment with your employees or peers. Investing time to prepare for conflict scenarios reinforces your ability to regulate and positions any potential conflict as an opportunity for connection. Consider these four steps as you prepare for possible conflict situations:Step 1: Seek to fully understand the situation: Enter the conversation with an open mind and commit to leaving with a greater understanding of your employees experience.Step 2: Set an outcome for yourself: What is the desired objective of the conversation? Are you seeking collaboration, clarity, or agreement on a go-forward strategy?Step 3: Identify how to support yourself if tensions rise: What do you need to stay present and focused during the conversation? Leave yourself reminders to breathe, have a fidget toy handy, or repeat a grounding statement such as, Everyone is struggling with something. Step 4: Set boundaries for yourself: Beware of your internal limits. Know that naming discomfort when it arises can help to slow the conversation down. How to structure the conversation Now that youve established your desired outcomes, solidified your self-regulation methods, and confirmed your boundaries, its time to hold the meeting. Visualize your next difficult conversation and implement this conversational structure: Notice body language or conversation cues Name what you are observing Offer validation to your counterpart in the conversation Invite them to share more Identify a collaborative path forward In this flow, it is important to equip yourself with questions that nudge the conversation toward understanding, collaboration and, ultimately, psychological safety. Thoughtful questions that resonate with your employees physiological response state (e.g. fight, flight, freeze, or fawn) offer connection as a form of relief rather than control. You might also find that you need to repeat the second, third and fourth steps a few times before youre both ready to identify a path forward. By asking questions and investing in the process, you can help your team move into a foster state of safety and clarity. As you prepare for conflict, consider what state your direct report might be in. Are you coming off of a high-stress project where leadership gave a lot of critical feedback? Your team might be in fight or flight. If performance reviews are on the horizon and youve noticed your team is disengaged or over-accommodating, they might be in a freeze or fawn state. How to respond to fight, flight, freeze or fawn reactionsLets examine how to deploy the aforementioned conversation flow in response to team members experiencing fight, flight, freeze or fawn states. Response to the fight reaction stage If your employee is in fight mode, they could be experiencing rage or anger. They might be exhibiting signs of intimidation or even bullying and could come across as demanding to you or their peers. During your meeting, you might notice they are speaking faster or louder (conversation cues), leaning in toward you, or crossing their arms (body language). At this point, name what you see (I can see that you are frustrated) then offer validation: I can understand why you are frustrated, especially given the feedback you received from leadership last week. I know how hard you worked on this project. Then, invite them to offer more in the conversation. Ask: Is there anything else you want me to know? Finally, ask them how they envision moving forward. Again, questions can lead to clarity. Response to the flight reaction stage An individual in flight mode might be experiencing feelings of panic or anxiety. You might notice they are ruminating on certain topics or situations, or could even be overworking on a deliverable. In your conversation, they might seem restless or in a hurry to end the meeting. You might also notice they are avoiding talking about anything of substance as it relates to the project at hand. Offer your observation: You seem a little distracted and Im noticing were talking around the issue here. Then validate: Are you concerned about discussing this project? I can understand if youre feeling worried. Consider asking, What didnt work well for you on this project? before inquiring how they envision moving forward. Response to the freeze reaction stage Employees in a freeze state might be experiencing brain fog or a feeling of numbness. They could be stonewalling or hiding. In your meeting, you might notice they are less responsive or are having difficulty articulating their thoughts. Share what youre noticing: You seem less present or, You dont seem like your usual self. Offer validation: It makes sense given the pressure youre under. I know how much you are invested in the outcome of this project. Let them know that you want to understand their deeper concerns and leave space for them to explore before you identify next steps for a solution. Response to the fawn reaction stage You might notice someone in a fawn state is over-apologizing or overly accommodating. Theyre not exhibiting strong boundaries and are avoiding addressing the conflict directly. At this stage, it is crucial as a leader to show that you want to hear whats not working. The conversational cues from this individual might be less obviousperhaps youve heard elsewhere that the person has a concern but theyre not bringing it up with you directly. In your meeting, let them know you want to make room for any concerns they might have (I am aware that youre having challenges around this project, can we address that?). Validate their experience by saying, I really appreciate you taking the risk to be honest with me. I take your feedback very seriously. As you move forward, express your commitment to solving the problem with them and ask: What are we missing? You might have noticed this conversation flow closely resembles the tactical empathy model (notice, name, manage) and deploys resonant language throughout. In a world here 87% of employees say empathy is essential to fostering an inclusive environment, the onus is on our leaders to embrace these tactics, fortify their own self-regulation practices and create an environment where conflict is not fearedit is understood, accepted and leveraged to facilitate a better path forward toward a solution.
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