Inspirational Leader

Toyotomi Hideyoshi (February 2, 1536 or March 26, 1537 – September 18, 1598) was a daimyo, warrior, great general and politician of the Sengoku period.  He unified the political factions of Japan. He succeeded his former liege lord, Oda Nobunaga, and brought an end to the Sengoku Period. The period of his rule is often called the Momoyama Period, named after Hideyoshi's castle. He is noted for a number of cultural legacies, including the restriction that only members of the samurai class could bear arms. Hideyoshi is regarded as Japan's second "great unifier".

If you read the biography of Toyotomi Hideyoshi or epic fiction of Taiko that also shares a detail about him.  Hideyoshi was not really a imposing figure or even had a noble background.  He was born of no traceable samurai lineage, being the son of a peasant-ashigaru (foot soldier) named Yaemon.  In addition, he had been given the nickname Kozaru, meaning "little monkey", from his lord Oda Nobunaga because his facial features and skinny form resembled that of a monkey. He was also known as the "bald rat."

However, despite his physical and hereditary limitation, he rose up to become one of the most powerful person who ruled Japan at this time that even Tokugawa Ieyasu who build a Tokuwaga Shogunate that lasted from 1600 to 1868, submitted himself under Hideyoshi rules.  

Hideyoshi was an effective leader who can influence a lot great people to follow him.  I learn a lot of effective leadership qualities from Hideyoshi, but one thing that stand out for me is the way he inspired others to take action.

John Quincy Adams, the sixth president of United States said, "If you action inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader."  

Leaders who lead from the heart must be able to inspire others to become better because their motivations are to make other people become better in their lives either personally or professionally.   

Why do people need to be inspired?  There are many reasons for that.  People might lose their motivation to work due to environment, losing purpose, don't understand the purpose or simply just because they don't like the job.  Leader must be able to observe and find out the reason behind the de-movation and inspire the people to act

Hideyoshi had that ability to inspire people to act and that made him a great leader.  There is a story about how he was able to inspire his team to complete the almost impossible task.  One day, when he was still a junior officer serving under Oda Nobunaga, he was tasked to repair a section of the castle wall who had been in disrepair for quite some time due to corruption from the previous officer.  When he was challenged on how many days he would need to complete the job, he said he would need only three days and if he failed, he would take seppuku (suicide act).   When he started to work, he noticed that his team was working for the previous corrupt officer before and they felt not happy working under him.  For the first day, the team worked lazily and when they were threatened, they pretended to work diligently but actually.  Their intentions were to ensure that Hideyoshi failed in his task.

After observing the situation, Hideyoshi then stopped the job and started to gather all the team.  He then started to share with them the importance of their jobs in repairing the wall. He said that people was the foundation of the government.  If the people failed, then the government would fail.  The disrepair section of the wall was seemed not really important, but when the enemy saw this, they would take the chance to attack and if they succeeded, then the people would suffer.  Not only Hideyoshi could share the story, but he also believed in it.  He shed his tears when he told them how people would suffer when the enemy attacked.  

After he shared the story, suddenly, the leader of the team who was the most senior and the one who opposed Hideyoshi the most came in front and admitted that he was ignorant of this and he regretted his action.  After that, all people within the team including Hideyoshi started to work hand in hand to repair the wall. They worked 2 days straight without sleep.  The result? In 3 days, the wall was repaired!

I believe when leader can inspire their team, the team will do something great because their motivations are there.  There are 2 ways leader can motivate their teams:

1. Leader can inspire their teams through story telling.  Story telling is an effective tools that is being used since old time to transfer the important knowledge and also to remind people on something importance.  I always find out during my training session that people will remember my story but forget all the theories in the classroom.  By telling story that is relevant to the current situation of the team, leader can inspire their team to take action.  Hideyoshi was using this technique when he tried to inspire his team to start repairing the wall.
2. Leader can inspire their teams through their actions.  Not only leaders need to inspire their teams with story, but they also must inspire their teams through their actions.  There is a saying called NATO (No Action, Talk Only).  It means, people only talk but no action comes with it.  Leaders must show that what they say are important based on their actions.  Hideyoshi worked with his team side by side without sleep for 2 days and it inspired his team to work even more because they saw that their leader also worked with them.

People in the workplace or in any organizations are looking for leaders who can inspire them to achieve greater things.  This leader might be you.  As long as you have motivation to make people become better, you can be inspirational leader!

Written by

Darvin Widjaja