Bold Confidence is the 5th of five inspirational leadership attributes.
Inspirational Leadership Attributes – Number 5
Inspirational leaders have a compelling purpose, a “why” on behalf of which they lead (the first attribute in this series). It informs the leader’s mission and vision. Inspirational leaders demonstrate a bold confidence in doing what’s needed to achieve that vision. Consider Moses telling Pharaoh “Let my people go.”
Inspirational leaders take risks, and some, like Elon Musk, do so with a flare for taking on an impossible mission. Musk is literally aiming for Mars.
Musk, co-founder of PayPal, claims he wants to “affect the future in a positive way.” He chose sustainable energy, and Tesla motors, as the canvas for painting his most recent vision.
Inspirational Leadership – Bold Confidence
Elon Musk boldly declares that Tesla, an electric car company, possibly THE electric car company, will vanquish the internal combustion engine someday. His other company, SolarCity, will help mitigate climate change. His other company, SpaceX, aspires to bring travelers to Mars.
Not bold enough for you yet? Try this.
Musk’s game plan for Tesla seems like a Robin Hood story. Tesla entered the market by selling high priced cars to the very-rich. These early revenues will partially fund the infrastructure needed to build lower priced models that will sell to the less-rich. Musk plans to drive Tesla prices down as quickly as possible, lowering the price of each successive model. This is not, however, a low price strategy for winning in a competitive market. Musk intends to increase sales volumes by make owning a Tesla more feasible for more buyers. Oh, and did I mention, you can shop for your Tesla at high priced retail malls?
“Do the impossible” is one of Tesla’s slogans, and it appears Musk is attempting to do just that. To make future models more affordable, Tesla will build a plant capable of producing 500,000 lithium-ion battery packs annually. That’s what the entire world currently produces. The plant will cost an estimated $5 billion dollars to build and will be about the size of the Pentagon.
Musk thinks Bold, Big and Confident. More importantly he acts on his ideas and he gets people, and institutions, to do likewise. As Musk shopped for a place to build this mammoth plant, Nevada responded with $1.4 billion in tax breaks and free land. According to Fortune magazine,
Musk thinks boldly, acts boldly and has a BIG BOLD personality.
Is this personality factor one of the key inspirational leadership attributes?
No.
Consider Charles Schwab. His personal style is more conservative than Musk’s, but his initial mission was, in it’s day, just as bold. In a time when only the wealthy and institutions owned stocks, Schwab set out to democratize Wall Street. He made it possible for the average citizen to grow his/her wealth by investing in the stock market.
Inspirational leaders set out a bold mission, and they move with a bold confidence to make it a reality. You might even say they’re audacious. I would.
What’s your BIG BOLD mission?
The first four posts on inspirational leadership attributes, can be accessed by clicking the links below.