We all need to be inspired

This week’s Independent News & Media Irish regional newspapers’ column

Michael Commane

Chris Hadfield was interviewed on RTE Radio 1’s Ryan Tubridy Show on Wednesday, January 8. It made great radio.

Commander Hadfield has flown two space shuttle missions and is the first Canadian to walk in space. 

Chris is doing project work with Electric Ireland. You may recognise his voice on the current Electric Ireland radio and television advertisements.

He has the distinction of being the only astronaut to tweet in Irish from Space.

His father, who is 86, is still flying planes. In fact, he owns and flies two aircraft. Chris acknowledged that it’s keeping him alive. ‘When people retire the purpose can go out of their lives,’ he said.

His parents told him and his brother to be curious but never to leave their curiosity unanswered.

He stressed the importance of sculpting who we are into who we would like to be. But his wife did tell him that carrying out one’s dreams doesn’t come for free.

And it so happened on the following Saturday comedian and actor Brendan O’Carroll was guest on the 

Tommy Tiernan Show. He too spoke about how his mother had inspired and impressed him when he was a child. He went on to talk about how important it is for us to be happy in our lives.

The following Sunday in the second reading at Mass from the Acts of the Apostles, St Peter tells his friends that he has realised, ‘that God does not have favourites’.

Both Chris Hadfield and Brendan O’Connor were most impressive and set me thinking about the importance of living in the now and realising our own individual potential. We all have something to offer. We can all play a role in making the world a better place and by doing so, giving ourselves a confidence in our own worth.

For those who believe in God, it’s reassuring to know that God is batting for all of us. And that line gave my faith a new impetus. In a world that concentrates so much on elites and celebrities, it’s reassuring to know that such nonsense has no place in God’s ‘world’.

If anyone had that magic potent always to be able to inspire people, they would be indeed special.

Thinking about it, isn’t that really what leadership and management is? Surely it is not to do with ordering people about, but rather inspiring and enthusing people so that their potential can be realised. The best managers and leaders should indeed be catalysts. I heard someone once say that the good teacher makes her/himself redundant. It makes great sense.

We all have our own personal stories to tell. There is no paradise on earth, there will always be awkward people and nay-sayers who are impossible to inspire and enthuse. But even in their cases, it’s worth asking why they are like that.

From my personal experience of the workplace I get a sense that managers and leaders far too often fall short in their job of inspiring and enthusing. Yes, we all have a role to play in our own life-stories but those stories can be helped along, supported and enhanced by leaders and managers.

A positive or uplifting word never goes astray. I’m not talking about PR spoof but the real genuine words, spoken with honesty. All people deserve to be treated with equal dignity. There’s far too much hierarchical thinking across society, and that includes the workplace.

Eleanor Roosevelt wisely advised: ‘To handle yourself, use your head; to handle others, use your heart’.