Q&A: Jeremy Kingsley

Jeremy Kingsley draws inspirational leadership lessons from all aspects of his life. Some of his stories – in particular, about growing fruit trees and working on his family’s 1-acre garden in Wisconsin as a child – will resonate with green industry professionals when Kingsley delivers the morning keynote session at Cultivate’16.

A nationally recognized speaker, leadership expert and best-selling author, Kingsley will present on the topic of his book by the same name, “Inspired People Produce Results.” His presentation will be packed with humorous insights and “how-to” tips to help leaders leverage their most important asset – people – by learning how to inspire them.

Kingsley took a break from his busy speaking schedule to give us a sneak peek of what to expect from his energizing Morning Jolt keynote at Cultivate.

Q: How has leadership evolved over the decades?

A: If you think back to the 50s, 60s and 70s, there was this basic understanding that people were just glad to have a job. They would show up, do their work, go home, get their paycheck. That was the basic mindset for a long time.

But things have changed in the past 10 years or so, where this next generation loves to ask the question: ‘Why?’ ‘Why am I doing what I’m doing? Why is this job important? Does it actually have a purpose?’ Those are things that leaders need to think through, and understand that the people they’re hiring are making decisions about where to work differently than previous generations did.

Q: What makes leaders successful today?

A: In the last 20 years, as I’ve met tons of successful people, I’ve asked them questions like, ‘What was it that made you so successful? How did you learn and apply things that got you to where you are?’ I’ve noticed that a lot of them said a lot of the same things.

When I looked back at my own life, it was true; a lot of these principles were similar. There seemed to be a list of principles that we know work for successful people, and these are the things that inspire people. I’m excited to share those principles and illustrate them through stories and examples.

Q: What do leaders need to do differently today to inspire people?

A: I like to use three key words: passion, purpose and principles. There’s something about those three – when you understand what you’re passionate about, the purpose of why you do what you do, and apply all of these principles consistently day-to-day, it leads to successful results.

A lot of it is understanding the next generation of people they’re hiring. A lot of it even starts within the interview process. For example, if you’re looking at a resume and you notice certain skill sets and abilities, a good follow-up question for this younger generation is, ‘Of these skills, which one are you most passionate about?’ You can have a skill but not really enjoy it, and that’s not the position you want to put someone in when you’re hiring.

You also have to understand that you’ll have to explain more about the purpose of the job than previous leaders did: ‘Here’s the why behind what you’re doing; here are the benefits that come from what you’re doing,’ – whereas in previous generations, it was: ‘Here’s the job. Here’s your pay. Take it or leave it.’

Q: What’s the potential of an inspired company?

A: When everyone on the team is inspired and excited about what they do and why they do it, there’s a sudden strength that comes within the workforce that can really take a company to the next level.

That’s why I wrote the book, ‘Inspired People Produce Results,’ because that’s what we really want – to produce results. Whether it’s for each individual, the entire team, or the entire company, we want to produce results, and inspired people do that.

Want to go? Morning Jolt Keynote: Inspired People Product Results, Sunday, July 10 | 8:15 – 9:30 a.m.