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Summary: The importance of motivation in leadership cannot be denied. But most leaders overlook a critical component of motivation, human dream. Before you can work with people's dreams, you must identify what they dream, a sometimes difficult task. Here's how to make such an identification.

In Leadership, Identifying Dreams That Lead To Great Results by Brent Filson

History teaches that when people needed to do great things, a leader first had to gather them together and speak from heart. This heartfelt speech was often connected to defining and reinforcing a dream shared by both leader and people.

Drill down through goals and aims and aspirations and ambitions of people you lead, and you'll hit bedrock of human motivation, dream.

For instance, Martin Luther King did not say, "I have a goal." Or "I have an aim." The power of that speech was in "I have a dream".

A dream embraces our most cherished longings. It embodies our very identity. We often won't feel fulfilled as human beings until we realize our dreams.

If leaders are not tapping into power of people's dreams, if leaders are simply setting goals (as important as goals are), they miss best of opportunities to help those people take ardent action to achieve great results.

But what do people dream? How can we discover their dreams? After all, people usually won't tell you what they dream until they trust you. They won't trust you until they feel that you can help them attain their dreams. Knowing and sharing their dream can cement a deep, emotional bond between you.

Here are three things you can do to get at what people dream. Be helpful. Be hopeful. Be scarce.

Be helpful. Follow Leadership Imperative: I WILL LEAD PEOPLE IN SUCH A WAY THAT THEY NOT ONLY ACHIEVE THE RESULTS WE NEED BUT THEY ALSO BECOME BETTER AS PEOPLE AND AS LEADERS.

Imagine now, writing your own book and earning on-going royalties for many years off of that effort. Now I know thoughts that are going through your mind, “Yeah, that would be nice, but I’m certainly no John Grisham.”

Well, you really don’t need to be in order to make an incredible living at writing and publishing. Sometimes, all it takes is a great idea. Here’s an example—Cindy Cashman took a simple idea and made over $1 million from marketing her book, Everything Men Know about Woman by Dr. Richard Harrison (her pseudonym). Here’s funny part: All 96 pages of book are completely blank! Women were buying her book by caseload to give out to friends. Cindy has made enough off that one idea to completely retire.