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Intentional Leadership — D3, W3, M5 — Passion

Posted in Leadership, tagged , , , , , , , , on May 22, 2013| Leave a Comment »

Having spent some time yesterday measuring your level of passion and your pursuit of your passion, today let’s shift focus to someone else.

Think of a co-worker, friend, or family member who has expressed a passion, but is not living their passion today.

Food for thought:

1. Go online and purchase a book in the area of their passion. Give them the book with a hand-written note encouraging them to pursue their passion.

2. Think of someone in your network who  has a similar passion. Connect this person with the person in your network to give them a new connection, support in pursuing their passion,  and potential opportunity.

3. As them about their passion. Take an interest in them and really listen. Share with them they are not alone in their journey and that you are committed to their success.

How can you help stoke the fires of their passion?

What can you do to help them move forward into it?

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Intentional Leadership — D2, W3, M5 — Passion

Posted in Leadership, tagged , , , , , , , , , on May 21, 2013| Leave a Comment »

Time to rate yourself! As we move into this third week of our fifth month on your leadership journey and are currently focused on Passion, let’s see how we do on some key foundational elements of nurturing and following our Passion.

Assess yourself on each of these elements:

I constantly immerse myself in studying, reading about, discussing with and interviewing others about my passion. 

WEAK  1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9  10  STRONG

I have surrounded myself with others who have the same passion I do. 

WEAK  1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9  10  STRONG

I have outlets I can pour my passion into and positively impact others. 

WEAK  1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9  10  STRONG

I have opportunities at work that fuel my passion. 

WEAK  1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9  10  STRONG

I continue to grow in learning new skills that leverage my passion. 

WEAK  1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9  10  STRONG

I have friends who know what my passion is and encourage me to develop it. 

WEAK  1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9  10  STRONG

I have opportunities outside of work that fuel my passion. 

WEAK  1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9  10  STRONG

I take risks or constructive criticism to improve my ability to live out my passion. 

WEAK  1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9  10  STRONG

I regularly guard my time to develop my passion and make sure this time is part of my growth plan. 

WEAK  1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9  10  STRONG

After rating yourself, spend a little time to summarize your thoughts on this exercise. Overall, how are you doing in stoking your passion?

Where are you strong and where are you weak?

What immediate actions could you take to help build your passion?

This area of leadership is like all the others in that to do well here, one must have a certain level of self-awareness and operate in an intentional manner. As with the exercises that came before now, it’s important that you are really honest with yourself. If you are spending a high percentage of your time working in an area that isn’t your passion, it will be readily apparent — it will be evident in all you do, the results you achieve, and in how you lead your people.

“See” you on Wednesday!

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Intentional Leadership — D1, W3, M5 — Passion

Posted in Leadership, tagged , , , , , , , , on May 20, 2013| Leave a Comment »

How are you doing this month, with clarifying your passion?

I want to tell you a story. One you may already be familiar with, perhaps…but maybe not some of the details.

I daresay we are all familiar with Mark Zuckerberg, creator of Facebook. He had a passion for connecting people, and his passion carried him down an unknown road, many years ago. He was studying at Harvard, but decided to end his college education to pursue his dream…a budding on-line social network. He moved to California, lived in dingy apartments with his friends/co-founders, and worked at engineering Facebook, essentially penniless!

As you know, the web site took off at full throttle and grew by leaps and bounds. Zuckerberg and his friends worked hard to keep up with its growth.

As Facebook blossomed, it began to attract attention; a lot of attention! In fact, Yahoo! offered Zuckerberg $1 Billion (yes, that’s a “B” not an “M”!) to buy his site, he said, “No.” To many of us, that response might seem inexplicable. What could he possibly be thinking? A billion dollars is an enormous amount of money; more than most people ever even dream of, let alone possess. So, why would he turn down the offer?

Simple…Passion. Mark Zuckerberg is passionate about connecting people; he believes when people connect something powerful happens and he wanted to continue to help facilitate those connections.

While one may argue over how Facebook is designed and operated, some in favor and some against, it’s hard to argue that the company hasn’t been successful. And it’s beyond reason, at least to me, that something could be that successful without some passionate person (or persons) driving it forward.

Passion is the driving force behind life’s fulfillment. Thus, passion must be exercised and nurtured. During the course of your leadership journey, will be tempted along the way — and probably more than once — to sell out for comfort or security (or a number of other reasons). I urge you to not settle for less than the full extent of your dreams.

Take a few minutes today to reflect on a time when you were tempted to give up on your dreams. What happened? What did you do to keep your dreams alive?

You see, I believe you did not succumb to the temptation; if you had, you wouldn’t be here, today, reading my blog or other blogs exploring similar topics.

Who supports you and cheers you on as you chase after the desires of your heart?

What else do you need to keep your passion alive?

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Intentional Leadership — D5, W2, M5 — Passion

Posted in Leadership, tagged , , , , , , , , on May 17, 2013| Leave a Comment »

What are you discovering this month, with our focus on Passion? Are you true to yours?

Will you incorporate your passion into your weekend plans?

I’m looking forward to some adventure, exploration, fun, and preparation for the Empowerment Mentoring. Starting my first cohort on Tuesday and am really excited to go on this journey with the determined souls who have enrolled.

As you prepare for your weekend, consider these questions:

Who really need your attention this weekend? You? Family? Friends? People you’ve not yet met?

For me, aside from my immediate family, it’s friends. A close friend experienced a mild stroke several weeks ago, and this will be our first opportunity to visit and see how she’s doing and what we can do to brighten their day.

What really needs your attention this weekend? Is it projects, rest, relaxation…?

A little of all of the above for me.

What is on your calendar in the coming weeks, and on your mind, that you need to prepare for, set aside time for, think about?

Set yourself up for success and plan for those things…otherwise, all those distractions (aka real life!) will take you off on some detours.

Have a great weekend, and I’ll “see” you Monday!

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Intentional Leadership — D4, W2, M5 — Passion

Posted in Leadership, tagged , , , , , , on May 16, 2013| Leave a Comment »

Spend some time with your journal today and write about the power of passion and how it could lead to trouble if it is not guided by principles.

What are the dangers?

How could something near to your heart hurt you and others?

How can you prevent this from happening?

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Intentional Leadership — D3, W2, M5 — Passion

Posted in Leadership, tagged , , , , , , , , on May 15, 2013| Leave a Comment »

Passion is powerful; we all know that. And it can be a force for good or a force for … well, not so good! The same passion that can make you the best in your field can also result in an insufferable ego! Often times, when we are really passionate about something, we can be easily offended when someone disagrees with us or offers a different perspective on the topic.

I can say, humbly — I hope, this has happened to me. I strive to be more self-aware, however, and understand that it’s ok for others to have another perspective and that they don’t necessarily share my passion.

Today, think of someone who may have offended you as they touched upon your passion. Starting today, take a step to repair that relationship. One of the most profound ways to keep passion grounded on principle is through humility.

Pick one of these options to start the healing / forgiveness process today:

1. Contact the person and begin reconnecting. Before you take this step, however, it’s important that you forgive them and approach the connection with an open heart.

2. Write the person a note and mail it today! Acknowledge your part in whatever happened and ask them for their forgiveness; tell them you value the relationship and want to repair it. As you drop the note into the outgoing mail box, tell yourself that you forgive them for their part. Truly let go of the conflict as you release the letter.

3. Speak with the person today. Let them know you need to ask their forgiveness for being upset with them. Let them know you may not have understood the full situation, allowed yourself to become upset and held it against them. End the conversation with this simple question: “Will you forgive me?”

Which one will you choose?

I can say from experience, there’s something very liberating in this process. It may not always end with the relationship repaired and things between you back the way they were…but you will feel better for owning your part, for making the move to begin the healing process, and for having some closure of the situation.

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Intentional Leadership — D2, W2, M5 — Passion

Posted in Leadership, tagged , , , , , , on May 14, 2013| Leave a Comment »

Who have you encountered on your journey who was clearly passionate about something, but whose passion and success was ruined by lack of principles. Who was this person?

What was he/she passionate about?

What happened to them?

What other consequences were there associated with their lack of principle?

What do you think led to that person’s downfall?

Now, make a 180-degree turn, and consider someone who was passionate and succeeded because they lived their passion through principle. Who was this person?

What was he/she passionate about?

What principles did they use as their foundation?

What impact did they have because of their passion?

What factors do you think led them to be able to successfully live out their passion?

What consequences were there associated with their principled behaviors?

How do these insights apply to you and your behavior as a leader living out your passion?

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Intentional Leadership — D1, W2, M5 — Passion

Posted in Leadership, tagged , , , , , , , on May 13, 2013| Leave a Comment »

What happens when passion is incongruent with principles?

Surely, any of us could recount numerous tales of leaders passionate about what they did, but were unprincipled in how they pursued their passion.

Consider Benedict Arnold. He was a general in the Revolutionary Army, and a distinguished general, at that. He was bold, daring, and creative. He earned the admiration of his fellow soldiers and countrymen. At one time, he was clearly a hero…especially in consideration of his performance at the Battle of Saratoga, widely regarded as the turning point in the War of American Independence.

Unfortunately, his drive was not supported by strong values. He was an egomaniac, needing the admiration, attention, and recognition of others, he was more focused on personal gain that on the welfare of his country. When he began to feel under-appreciated by his peers, he turned his attention to the British and conspired against the Americans. He went so far as to develop a wretched plot to surrender a strategic fort at West Point to the enemy. Fortunately, the plot was foiled.

He fled to the British side and died unceremoniously in England, known as America’s most notorious traitor.

What is the motivation behind your passion?

What drives you to be a leader?

How strong are the values that form your foundation?

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Intentional Leadership — D5, W1, M5 — Passion

Posted in Leadership, tagged , , , , , , , on May 10, 2013| Leave a Comment »

Another week has gone whizzing past, for me, at least! How was yours?

Productive and fulfilling, I hope.

Today is going to be an amazing, busy, brain-stretching, new connections kind of day. Today is Chick-Fil-A Leadercast day! I am sponsoring the event at the University of Charleston and I’m so excited — this is my PASSION! Leadership, personal growth, communication, connection with friends old and new and clients old and “to-be”! Today is going to have it all!

And, I’m officially rolling out the Empowerment Mentoring Program today. It’s a great program; if you haven’t checked into it, yet, you should. It might have something for you. Click here for more info, or click onto the Mentoring page of this site.

Having shared all of that, where are you at on this first Friday of our fifth month of the Intentional Leadership journey? What are you learning about yourself and your passion?

And what do you have on tap for the weekend? Have you given it any thought…planned ahead?

It’s somewhat warm, humid, and rainy as I write this, and I am so looking forward to this weekend.

I’m really thinking about rest and family time this weekend. I’ve had a lot going on over the past six weeks, and with these last couple of big events having come and gone, I can slow down briefly.

What about you? What’s on your list this weekend?

Who really need your attention this weekend? You? Family? Friends? People you’ve not yet met?

What really needs your attention this weekend? Is it projects, rest, relaxation…?

What thoughts do you have about the level of focus you are applying to your life?

What’s in store for you this weekend, next week, and in the coming weeks? Are you taking the steps to set yourself up for success and fulfillment?

Have a great weekend, and I’ll “see” you Monday!

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Intentional Leadership — D4, W1, M5 — Passion

Posted in Leadership, tagged , , , , , , , , , on May 9, 2013| Leave a Comment »

Take a few moments, today, to describe what your life could be like if you lived out your passions each day.

What would that do in your life and the lives of others?

What effect could passion have on your leadership?

I’ve been working on painting this picture for myself, through The Deeper Path Coaching Cohort I was participating in. I have authored my OPUS (what my life’s masterpiece will be…) and am working on the refining touches. I will share it with you soon.

All I can say is, having this level of clarity about my passion and focus is both unsettling and exciting. Unsettling because I never thought this intently about what I wanted my life to be life, and it’s an intense process to go through. Exciting because having such clarity makes it ever so much easier to say yes or no to opportunities that arise, without a lot of contemplation.

And, I can say with certainty, that when I am working in my passion, people notice. I was blessed to have the opportunity to give a keynote presentation at a women’s leadership luncheon last week. One of the participants shared this feedback with me: “You were awesome. Your passion is palpable.” I’m thankful it’s so obvious!

Is yours?

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