Being a Passionate Leader

Leaders for the new age must not only be determined and competent, they must have the ability to create a shared vision with their colleagues. They must be visionaries that unleash the energy, talents, and capabilities of all members of the organization. This vision must adapt to a world that is changing much too fast for the detailed strategic plans of the past to be viable. Rather, a shared vision must adapt as the organization blazes a trail towards the future. Most importantly, these new visions must be built on a foundation of love for the organization, the people within it, and ourselves. The new organization will be a sanctuary built on love and giving of yourself to help others. Such an organization must be open to change so that it can take full advantage of the talents of its people. This will require strategies for experiential learning to help team members grow and adapt to changes along the way. These strategies must allow people to try on new behaviors, test new skills, invent new processes, and learn in new ways. When we work with people we care about while doing work that we love, our health improves. It is a scientific fact that good emotions trigger the hypothalamus and the pituitary gland, or the emotional center of the brain, which release endorphins and opioids. This activates the immune system and leads to the body’s natural high. Like the runner’s high, or in this case, the leader’s high. Loving your work and the people you work with also leads to increased competency. For example, when you love doing something, the first thing you do is learn more about it. Learning more and practicing leads to mastery, which in turn leads to high selfesteem. You feel that you are in control, which leads to regeneration. So, if we love what we do and care for those we work with, then we are healthy and more likely to do the things that make us stronger in our field. At our best, all aspects of our life are optimally synergistic. That means that the things you do to improve your life in any one dimension have positive impact in the others. So, developing mastery in one area, improves other dimensions of your life. Maintaining physical fitness keeps you mentally and emotionally balanced and engaged. Maintaining your spiritual strength helps you be effective socially. By taking care of ourselves, we stay stable and positive, allowing us to take care of our people. By taking care of our people, we take care of our organization. This must be the goal that we strive for. So, I urge all of you to love yourselves, love your people, and help to create an environment that encourages balance and learning. Start by having at least 1 good laugh per day. A glass is either half empty or half full; it just depends on how you look at it. Brighten up your world with some laughter and some cheer.