Becoming a Great Leader – Part 2: Passionate Leadership

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Now that you have developed a vision (see: Becoming a Great Leader – Part 1: Vision), and a strategy for achieving it, take a step back and ask yourself: Do I show passionate leadership? Great leaders believe in their vision so strongly, they exude a charisma about it that is captivating.

To launch your position as a leader past vision and implementation, you must find a passion for your work and your team. Passionate leadership drives endurance. It pushes you to keep going through long days, monotonous processes, and failure after failure.

Passion refuses to give up on the vision, despite insurmountable odds against it. As a manager, you need to embody passion to reach your full potential. Vision without passion is a waste to your company, the workplace, and to your team—an overall loss of effort.

So find a passion for the job you are doing! If you cannot think of one thing in your job that you can be passionate about… You aren’t trying hard enough.

Finding something to be passionate about is as easy as enjoying what you’re good at or what makes you smile at work. Abraham Lincoln said it best, “Most people are about as happy as they make their minds up to be.” It’s the same way with passion. Find something you enjoy and add some passion to it!  

Whether it’s naturally right in front of you or you have to dig to find it, now is the time to find the passion you are lacking. If you are not finding anything good to be passionate about, perhaps you need to change your attitude.

Passionate Leadership and Energy

How often do you feel energized? High-energy is a hallmark of being passionate and allows you to perform better as a leader. Without energetic leadership, how can you expect your team to show passion and excitement in their work? An energetic mood is vital to being a passionate leader. With energy and passion, you’ll experience increased dedication to the activities that make up your work. The way you carry yourself translates to those on your team, so be mindful about your passion and energy.

Everyone is capable of elevating their attitude to be excited, driven, and passionate. Commit to maintaining a high energy workplace, and you’ll notice higher performance and efficiency. Passionate leadership enables you and those around you in the pursuit of goals and objectives. Instead of an unassertive and timid approach to challenges at work, passion and energy push through those barriers with excitement. 

In her article, Let’s Get Real About Passion At Work, Forbes writer Kristi Hedges provides an excellent way to apply passion and energy to your specific leadership situation. “In order to inspire others, we first need to recognize how our own passion manifests. Take time to figure out what lights you up first. If you have a message to convey, know what you truly care about within it before you state anything out loud.”

What’s your unique message? 

The Difference You Make

When you truly believe your work improves the lives of others, the difference you make becomes the anchor of your passion. Connect the dots between the work you do and how that work makes life better for others. Passion and meaning may be obtained for self-serving reasons, but the decision to become a positive difference-maker for others will contribute to a deeper fulfillment and sense of purpose.

CEO, author, and speaker Randy Grieser talks in depth about Why Passionate Leadership Matters. Grieser states organizations need a certain type of leader. A leader who is “actively involved and engaged with their employees, and works to mobilize the organisation in a common direction for a common cause.  They believe that what they do makes a difference! They have passion.”

Many high achievers exude passion in their work and lives, but why is passion so common among successful leaders? Passion leads you to be consistent over time, to continue “showing up” regardless of the circumstances in your life or work. Ultimately, what sets great leaders apart from average leaders is the ability to continually make a difference in the lives of those around them.

If you’re running low on passion, focus on how your work impacts those around you; you make a difference for others, so let that be your driving force.

Quick Recap

  1. You must find passion for your work; it’s essential for growth.
  2. Place a priority on your energy in order to develop your individual passion and inspire others as a leader.
  3. Focus on how you (and your team) make a difference for others. Be passionate about helping people!

At MyEmployees, passionate leadership is actively practiced, and our culture shows it. We have many client success stories where leadership and passion are exemplified. The common denominator of each unique success story is our turnkey employee of the month program.

This is the 2nd of a 3 part mini-series

This blog is the second of a 3 part mini-series on Becoming a Great Leader. Be sure to check out the other two installments:

Becoming a Great Leader – Part 1: Vision

Perfecting the balancing act between the big idea and all its moving parts is one of the clearest ways to become a great leader. Read more HERE.

Becoming a Great Leader – Part 3: Attitude

Some things in life you have no control over. Attitude is not one of them. You have the power to change the attitude of your office, business, & employees. Read more HERE.

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