Eighty-Five Days on the Wall, how are you doing on your 2010 goals?  Do you have your ACTION PLAN yet? What one thing you can do today that will get you closer to reaching your goal by the end of the year?

I am forwarding you a wonderful article from Mimi Meredith.  A friend and colleague of whom I hold great respect, Mimi's words below come from a wisdom that fits our  Biology of Success series for this 100 Day Challenge.  Enjoy the Read! 

 Passionate Leadership—is it all Good?

I led a workshop recently for a small group of executives. The topic was anger—how it sabotages relationship building and corporate culture. The point was made that anger, as an emotion, runs very close to the emotion of passion. And passion is a good and useful thing, right? In fact, it was implied that passion was an absolute requirement to be an effective leader.

Here, it may surprise you to know, I disagreed. I know amazing leaders who are full of focused purpose and wisdom when it comes to running a business, but whose passions may lie outside the scope of what they do for a living (two of them are featured in this post).

My mind also closed (literally, but I'll cover that in Thursday's post) around those leaders for whom I've worked who exuded great passion. Their dynamic energy sustained the business in a dysfunctional way. Because their bigger-than-life responses were bigger than the sum of all the people on a team combined, the team lived out a relationship to that passionate personality rather than the business mission.

I think in recent phases of leadership vernacular, we've reduced passion to a personality trait rather than a character attribute. We look for those extroverted, motivators who can whip their tribes into a frenzy for the cause. And there are plenty. Look at New York gubernatorial candidate Carl Paladino, poster child of the Tea Party movement. He relishes building his image as the angry candidate—"mad as hell," to be precise.

Tom Peters, and other great motivators, have made it very clear that to succeed one has to be passionate—"on fire" even.

I polled some great business leaders I know, and they agreed—passion is a critical attribute.

I even emailed a well-known, marketing genius to ask if a business leader has to be passionate. I can't tell you who the genius is (and you'd be so impressed I got a response!) because the email signature line told me the note was "off the record." But the one word answer to the question was, yes.

Of the leaders who responded to my query, several were willing to add some color to their responses. Gini Dietrich , CEO of Arment Dietrich in Chicago said,

"Well, I can only answer this from my perspective - I know it's a lot harder to grow a business if you're not passionate about it. Can you still be a good leader? Maybe. But I'd say most of us don't have that ability."

Dave Dillon , CEO of Kroger Corporation had this to say,

"Yes, but every leader can express it differently. Not always in an extroverted way. Thus, it might not always be apparent to the casual observer. Just my opinion."

I asked Dave, if passion isn't readily apparent, how is it manifested and why is it essential? He said,

"Passion equals full engagement (including an emotional connection to the mission). Full engagement is what is required, in my opinion."

Thanks to Gini and Dave for playing.

So, if all these people I respect believe that leaders should be passionate, why don't I hop on the bandwagon?

Because, in my opinion, passion by definition is very self centered. It is something that runs through the core of your being. Don't confuse passion with enthusiasm—that's just a superficial step sister. And maybe I am mincing words here, but stick with me, please.

I believe very few people are passionate about their actual business. As Dave Dillon expressed, I think those who are most successful are fully engaged. I think they are focused and disciplined. Perhaps, in some cases, that is fueled by passion, but I absolutely disagree that being passionate about your work is a prerequisite to success. Many of you are in jobs right now that you don't love. And that's fine! Loving your job is highly overrated. Finding love, understanding, interconnection and respect in your workplace, however, is critical.
 
When you love your business, it's really difficult to let parts of it go when you need to, or to understand how your passion might blind you to the reality of the market place or your customers needs.

As my grandfather told my father, "Don't fall in love with the cows." If you begin to love what you've built, you also lose your perspective.

My Dad was a very successful rancher in Montana. He and his brother built a ranch that not only survived the challenges of an agriculture-based enterprise, but grew to be large in size and business scope—51,000 acres and a small farming operation were all theirs. And did Dad feel passionate about his business?

"Never once."

I called and asked him because I didn't want to make assumptions. He related some amazing business principals that did lead to his success. Maybe someday I'll share them with you. But for today's purposes, he said the thing that made him get up every morning and drive 27 miles to the ranch (we lived in town so my sisters, cousins and I could go to school there) even in sub-zero temperatures, was, "because it had to be done. I didn't really enjoy some of it, but it had to be done."

I know my Dad enjoyed creating success, and he enjoyed the strategy and the development of his business, but was it a source of joy for him? I asked.

"My family brought me joy. That's why I worked. For my family."

You see, we've evolved into a new era of business where we believe our work must offer personal fulfillment, purpose and passion. The fact is, your work may never bring you a sense of purpose. You have to bring a sense of purpose to your work. Your work may not be anywhere close to the personal mission you were meant to fulfill in the world, but you'd better come to work ready to fulfill the mission of the organization.

Passion—highly overrated and a word that is misused extensively in my estimation.

Dedication, understanding, self-sacrifice, discernment, humility, objectivity, self awareness, pragmatism, resilience, full engagement and a deep sense of sufficiency—because it indeed, is lonely at the top—those are the qualities I think are critically important to be a great leader.

Those are character traits that might be found in one who is reserved, soft-spoken and introspective to the point of seeming aloof. And, they might be found in an extrovert who exudes passion for the mission and the cause—if so, you have found a rare and valuable soul indeed. However, if passionate is the personality profile against which you measure a great leader, I think you will miss knowing the people who are quietly changing the world every day.

If you need inspiration for your troops, and you are a great leader but less than dynamic when it comes to sharing your passion, you are not alone.This is an excerpt from an interview with former Indianapolis Colts coach Tony Dungy talking about his latest book, The Mentor Leader :

In his book, Dungy cites former Pittsburgh Steelers coach Chuck Noll as someone who taught him a lot. Dungy played briefly for the Steelers, and then coached under him until Noll's retirement.

"He knew how he could help people," Dungy says. "He was a teacher, he was a guy that was very good at selecting people, getting them to fit in — he wasn't the guy that was going to sit there and motivate you intrinsically. That wasn't what he was best at. So he hired people that were good at that."

Noll even hired other, more motivational speakers to come in and address his team before games.

"That's part of being a good leader as well," Dungy says. "Recognizing your strengths and making sure you utilize them, but also recognizing your weaknesses and coming up with ways to overcome that."

Those of you who know me well must be reading this and feeling a little confused by now. You see, I'm just about one of the most passionate people you'll run across. It oozes out of me even when I do my best to contain it. And in spite of years of effort to focus and channel it, my passion is still my greatest challenge. My Dad lovingly ended our conversation yesterday with encouragement for me to  "keep chasing your windmills, Don Quixote." And I will.

Maybe someday, you'll find that my talents as an internal communication consultant and speaker are just what you need to tap into the passion of your mission and convey it to your team. Maybe not. Regardless, I'll still be here, pursuing the ways in which we each can nurture—whether with quiet determination, or with the passionate dynamics of a crusade—the growth of goodness.

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