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Intentional Leadership — D2, W3, M5 — Passion

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

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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Join me for a Free Call on Empowerment Mentoring Program

As you know, I’ve been preparing to roll out a new mentoring program, and the time has finally come! It is called Empowerment Mentoring, and it is designed to empower you to really focus on where you’re headed and what you need to do to design the life you want to lead and move — with greater self-awareness and intentionality — proactively into your future.

As you know, I’m really passionate about the work I do; there’s nothing more energizing and exciting to me than working with and seeing people like you experience the life-changing “aha!” moments, gain new insights, reach new levels of understanding, and see your life — and its many possibilities — in new ways.

Empowerment Mentoring is a powerful program, and your life will not be the same once you get started.

Join me tomorrow night (Tuesday 14 May) at 7 PM EDT for this free orientation call. I will give you a preview of the material through a 15-minute teaching on the Purpose, Vision, Goals lesson. I will provide an overview of how the program will work, and answer any questions you might have.

I will also, this one time only, extend the discount I offered last week. If you participate in this orientation call and enroll in the program by midnight (EDT) 15 May, you may register for $597 for the full six-month program. I offer a 30-day money back guarantee, so what do you have to lose?

Here is the dial-in information:
559-726-1200
Code 569934

This is through Freeconferencing.com; if you dial from a landline, you may be subject to long-distance charges; if you dial from a cell, you may be subject to minutes charges (obviously, this depends on what kind of phone plans you have). This call will be recorded. If you aren’t able to attend the orientation call, but want to listen, send me a note and I’ll send you a link.

You may call through Skype, following these instructions:

  • Log-in to Skype
  • Select menu option “Contacts/Add Contact”
  • Add the SKYPE name: freeconferencing.5597261200 as the contact name
  • Select “CALL” button to begin dialing. To show the dial pad on Skype, click on “call” in the top menu bar and “show dial pad” or select the dial pad located in the bottom menu bar below dialing screen
  • You will need to enter the access code

NOTE: There is a risk in using Skype in that calls are sometimes dropped (less likely if you pay for Skype premium).

Please share this invitation with anyone you think might be interested!

I look forward to “seeing” you on the call tomorrow night at 7.

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