Leaders and the power of passion

Unilever was at a crossroads. The company had tried everything it could to become a more enterprising and be listed among competitive industry leader but nothing seemed to work. The more it attempted to hit the set target, the more it remained the same.

Then chairman of the Anglo-Dutch food and health products multinational, Antony Burgmans, captured the frustration of the board thus, “As we launched into our growth strategy, I realized that I didn’t feel right: something was missing. We were doing all the right things: a new, focused strategy; shareholder support; a new organization structure; and good people in place. But something was wrong – the critical piece was missing. What I saw was that though we had an excellent change strategy, and an inspiring vision, what was really required to bring about change at Unilever was a new culture, a new leadership mindset, and new behaviours.”

Though Burgmans’ prognosis of the situation was apt, his prescription was not. The solution to the company’s challenge was not found until the intervention of a top management staff who noted that “Our leaders have done every kind of strategic planning in the book, facilitated by the best business school professors and management gurus. They don’t need another strategy, and the last thing they need is another stakeholder analysis! What the company’s leaders need most is to put passion behind their dreams and the strategy.”

Unilever did not emerge from the quandary in which it was stuck until it appointed passionate leaders who infused the whole system with great passion. Once that was done, productivity, culture, mindset, behaviour and result changed positively and all the targets the company had long longed to hit became a reality.

 

Passion is critical to success

Nothing separates failure from success more than passion. The difference between excellence and mediocrity is rooted in passion. The difference between a go-getter and an airhead is passion. Passion blurs difficulties, blunts adversities and dulls the effect of disappointments. With passion no height is unattainable, no goal is unachievable, nothing is impossible. Those who are driven by passion go to any length to achieve the tasks assigned to them. They go beyond the call of duty to get the desired results.

Passion is the language of success. The passionate make things happen rather than wait for things to happen. The impassioned take the initiative; they are creative and go about their businesses with outstanding enthusiasm.

Passion is the why of an endeavour. Once the issue of why is settled, the what and how will automatically fall in place. Passion generates energy that attracts others with similar energy. It is the agglomeration of energy from people of similar passion that produces synergy. This is why an organization peopled by passionate individuals is usually unbeatable. The people collectively generate a level of energy that outstrips the summation of their individual energies.

The passionate make more than a living; they make a life.

 

What is passion?

Donald Trump says, “Without passion, you don’t have energy; without energy, you have nothing.”

Passion is a matter of the heart. It is life’s lubricant. It is a blend of love and keenness. The process starts with love which is buoyed by fervency and results in the total devotion of a person to a particular endeavour. Passion is putting body, soul and spirit into a venture. It is the total commitment of an individual to the actualization of an idea or a project.

The focus of passion is beyond pecuniary compensation; it is about making an impact. To be passionate about a thing is to be totally consumed by it to the extent that it is the last thing on one’s mind before falling asleep and the first for consideration once awake.

Without passion life loses its spirit. Without passion life is reduced to mere existence. Without passion life is flat, humdrum and uninspiring. It is what keeps one on the go and makes life a worthwhile experience. Every life that will make a mark must be driven by passion.

Though passion is intangible, it is perceptible and distinguishes a person from the crowd. It is contagious and draws people to whoever possesses it.

 

Power of passion

According to John Wesley, “When you set yourself on fire, people love to come and see you burn.” That is the power of passion. A passionate person cannot be ignored; he is a centre of attraction. He has got the vigour to accomplish what is required and everybody wants to be part of the show. So, irrespective of his station in life, a passionate person wields considerable influence because people are naturally drawn to him. With influence comes power, and power, among other things, is a harbinger of affluence.

Robert Kriegel and Louis Patler carried out a study of 1,500 people who were at the point of making career choices. The study spanned 20 years. The samples were divided into two groups. The first, comprising of 83 per cent of the samples, chose a career for the prospect of making money immediately in order to do what they wanted (their passion) later. The other group (17 per cent) was made up of people who had chosen their career path because they wanted to pursue their passions immediately and worry about money later.

At the end of the study period, 101 of the 1,500 had become millionaires. Of the millionaires, 100 out of 101 were from the group that had chosen the pursuit of their passion over money.

Pursuit of money does not produce passion; it is passion that produces money. If you find your passion and follow it, all other things shall be added to you.

 

Vision and passion

Every good leader is guided by a vision. But it is not every vision that is eventually actualized. For a vision to be translated into reality, it must be propelled by passion. Passion is the fuel of vision. A vision that is not driven by passion will not last the distance. Vision must be communicated but if it is not communicated with passion, nobody takes it seriously. So, passion is the vehicle that transports a vision from an idea in the head of the leader to a concept in the hearts of the team members.

 

Leaders and passion

One of a leader’s primary responsibilities is to inspire his team. When a team is inspired, there is bonding. When a team is inspired, creativity is increased. When a team is inspired, commitment is birthed. When a team is inspired, seemingly difficult tasks are carried out with relative ease. But it takes a passionate leader to inspire a team. A leader who lacks the spark of passion cannot ignite any fire in his team members. An uninspired leader cannot inspire others.

 

How to find passion

To become passionate, a leader needs to provide answers to three questions: What exactly do I want? Why do I want what I want? How badly do I want what I want?

 

 What exactly do I want?

To find passion a leader must first know exactly what he wants. A leader who wants to make a mark does not go after everything. It is not every opportunity that appeals to a discerning leader because he knows that he is not cut out for everything. So, it is essential for a leader who wants to make an impact to know exactly what he wants. He must be able to separate the distractions from the main thing. He must avoid chasing shadows by concentrating on the activity that gives him the highest returns. If he wants to effect a change, he must be clear-headed about the change he wants to birth. This is very important because ambiguity is the drain of passion. For anyone to be passionate about a task, it must be devoid of every form of doubt, confusion or vagueness.

 

Why do I want what I want?

Many people do what they do out of convenience, not out of conviction. To be passionate, a leader must provide an honest answer to the question of why he is after his pursuit. Is it for the prestige, the money or just the fun of it? A leader who has no reason beyond selfish interest for being involved in what he is involved in will find it difficult to continue doing what he has to do when challenges arise. Because his motivation is based on personal comfort and nothing beyond himself, he cannot be passionate when the situation is not favourable to him. What he does is to switch to other things.

To be passionate, a leader must not only know why he wants what he wants but must anchor his quest on a reason higher than his own personal interest.

 

How badly do I want what I want?

How badly a leader wants a thing determines the hurdles he is willing to scale to achieve it. It also determines whether he sees obstacles or opportunities on the journey. It shows how he sees challenges; either as an end to the dream or a bend on the road. A leader must settle in his mind what he is willing to give up for what he wants. He must tell himself how far he is ready to go to achieve his aim. Once all of these are settled, the energy to actualize the dream is released and he becomes unstoppable.

 

Leader and his team

Passion starts with the leader but does not end with him. As critical as the role of the leader is in achieving a set target, he is just one of the trees in the forest. If he is the only one that is passionate about the task, not much will be achieved. Therefore, a leader has the responsibility to infuse the same passion he has about the task into his team members. This is done by imbuing in them the longing for something that will take them to the realm of significance.

If team members are made to understand how their contributions will impact positively on the society or how it will build a legacy, the likelihood of becoming passionate about the task becomes very high. They will reflect less on their personal interests and work towards the realization of a greater goal. Most people want to be part of great ideas or tasks; the onus is on the leader to couch the communication in a way that will touch the right chord in them to get the desired result.

 

Last line 

Infusing passion in his team members is one of the critical functions of a leader. Once he is able to achieve this, more than a half of his job is done.