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Passion in leadership
If you are a true leader, you are passionate about what you do. Passionate about the dream, about the task, about the people... Passionate about learning, discovering what else is possible. This total dedication shows itself in your courage, your vision, your lust for life. Passion brings power and joy. But it is not enough.
You also need to be compassionate. Compassion is a gentler emotion. It is the basis of empathy and caring; the root of all emotional intelligence. Compassion is soul food, nurturing your communication, your relationships and your own growth. It leads to trust, to loyalty. Compassion makes the difference between sending out a message and engaging in a real dialogue. But it is not enough.
A leader is also dispassionate. To be dispassionate is to maintain equanimity in the face of both success and failure. To keep a cool head, a quiet mind. When you are dispassionate, you see clearly. You can hear both praise and blame, without taking it personally. You can look yourself straight in the eye in a good clean mirror. You become a calm witness to your own life, able to give and receive honest feedback, relaxed and ready to listen and to learn.
Look, now, in the mirror of your own experience. Are you passionate? Compassionate? Dispassionate? Which of these qualities comes most naturally to you? Which do you need to nurture? How will you do this? Who can help you? Do you know someone who embodies the very qualities that you seem to lack? Could they be your mentor? If you balance these three qualities in yourself, how will this transform your leadership? Who can you become?
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