The 7 Deadly Sins of Leadership: Sin #2, Dispassionate

Whether you’re starting a franchise, a non-profit, a commercial retail store, a church, or an ice cream shop, the one MUST word for your success is PASSION! Passion in the dictionary refers to a range of “feelings” and relates to our emotions: love, rage, anger, or affection. It explains the success of great leaders who are driven to pursue excellence within their business. It also explains why many of those successful leaders can be almost volatile in their anger at those who don’t see the vision or who perform poorly. If you are passionate about your work, you will find it difficult to calmly tolerate the poor performance of others!

Our second deadly sin of leadership is the word “DISPASSIONATE.” This is not the absence of passion or the opposite of passion. Rather, it refers to one who is not affected by emotion. These kinds of people are usually much easier to work for, but they seldom are the key players in a business’ success. Weak leaders would rather be liked by others than be profoundly successful. Good leaders are passionate about succeeding regardless of the fallout from their passion. Great leaders are passionate both about their business AND the people who help them achieve success. It is my goal to help you become a truly GREAT leader.

The starting point is that all-consuming drive to be the best or provide the best in what you do. If you are more passionate about anything else, do that instead. Do not enter business with second-class desire – you’ll get third-rate results. Now, to be fair, there are those who entered business mostly because they needed money. But if they succeeded, it was the result of one of two things: either they were VERY HUNGRY and saw their work as the means to feed themselves and their family, or they were VERY PASSIONATE and were baptized in desire to succeed. And both are related to each other. Hunger and passion are both powerful drivers.

My father once took me grocery shopping in his new motor home. Dad took me grocery shopping and wanted to show off his new 38′ quarter-of-a-million dollar motor home. He asked me to pick out anything I wanted. I showed up with a few items, including some juice. He looked at the juice and said, “Put that back and get the generic brand.” I responded, “Dad, there’s only a few cents difference between the two brands, and this brand tastes better.” There in the shopping aisle, I got a 5-minute lecture about pinching pennies. I said, “But, Dad, you drove me here in an expensive motor home, and you’re quibbling about a few pennies???” He replied, “Yes, and that’s how I got that motor home – by watching my pennies.”

If you have never felt that kind of emotion about how your business is being run or how your people work for you, then perhaps being a leader is not your talent. Passion is not “popping a cork” because something made you angry. Passion is not merely a display of emotion. Passion is what drives you to do something a certain way because you know it works. Quite simply put, passion means having strong feelings about how your business should be run.

Just being passionate about your work is good, however, some of you may lack passion for those who could help you succeed even more. Moving from good success to great success means being passionate about ALL things. Are you as passionate about growing and loving your family as you are growing your business? Are your employees serfs to serve you or are they the most important resource to your success? Are you as passionate about wisely using your money as you are about making it?

There is a very old proverb that says, “whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might.” True passion is not limited to a single focus; it is the way a great leader thinks about ALL THINGS.