I have heard a lot of talk recently about the need for more passionate leadership in business. More “joie de vivre”, more excitement, more boldness; less of the cautious, “vanilla” rationalising of corporate leads.
But how can we expect to sustain passionate leadership in such an unforgiving, unrelenting world? Is it even fair to expect it at all? Maybe we just need to accept it as part of the leadership malaise?
“I would rather have one person with passion than forty who are merely interested”
E.M. Forster (1879 – 1970)
Leadership is emotion in action
Authentic, determined leadership has to absolutely incorporate passion because leadership is emotional connection, inspiration and story. Without passion, leadership withers and dies.
Passionate leadership is a clarion call for “going beyond”; a champion of the “unexpected” and the impetus for “determination”. The ability to distill a compelling vision into a clear narrative, that connects both emotionally and intellectually with the values and aspirations of the whole organisation, is the skill of the leader.
It is head, heart and hands in one. The Logos, Ethos, Pathos of Aristotle’s Rhetoric.
For most of us, the idea of ”passion” is predominantly positive; “a strong or extravagant fondness, enthusiasm, or desire”. We can be passionate about a hobby, passionate about a sports team. We are invited to extend passion into a life goal; overwhelmed with influencers imploring us to “find our passion”.
But the word passion has a complicated history, coming originally from the Latin word passio, which means “to suffer” or “to endure hardship”. The word took on specific religious connotations to do with martyrdom before flipping to the modern equivalent of “enthusiasm” or “love”.
And maybe this duality gets to the central challenge of passionate leadership; that if a leader truly, deeply, cares about their mission, then they are probably going to have to suffer for it too.
They will run the risk of ridicule, rejection and failure; to challenge the status quo, to be appropriately angry brings the timidity of others into the light – and that can be challenging.
The quiet passion of sisu…
In a not entirely unrelated leap, I once spent quite some time in Finland, working with some amazing engineers, and one of the first Finnish words they taught me was “sisu“.
This is a deceptively complex term, broadly translating as “gritty determination, perseverance and acting rationally under pressure”. It now embodies a national characteristic and being considered to have sisu is a badge of honour. It came to the fore in the response of the Finns to the almost overwhelming Soviet invasion of their country in the Winter War of 1939-1940, and is still seen today as the name of an indefatigable and ubiquitous make of Finnish construction lorry. These lorries continue to roll inexorably through the harshness of the arctic winter, regardless of the extreme conditions, without fuss, without fanfare.
This is the understated passion of determination and resilience; the enduring hardship of passio.
The absolute need for Passionate Leadership
Business leaders now need to do much more; to fully embrace the idea of passion, to show their care and their pain for the ideas and the people that they are responsible for.
And that is really tough in the current climate.
I talked in my Leadership Loopholes blog about social entropy; the prevailing societal and economic conditions we found ourselves in, that when left unresisted, nudge us all towards a mindset of prevention, caution and risk avoidance. It is a very basic human driver, individually and collectively, and it impacts on the cultures we create. We don’t want to get hurt and we seek to protect ourselves and those we care about.
The psychologist, Dr Michael J Apter, got to the heart of it in his work on motivational states. His Reversal Theory research found that we cannot be in two emotional places at the same time; if our perceptions of our experiences are serious then we won’t respond playfully, if we find comfort in conforming then we won’t want to be the class rebel, when we assess others on mastery, we move away from empathy and when we find ourselves threatened, we will increasingly act at the expense of others.
I am hugely simplifying Apter’s conclusions but my point is this: how we perceive our prevailing environment influences our emotional state and that, in turn, directly affects our behaviours and interactions with others, and therefore the decisions we make and the working cultures we develop.
The good news is that we are not powerless in this situation. What is needed is an active state of choosing. A very conscious decision to break the cycle of drift.
Breaking the cycle of drift
Contrary to what the social media influencers would have you believe, passion is not something that you find, it is something that you develop; and to be honest, I would rather trust researchers and academics on this one.
The inherent challenge, as you will probably have already worked out, is that it isn’t easy! It takes huge and sustained effort to change embedded mindsets and self-limiting assumptions, particularly in complex organisations. However, if you feel inspired to address your leadership responsibility (remember: leaders create the environment for other people to flourish) then the weak point in the social prevention cycle is “behaviour”.
It is a cycle that can work both ways, so by consciously and consistently choosing the behaviours you want to demonstrate, you will change how you feel and think.
“It is easier to act your way into a new way of thinking than think your way into a new way of acting”
Writer and researcher, Jerry Sternin
Or if you prefer the Alcoholics Anonymous version, you can always: “fake it until you make it“.
Don’t wait to find your passion; develop it
If you need your team or your organisation to be more adventurous, more playful, more creative, more challenging, more passionate, then start with your own behaviour. Even if you don’t feel it yet!
And as you consistently role model these behaviours then those around you will begin to mirror them and it will change how they feel too. You will have successfully put Apter’s Reversal Theory into practice.
In creating a leadership environment that actively pushes back against a prevailing prevention mindset by behaving in a passionate, expansive, rebellious way, you will also generate a hidden and maybe paradoxical bonus. You will have established a culture of “adaptive resilience”.
This shouldn’t be confused with “organisational resilience” which is about the systems and processes that get everything back to how it was, regardless of the disruption. Organisational resilience is like the suspension systems in our cars, designed to absorb changes in the road surface and return to a steady state as quickly as possible. In this context, think about phone network outages, airport disruptions, emergency responses to natural disasters. Success is measured in the time taken to get everything up and running again.
Organisational resilience is understandably highly prized, essential in almost any system but it is also intrinsically linked to a prevention mind set.
By contrast, in an environment of “adaptive resilience”, you foster and celebrate a promotion mindset, where there is little or no desire to return to how things were. Instead, teams actively want to evolve, grow, shrink, reinvent themselves and establish fresh relationships with customers, suppliers and stakeholders.
In this place, a passion for ideas, for robust challenge, competent failure and dynamic collaboration are supported by an emotional security brought about by absolute clarity for the deep intent of the team.
Now don’t get me wrong, I know it all sounds idealistic and fluffy. But this world of adaptive resilience is also a place of purposeful urgency, candid and competent feedback, personal responsibility and difficult decisions. It requires each and every person to contribute not only their skills and time but also their discretionary gifts of passion, curiosity, insight and courage. There is an absolute and explicit need for self-organising capacity in the passionate organisation; this alone is often a massive trust challenge for those with leadership and management responsibility.
8 leadership behaviours for a passionate business
So if you want to build the foundations for a passionate business, what are the leadership behaviours to develop?
Be seen
Passionate leadership happens in the middle of the dance floor, not in the shadows. Be visible, be present and engage right across your organisation. A passionate leader doesn’t have time for small cliques or closed doors – be expansive and inclusive; invite challenge, get involved in unexpected conversations.
Promote a Growth Mindset
Passion is the birthplace of possibility, it is where we explore, discover and create. Encourage an environment of continual improvement, of “even better if”; a ceaseless curiosity for “how else could we?” in a way that still respects ideas and efforts but challenges your most capable colleagues to go beyond what they believe is possible.
Be the challenger
Passionate leaders don’t just accept, they push for better; they are positively disruptive, constructively challenging. They push against social entropy and the status quo. Our context is continually changing and so must we; beware of traditions, routines and rituals that bring comfort, so lead change with passion, respect and care; engage others and build momentum, be disruptive but not at the cost of your people. Be courageous and willing to flex when it becomes necessary.
Be a storyteller
We are drawn to stories like moths to a flame. Passion is a viral story, so share your ideas wrapped up in story; delivered with excitement and authenticity. It is more than the words, it is in your eyes, your gestures and your tone. Allow yourself to be emotional, show people that you care about them, about your ideas, about their future.
Keep it positive
Relentless positivity can be irritating. And whilst passionate leaders need to be careful of being labelled for having a Pollyanna attitude, they need to maintain a rugged optimism about what they are setting out to achieve. Even in the hardest times, adopt a sisu approach.
Be true to yourself
Passionate leaders are believable; their stories and ideas are reinforced by openness and (paradoxically) by vulnerability. Bring your whole self into your leadership (or as much as you are prepared to) and others will respond in kind. Don’t be tempted into second-guessing what you think others want from you or how you should be. It is your authenticity and core values that will give you credibility.
Liberate others
Building trust is a full time leadership occupation but combine it with a compelling vision and you can liberate others to do great work. Get out of the way, push decision-making down to the right level and focus instead on a continuous clarification of your purpose and intent.
Look in the mirror
How the world looks to you is not necessarily how others experience it. Your passion can blind you to the needs of those around you so listen well, demonstrate how to care and respect the fact that others may need more time, more courage or more reassurance. Be mindful of the impact you are having and take the feedback.
These eight leadership behaviours are the foundations of a passionate team or organisation. They take effort and courage to introduce and they need continual reinforcement to combat behavioural drift. But with deliberate, shared leadership the competitive advantage that Passionate Leadership looks far brighter than the alternative.
When you want to find out more about the work we are doing all over the world, supporting passionate leadership and high performance teams, please do get in touch.
We are ready when you are.
