Passionate Leadership

Thriving in today’s challenging environment is really about turning adversity into opportunity. Accomplishing that requires developing a deep understanding of yourself and how you can best find fulfillment in all aspects of your life. But the key point here is that thriving is a choice. It’s the fork in the road of your journey to living your purpose and expressing your passions.

An epidemic of media reports about alleged sexual assault, infidelity and campaign fund misappropriation by powerful men have flooded the news lately. Dominique Strauss-Kahn, who may well be skirting accusations of sexual assault levied by a New York hotel maid, is now facing new charges from two women in Europe who allege that he raped them.  California governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger has admitted to fathering the child of his family housekeeper, prompting his prominent and successful wife to file for divorce.

While speaking at a women’s leadership conference last week, the most frequent comment I heard from participants was “I haven’t yet found my Passion.” This conference attracted 860 different women, from all kinds of companies and professions, yet the refrain was the same. Women in their 20’s to women in their 60’s, these accomplished individuals were all searching for something that would give their lives and work meaning--that elusive thing called Passion.

It was the seminal day in a week long leadership retreat I was conducting and nearly everyone in the class had tears in their eyes. These seasoned C-suite executives who'd seen it all, emitted a collective gasp as they watched Jeremy open up his energy and beckon the 1200-pound snorting beast to walk toward him. Mulata, a beautiful Lusitano mare, was the master instructor from whom Jeremy had been struggling to learn for the better part of an hour. She was there to teach him about the power of leadership intent and wasn't letting up on the lesson.

We all know someone inspirational in our lives. Perhaps it was a manager or mentor who took you under her wing and showed you the ropes in a new job. Maybe a teacher was truly devoted to your learning and pushed you beyond what you thought was possible, making you a better student and a better person. In my case, my mother, a woman widowed in her thirties and left alone to cope with three children, including one with cerebral palsy, was a true inspiration for me.

Over the last 12 months, we’ve seen example after example of failed values at work in our economy – from companies that over-promised and under-delivered to both employees and customers alike – to fund managers entrusted with investors’ money whose personal greed generated billion dollar losses of other people’s money. It seems like failed values have pulled up a chair and taken a seat at the decision-making table of the nation’s corporations

It was the sixth confidential after-hours meeting that I’d had with a weeping employee of a department reporting to me, and frankly, I was running out of tissues. I was also fresh out of excuses for the behavior of the manager that I‘d hired 11 months earlier, and had no one to blame for the state of the culture but myself.

One afternoon this week, I traded my high heels and power suit for a “serving wench” costume and marched through the front door of my son’s school. Each year, the students participate in a medieval banquet and all participants are required to wear period costume, including the parents. Since my son had the starring role as the “Earl of Wakefield” overseeing the entire event for his “court”, it was something I couldn’t miss, despite the fact that I was juggling important meetings and conference calls.

I was recently engaged in a conversation with my cousin who was lamenting about the impending cutbacks that her company would need to undertake in order to survive the impact the economy has had on their business. She was distressed, of course, about having to sit down with long term employees and inform them that they no longer had a job; but she was even more furious about how one of her colleagues was planning to handle the upcoming announcement of broad company layoffs.

When I was 23 years old, a tragic event taught me about the importance of legacy. One summer day, I came home from work and found my mother lying dead on the floor of her bedroom. Somehow, I was able to calmly walk to the telephone and summon an ambulance and the police, although it was too late to make a difference for her.