March 31, 2025 • 44 mins
Leadership isn’t a gift you’re born with—it’s a fire you build. In this episode, we explore how passion drives personal growth and fuels the evolution of a true leader. From self-reflection to relentless learning, discover how aligning with your purpose can transform you into a completely different person a year from now.
Forget comparing yourself to others—the only competition is who you were yesterday. If you’re ready to lead with passion, this episode is your spark. 🔥
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Episode Transcript
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SPEAKER_02 (00:20):
Welcome back to Impact Podcast.
My name is Jeremy Melton.
I'm your host along with Danieland Maddie.
And our highlight question thatwe try to answer is what kind of
impact are you making on theworld that we live in?
This is episode number 13, 1-3.
And the mandate to cover todayis passion.
(00:44):
I'm excited about this one.
So we're going to get rolling.
But before we do, What aboutNathan Park?
Let's talk about his episodereally quick.
SPEAKER_01 (00:54):
Well, I'll just say that it was so nice to have Mr.
Nathan in the studio.
And he's my neighbor.
He's lived across the streetfrom me for about two years.
But I felt like I got to knowhim so much better.
Having him here, talking abouthis family, and just got to,
like, you know, drivewayconversations, one thing.
But what we talked about wasreal.
(01:15):
And just love him to death.
And...
Let's go, Nate.
SPEAKER_02 (01:19):
It was good.
I actually called him this weekto encourage him.
He's running on the campaigntrail for commissioner.
I said, dude, I just want you toknow I really enjoyed the
interview talking about yourfamily.
It was good.
It was encouraging.
Maddie, did you get to listen into that?
SPEAKER_00 (01:41):
I'm excited to listen,
SPEAKER_02 (01:44):
though.
One thing that Stuck out to mewas Nathan was a family man, of
course.
But the biggest takeaway for mewas when he was talking about
people that had impacted hislife, kind of like everybody
else that we interviewed us.
And he said that his dad had hada big impact on his life.
(02:06):
And when I was asking him aboutit, he said that his dad nailed
it.
Like, you know, being a dad.
And I was like...
Bruh.
I don't think I've ever heardanybody say that about their
dad.
So anyway, we kind of uncoveredthat.
But it was super good.
And I was encouraged to spendtime with my kids.
So Nathan nailed it, in myopinion.
(02:29):
So just like his dad.
SPEAKER_01 (02:30):
It was great.
Let's circle back.
What did he say when you askedthe question...
What his leadership style was.
And he said he was adaptable.
Adaptable.
Adaptable.
SPEAKER_00 (02:41):
That's a good one.
SPEAKER_01 (02:42):
Yeah, that stuck with me.
And actually, listening back, wehad someone else mention
adaptability.
Not like as their key...
style but when we asked thatquestion they said adaptability
is important and i think thatwas nick nick yeah yeah yeah
yeah yeah yeah i think it wasnick so adaptability that is
something that i feel like wehaven't used a whole lot but
SPEAKER_00 (03:05):
that kind of great word it kind of goes along with
leadership is living
SPEAKER_02 (03:09):
yeah exactly it does and that was the maddie's word
yeah maddie quote that was goodexcellent All right.
Well, cool.
Uh, well, yeah.
Uh, like good luck, Nate, youknow, thanks for joining us.
Uh, it was good.
Bring it home.
SPEAKER_00 (03:26):
Can't wait to get that cozy with your name on the
side of it for Nathan.
SPEAKER_02 (03:29):
There you go.
SPEAKER_00 (03:30):
I'll be good.
SPEAKER_02 (03:30):
Koozies are coming.
All right.
So this week, um, so this week'sour, our, our teaching week.
Uh, we're not interviewing.
We're going to be learning aboutthe mandate of passion.
And so you might say, well, whyis that a mandate?
And, uh, Maybe that's silly,right?
You might think that.
Well, today I intend to proveotherwise.
(03:53):
It's a very important attributeof leadership, and so I consider
it a mandate.
But it really, in my opinion, ittakes a good leader and makes
them a great leader, right?
So you can have a good leaderthat's not all that passionate,
and maybe they just go throughand do their job, or they just
(04:14):
lead people, and it's good,but...
When you have a leader thatexhibits passion, it tends to
separate them from the bunch,okay?
And so it's kind of like, youknow, if there's any fishermen
out there, it's the kicker fishto win the tournament, right?
It's the one thing that createsmomentum behind what the
(04:38):
leader's doing.
And if there's no passion, thenthe momentum is less.
And so...
Passion is a huge deal.
So we'll start by definingpassion like we always do.
What is passion?
SPEAKER_00 (04:53):
Daniel?
SPEAKER_01 (04:55):
To me, passion is simple.
It's enthusiasm and it's energyand it's just kind of being that
ball of energy in the room andjust saying like, hey, this is
what we're doing and this is whywe're doing it and saying it in
a way that inspires other peopleto see what you see.
That's good.
SPEAKER_00 (05:16):
Enthusiasm.
I definitely, that word sticksout to me when I think about
passion.
SPEAKER_02 (05:22):
Yeah.
So if you Google it, it's strongand or barely controllable
emotion.
Now, you know, barelycontrollable emotion, you might
think, well, you need to be incontrol as a leader, right?
But when you think aboutuncontrollable emotion, That's
(05:47):
strong emotion, right?
That's what a passionate leaderis.
They're very strong.
And, you know, this is one ofthose things that, again,
people, used in the wrong way,it can be a bad thing.
But a lot of the attributes arethat way, where they're really
good when they're controlled,and then they're not good when
(06:10):
they're not controlled.
So, you know, we're facing asilence phone.
But It's probably mine.
But essentially, when you talkabout passion, you can be too
passionate, in my opinion, aboutthe wrong things or about the
right things.
(06:30):
And so it's one of those thingsyou have to be intentional about
measuring consistently.
SPEAKER_00 (06:35):
Well, and the uncontrollable emotion to me is
kind of like it's not even aboutcontrol.
It's more about...
You just got it.
It's not like you're not trying.
You just have the passion.
You have passion.
You don't learn to have it.
You can't be passionate aboutsomething that you don't care
(06:55):
about.
So it's kind of like you can'tcontrol how you feel about it.
SPEAKER_02 (07:01):
Yeah.
So the easiest way to describeit, in my opinion, and we're
going to go through a deep divehere in a minute, but when you
look at a passionate person, itcreates the ability for you to
influence in a bigger way.
And so if you're a dud, ifyou're just kind of there, then
(07:22):
your ability to influence isless.
And so that's because of humannature.
But being passionate is where aleader demonstrates strong
enthusiasm, like y'all talkedabout, a deep commitment to a
vision and actively inspires andmotivates the team.
So this is where the motivationcomes from, the momentum to
follow.
(07:43):
And so especially when you'rebuilding a business, you want a
passionate leader.
If you don't have a passionateleader, the momentum is way
less.
So if you're in growth mode, youwant to hire someone that's
passionate about what they do.
So if you're interviewingpeople, you're bringing people
in and you're interviewing them,and they're just kind of going
(08:04):
through the motions, that's notpassionate.
you're not going to grow likeyou will if you hire a
passionate leader.
And so again, it's a huge dealdepending on where you are and
what season of life and whatyou're hiring for and what your
goals are.
Sometimes you may not want asuper passionate, aggressive
(08:27):
leader because you're in adifferent time and you're not
ready for that.
Yeah.
Anyway, leading with passion,basically, and this is where we
talk about presence, too,because we talked about the
presence of a leader or theabsence of a leader, and that
(08:48):
quality directly determines theorganization's health.
And so the only time that youcan exhibit passion is when
you're present.
Because if you're not present,and look, you can call somebody
on the phone and root them on,but it's just words.
So your influence is going to beway less.
(09:13):
So anyway, most of history'smost influential leaders have
been passionate.
And so I want to ask you all ifyou can think of anybody that
you would say was a passionateleader.
Just think about it for aminute.
People that lead with passion.
Now, again, we talk about itbeing intense enthusiasm that
(09:38):
fuels vision and innovation.
So a leader that genuinelybelieves in the cause or the
vision and then createsenthusiasm, inspiration, and
motivation to those around them.
That's who we're talking about.
And so I would just ask, do youknow of any that you can think
(10:00):
of?
I have two examples.
SPEAKER_01 (10:03):
I mean, I'm trying to get outside the box.
It's easy to look at who's infront of everybody right now and
Elon and Donald Trump.
They're very passionate.
They're not doing it foranything except for raw passion.
So those are obviously the firstexamples that come to mind.
SPEAKER_02 (10:20):
Elon Musk is definitely a passionate
SPEAKER_00 (10:22):
leader.
That's who I was trying to dothe same thing and pick someone
that is a little different thanwhat we've said before.
SPEAKER_02 (10:31):
Well, so Elon Musk is absolutely an all-star,
passionate leader.
Donald Trump is as well.
You could go back and say, Imean, one of the guys I was
studying one time, like MahatmaGandhi.
I mean, look, Martin Luther KingJr., right?
(10:51):
I mean, the ones that were justled with exuded greatness, that
led lots of people, typically,They are passionate leaders.
And when you think aboutpassion, you might think, well,
they're not, you know, theintense cheering on people.
Not that.
That's not passion.
We're talking about people thatlive and die by what they're
(11:13):
doing, you know?
And so we talk about Elon, but,I mean, he's a passionate leader
because just look at that dude.
Like, he's a worker, you know?
And he's got his goals, and he'sdead set to get them.
Trump.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (11:29):
I mean, I jump back to the football coaches that
we've mentioned before, NickSaban, Kirby Smart.
Obviously, they're verypassionate.
That's good.
That's a good one.
You know, you just said, like–It is for them.
It's life or death for them.
Hey, it is.
Well,
SPEAKER_02 (11:44):
they won't coach there long if they don't listen
to winning.
Kirby Smart's a good one.
He is fired.
That dude's fired up.
That's passion.
Yeah.
No, I agree.
SPEAKER_00 (11:52):
He gives me passion.
I'm like, go Dawgs.
Yeah.
But I think in my real-worldlife, I mentioned this in one of
the episodes of who the–hungriest person was.
And I said, my friend Marie, andthe first thing I think of
someone in my life that is aleader is her and her husband
(12:13):
who co-direct the festival thatI'm working with.
Um, they, she lives, breathes,like exudes everything for this
festival.
And it's a fundraiser, you know,it's not a music festival or
something.
It's, um, it raises money for alocal school and other education
things.
So, And that's all she talksabout.
(12:35):
She's always there.
She's the first person that hasno idea.
So she's very passionate.
SPEAKER_02 (12:40):
That's good.
SPEAKER_01 (12:42):
Daniel?
You know, I guess I'm going tokick it back to myself when I
think about being passionateabout something that I'm doing.
A lot of times I'll lose some ofthe wind out of my sail if it's
not something that I can getinspired about.
Working in creative and I've gota counselor regular and we go
(13:04):
through the motions and thenwe've got accounts that they
have a dream and a goal and I'mlike, I get behind that.
And their passion drives mypassion and then it's like a
whole other level.
The creative gets better.
The creative gets better.
I
SPEAKER_02 (13:22):
got you.
What about you?
Look, I'll be honest with y'all.
I think y'all are passionateleaders.
And I'm not just saying that,but both of y'all have
encouraged me And, you know,even just this podcast, you've
gotten behind it and you're bothpassionate about it at some
level on different terms ordifferent ways.
But you both encouraged me bywhat you do.
(13:45):
And so I would say, y'all, andthen I would say...
Thank
SPEAKER_00 (13:49):
you.
SPEAKER_02 (13:50):
Yes.
I have been known to bepassionate as well.
I don't want to talk about me,but I have been told that I'm
very passionate.
In fact...
Well,
SPEAKER_01 (14:01):
you've talked about your strong emotions.
Yeah.
They're strong.
SPEAKER_02 (14:04):
They are strong.
In fact, that's hurt me in mycareer at some point, at some
level it has, and we won't diveinto that right now.
But it's also helped me in mycareer.
So like I told you earlier, it'sboth, right?
So if you manage it, it can behelpful.
If you don't manage it, it canbe harmful.
But I was told I was I wasrecruited and took a job one
(14:27):
time and I was in the email thatwent out, said that my passion
was part of the reason I got thejob.
Right.
For what I do.
And that's strong.
And I've also been told that I'mtoo passionate.
You know, your passion is toostrong.
You know, it it can be it can bean enemy if I don't manage it.
(14:48):
And so anyway, that'sinteresting.
It is.
But it's.
It's also, like I said, it'sbetter than it is worse, if that
makes any sense.
So that's the other thing I wasgoing to say.
It is vital to some things, andwe'll talk some about that.
You know, anytime there's goingto be long-term success, again,
(15:11):
long-term success from a leader,he is passionate, or she, he or
she.
Yeah.
It creates engaging workenvironment, right?
That's the number one thing thatit does.
It becomes engaging.
And so if you're not passionate,it's not very engaging.
Employees oftentimes feel morevalued around a passionate
(15:33):
leader.
And they stay motivated andconnected to the mission.
And that's the leader'sresponsibility.
And based on the leader and whathe's responsible for, directly
dictates whether or not he hasto be passionate in his
position.
(15:54):
So we'll get into some of thattoo.
So passionate leaders aredriven.
We talked about what drives you,and so this is where you have to
figure that out.
And so some people are driven bya sense of purpose, and some
people are not.
Most people are.
(16:16):
So you have to have a sense ofpurpose.
And we talk about that all thetime.
I get into conversations withpeople about being retired.
They say, man, I'm going to getretired.
And I know we're chasing rabbitshere, but it's a podcast, so we
can do that.
But they say, I'm going toretire in five years.
And I say, well, what are yougoing to do when you retire?
Well, I'm just going to retire.
I don't know.
(16:37):
Well, you need to keep working.
You have to have a sense ofpurpose.
And so that's just in yournature.
That's not something you candodge.
And so a passionate person, youknow, is driven by that most of
the time, their sense ofpurpose.
And so passionate people are notafraid to take risks, right?
(16:58):
So if you're going to be apassionate leader, you need to
be willing to take a risk andthen celebrate if you win or
lose after taking that risk.
Obviously, one of the big onestoo is challenging the status
quo.
You know, so...
A lot of times leaders, they canbe leaders inside the
(17:19):
organization and there's, thisis just the way we've always
done it.
A lot of times a passionateleader wants to do it different.
They change it just to change itbecause they want to be in that
zone, right?
And so that's oftentimes why apassionate leader doesn't, is
not welcomed by lots of folks onthe beginning, right?
(17:42):
Because they're changing stuff.
It's like, what are you doing?
This has been working fine for10 years.
Well, no, not now.
It's not because I'm here and Iwant to see it different, right?
We've got to change it.
And that's what I get in troublefor.
That's right.
You know?
SPEAKER_00 (17:55):
Well, it's funny, you know, changing the status
quo because one of the things Ithink about, one of my first
jobs right out of college wasfor a nonprofit.
And it was the same thing everysingle year.
We never...
upgraded events.
We never, it was just, we didthe same thing every single
(18:15):
year.
And it was like, but what if wedid something like this?
And it was a younger me comingin and trying to change, not
change anything terrible.
I mean, it was just kind of, Iwas thinking to attract younger
people, different type ofvision.
And now we've always done itthis way.
That's always, that was theanswer that I always got.
(18:38):
And I was like, Hmm, Stay therefor two years.
SPEAKER_02 (18:40):
That is death by words.
I mean, that kills me.
Because people don't realizethat people, listen, people
don't want change, but they dowant change.
SPEAKER_00 (18:52):
Well, and with that, it's like they were too
passionate about what it'salways been.
So it's like, well, we can'tchange it.
We've always done it this way.
You've got to change it.
It would be like a deathsentence if they changed up an
event or something.
Yeah.
That's a good example of toomuch passion for something.
SPEAKER_02 (19:11):
Change is so important.
But people don't like it.
But it is so critical to yourgrowth.
As a person, change is good.
And it creates growth.
And it keeps you from justhanging in there.
And too much...
(19:32):
Unchanging can createdepression.
Look, there's a lot.
We'll chase all kinds ofrabbits.
All right, so how do you channelpassion and presence?
Let's channel it.
So I'm going to give one, two,three, four, five, six, seven
ways that you can channel it,and then we're going to get ten
(19:56):
ways to become a more passionateleader.
We're just going to buzz throughthese.
I'll do it on time.
Okay.
So we're good.
We got about 10 minutes on each.
Okay.
All right.
So we're going to channelpassion and presence for
effective leadership.
Okay.
Number one is going to beauthenticity.
So number one, authenticity.
(20:18):
What does that mean?
I mean, it's got to be It's gotto be real.
You know, it's got to begenuine.
SPEAKER_00 (20:25):
Believable.
Yeah,
SPEAKER_02 (20:27):
it's got to be real.
So pretending to care aboutsomething never works, right?
And so it just doesn't resonatewith people.
And so you want to be authentic.
That's the first thing forpassion and presence is being
authentic.
Number two, here's a big one forthe drum roll, continuous
learning.
UNKNOWN (20:48):
Hmm.
SPEAKER_02 (20:48):
Right?
Constantly learning.
We talk about that.
You've got to be a student ofleadership.
Passion often stems from a deepunderstanding of a subject.
The best leaders continuouslyseek knowledge and experience
that enrich their perspective.
Okay?
Number three, opencommunication.
(21:11):
So you're going to communicateyour vision and enthusiasm
effectively.
Okay?
And, you know, again, activelistening, seek feedback, and
remain open.
We talk about some of thatstuff, how important it is to
just communicate.
Empowerment.
(21:31):
And all these things, man, theyecho through all these.
But empowering your team membersto take ownership, it fosters
growth.
Number five, lead by example.
So the things that you'repassionate about, you have to
(21:53):
embody.
So if you're passionate aboutwhatever it can be, you know,
you have to do that too.
You have to lead by example.
You can't, you know, do as Isay, not do as I do, right?
It's the other way around.
I
SPEAKER_00 (22:11):
just got that.
I'm like, what?
SPEAKER_02 (22:16):
All right, number six.
was emotional intelligence.
So again, understand and manageemotions.
Manage emotion, right?
That's important.
And then you can build passion.
And number seven is buildrelationships.
(22:36):
So a lot of passion is driven inrelationships.
It's not really easy to drivepassion without other people.
So you have to buildrelationships The passion with
others and the leader providesvision for the other people to
kind of create that momentumwith others.
(22:57):
And so you have to do it inrelationship.
So there you go.
That, I mean, and which one ofthose sticks out to you most?
Of course, we're really about toget to where the, we're actually
going to get fundamental here ina minute.
Like, What do you got to do?
SPEAKER_00 (23:13):
Well, so I wrote down, so lead by example, when
we had, I think it was Nick andhe talked about how he had a
work truck and he was listeningto one of 4.7, the fish and his
guy had to go move his truck orsomething.
And when he turned it on, thatradio station was on.
And the guy was like, I don'tknow why I remember that, but I
(23:36):
like stories.
Um, but, and he said the thing,you know, the guy was like, I
never would have thought thatyou were, that type of person
or, you know, whatever he said.
And that's when his turningpoint was like, wait a second,
I'm not acting.
You know, I'm, I'm one personhere, but not all the time.
So I liked that.
SPEAKER_02 (23:57):
Nice.
Good story.
Thank you for sure.
I don't remember.
I didn't, I didn't rememberthat, but I do now, now that you
bring it back
SPEAKER_01 (24:02):
up and now it'll stay.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (24:04):
Now it'll stay here twice.
SPEAKER_01 (24:05):
So I got Jeremy.
So we're sitting here talkingabout passion and then like, you
know, build momentum and, Andenthusiasm is contagious.
But is passion something thatyou can just decide or choose to
have?
Or is it something that's justbuilt inside some people?
SPEAKER_00 (24:25):
Good
SPEAKER_02 (24:25):
question.
That is a really good question,Daniel.
In other words, what you'resaying is, can you train it?
Can you teach it?
Which, I mean, we're teaching itnow.
But can you actually put it,plant it in someone?
I don't know.
Uh-huh.
That's a good question.
SPEAKER_00 (24:42):
I think a good leader who's passionate can
teach someone passion aboutwhatever it might be.
So like if you get hired at acompany and the leader is very
passionate about, you know, thevision and the mission and
things like that,
SPEAKER_01 (24:56):
that
SPEAKER_00 (24:57):
can give you passion.
It
SPEAKER_01 (24:59):
can create passion in others.
SPEAKER_00 (25:00):
Right.
SPEAKER_01 (25:02):
But, you know, and I'm just like, we all have
passions about our own thingsand different things and
different things make uspassionate about.
But like, I can't convincesomeone to be passionate.
You have to influence
SPEAKER_02 (25:15):
them.
SPEAKER_01 (25:15):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (25:17):
That's a very interesting question, Daniel.
So I would say, wow, that'sgood.
So again, could you put it insomeone?
I don't think so.
But like Maddie said, anotherleader could influence them to
be more passionate.
(25:38):
Mm-hmm.
But having the desire to bepassionate, is that enough?
That's kind of your question.
You want to be passionate, butcan you, in and of your own,
just decide to do it?
I think you could.
Do you know why?
Because if you decide to dosomething and you commit to it,
(25:59):
oftentimes you can do it.
And so it makes me think of, Ifollow a preacher named David
Wilkerson.
And he's passed away now, buthe's a great guy.
I've listened to a lot of hismessages, but he taught a series
on being a man of another sort.
(26:20):
Maybe we can listen to it oneday on here, but it's like a
four or five minute thing.
And he says that there waspeople in the Old Testament, the
men in the Old Testament, thatwanted to become a man of
another sort.
And what he says is that theBible says they set their heart
So they set their heart to be adifferent kind of man.
(26:45):
And so he says, he believes, andhe preached that you can set
your heart to something, and youcan do that.
So I have to say, based on that,that yes, you could set your
heart to become a better leaderand exhibit passion, and you
could study it, and you could...
(27:07):
learn it and then you couldimplement it and you could do
all the things that we talkabout on the show and you could
improve it for sure.
It's a great question.
Certainly something to thinkabout, but I think you could.
We're about to go over 10 waysto become a more passionate
leader.
(27:28):
You can make your list.
These are things we can do.
These are things that you cando.
What I would...
Before I do that, these aregoing to be 10 ways to become a
more passionate leader.
But if you're thinking toyourself right now, well, I'm
not a leader and I'm not thatpassionate.
(27:49):
Or you could say, well, I am aleader, but I'm not that
passionate.
We all know that we're leaders,but I'm not that passionate.
I need to do these things.
Yes, or you need to find someoneto do these with you, right?
So, I mean, look, maybe you havea boss at work or a manager or a
mentor.
that you could give this list toand say, hey, help me with some
(28:12):
of this stuff.
And so that's good.
So number one, 10 ways to becomea more passionate leader.
Number one is to share yourvision.
Share your vision.
And that is speaking aboutsomething that you care deeply
about that inspire others andembrace your vision and
(28:36):
enthusiasm.
Passion and leadership involvesmore than just words like we
talked about.
So the number one is share yourvision.
That's the most important, Ithink.
Number two is engage witheveryone.
Increase your engagement witheverybody around you.
Obviously, you show up regularlyand engage with your
(28:57):
organization.
It's funny.
You can be sitting in the officeworking.
Somebody out there that'slistening or you guys might be
sitting in the office workingand maybe the boss walks in and
they don't engage with anybody.
They just go to their desk.
They don't say anything toanybody.
Later on, people come around andsay, what's that dude's problem?
(29:19):
As a leader, man, it's yourresponsibility to stop and speak
to all your people.
SPEAKER_01 (29:24):
Every time.
SPEAKER_02 (29:25):
Every time.
Every time.
Yes, sir.
You have to.
It's part of your duty.
You're obligated to it, okay?
And so passionate leadershipdoesn't get mixed up hiding
behind closed doors, if thatmakes any sense.
So engage with everybody aroundyou.
(29:45):
Number three is empower yourteams.
We talked about that just a fewminutes ago, but...
Passionate leaders generateproductivity by instilling trust
and a shared vision.
Don't bottleneck progress bylimiting all the decision making
to yourself.
You've got to embrace everybodyelse's opinion.
(30:07):
And so that builds passion aswell.
Number four is to focus onsolutions, not problems.
I worked for God one time.
His name was Danny Mann.
If he ever listens to this show,he can get plugged here but I
was I used to be the kind of guythat would go to the foreman or
(30:31):
the boss and say hey you got aproblem over here and I want you
to know that I'm solving it youknow so I'd go to the to him
with a problem with no solutionand then I would just wanted him
to know there was a problem andI did that because I needed it
inside and you know I had tolearn that that was not the
(30:53):
right way to do it becausenobody wants to know about your
problems.
So what I figured out was, hey,if I give him the solution, the
way he led me to figure that outwas I would go to him and I'd
say, hey, man, what about noproblems, only solutions?
That's what he would say, noproblems, only solutions.
And so I learned from that.
(31:13):
I started doing that to peoplethat I worked with.
No problems, only solutions.
Number four is, I'm sorry,number five is to remain
positive.
This is hard.
I don't know what y'all think,but it's not always easy to be
positive.
So passion and negativity don'tgo in the same bucket.
(31:36):
They just won't.
Negativity is a tremendouskiller to progress in all kinds
of ways, specificallyleadership.
Number six is to be disruptive.
This is my favorite one.
(31:58):
Passionate leaders anticipateand drive change.
That requires being disruptive.
SPEAKER_01 (32:03):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (32:04):
We talked about change a while ago and how
important it is.
And so most of the time, peopledon't want that.
It disrupts everything.
Everything's moving.
That's just like what Matty wassaying.
Exactly.
They don't like it.
People are like, no, no, no,stop.
Like...
But reality is that when allthat stuff is changing and
(32:26):
everything's moving, everybody'sgrowing.
And if you just stop, like,okay, stop, take a breath.
But guess what?
Keep rolling.
So being disruptive createsimprovement all along the way.
Number seven, and this is a bigone.
(32:49):
We've talked about it a bunch.
Being transparent and humble.
Sharing who you are and whatyour passions are with others in
the organization encouragesothers to do the same.
If you're willing to talk aboutyour problems or things that are
(33:12):
good or bad about yourself, alot of times other people will
be willing to do it as well.
If you keep all that guarded,then they're going to stay
guarded.
So being transparent and humble.
I'm blowing through these.
Y'all slow me down if I need to.
Number eight.
(33:33):
This is a big one too.
Man, these are all good.
Maintain self-awareness.
Self-awareness is critical for apassionate leader.
And because there's a reason forthat.
Actions and decisions thatyou're making as a leader are
impacting others and otherleaders.
(33:56):
Being self-aware of that isimportant because sometimes you
can negatively impact somebody,right?
And if you're not aware andcritical, like if you're not
being intentional about yourawareness, you can be negatively
impacting other people and otherleaders.
And so you have to maintainself-awareness.
to be passionate.
(34:18):
It's, you know, everything thatyou do, look, leadership is
oftentimes looking in the mirrorconstantly, you know.
Number nine is be alwayslearning, which we kind of
talked about earlier.
(34:39):
But learning is a way to stokethe fire of passion.
So when somebody might be sayingto me, hey, Jeremy, my passion
is waning, or I just don't feellike I'm there, then it's time
to go learn, right?
Which is what we're doing.
Because when you're learning, itgenerates passion inside of you.
And so you can read books,listen to podcasts, engage with
(35:03):
others, just chit-chat, youknow, whatever.
But you can go learn.
That helps.
And number 10 is...
Avoid burnout.
So burnout is the opposite ofpassion, okay?
And so it can happen.
You can be burned out because ofdisappointment or, you know,
(35:28):
working long hours, you know,and so you have to recharge.
And, you know, I had a guy, amentor of mine, he told me, he
said, dude, you need todisconnect and recharge.
Mm-hmm.
And I just, I don't need to dothat.
But you do need to do that,despite what you think you do.
(35:49):
You do need to do that.
And so that's 10.
I don't really know which one ofthose is my favorite.
I couldn't
SPEAKER_01 (35:58):
figure it out, but...
There's some good ones in there.
The fundamentals really...
All right.
So if someone asked me, Daniel,what type of lead, what's your
leadership style?
I might say passionate afterlike, you know, like that's the
enthusiasm, like you were sayingabout engaging with everyone,
high energy, like those arethings that I naturally do.
(36:19):
But also with those 10fundamentals, I feel like
there's also pieces in therethat I could fill in some holes.
SPEAKER_02 (36:24):
Oh, yeah.
Dude, you take that list and youcan just...
I want to learn this week.
Next week, I want to maintainself-awareness.
And you focus on these thingsuntil it becomes a habit.
Look, like we talk about,leadership is learned.
You're not just born with it.
Some people think you are.
And you questioned earlier,would you be born with passion?
(36:47):
Some people are, maybe.
But I think that it's learned.
I think all of it's learned.
And I think that you canlearn...
The more you learn about thesubject, the more you learn and
study these traits, and you lookin the mirror, and you continue
to evolve, you can be acompletely different person next
year than you are today.
(37:07):
And you never want to look...
You never want to compareyourself to other people.
You always want to compareyourself to who you were
yesterday.
And you want to be a better youtomorrow.
So when you look at these 10things...
You know, you're talking aboutsharing your vision.
I mean, all you have to do istell yourself to do that.
(37:28):
You can share it with your kidsor you cannot.
But your goals in life and whatyou want to do and who you want
to be when you get old, you tellyour kids that over and over
again until it becomes real.
And you can do the same thingnegatively with your life.
(37:49):
You can...
I was just having a meeting withmy kid last week because she was
getting bullied at school.
And I was like, look, you are abeautiful, smart, kind, loving
kid that's a little short, butit doesn't matter.
And so she's getting kidspicking on our school, which we
won't get into that on thepodcast.
(38:12):
Your kids, you want to be ableto tell them who they want to
become.
And then let them tellthemselves that.
And then the same thing withyou.
If you want to become a greatleader, then you tell yourself
you're a great leader.
And then you look at all thesethings that you need to be
doing, and you do them.
And you pick one out, you workon it until it becomes habit.
(38:34):
You can pick all these 10 thingswe just talked about.
You can pick them out, and youcan come up with a tangible way
to implement that.
SPEAKER_01 (38:46):
Let's just do this.
I mean, I feel like we'veanswered the question that I
asked earlier.
Yeah, we have.
I
SPEAKER_02 (38:51):
mean, we've answered the question.
We got to it.
I think so.
It can be done.
It can be done.
But, like, remain positive.
Dude, remind yourself every day,be positive.
It's a choice.
It's a choice.
100.
That's right.
Yeah.
So, yeah, it's a choice.
I like it.
Maddie?
SPEAKER_00 (39:13):
I like empower your teams.
Um, one thing that we do, I liketo ask and we do everyone, all
the leaders at work do this.
We ask people, the employees,what do you think on a lot?
I think I shared that with youguys, maybe on the podcast,
maybe not.
Um, and it's crazy how empoweredthey feel when you ask them what
(39:37):
they, what their opinion is onsomething so small, you know?
And it's like, we don't have tomake every decision, right?
Let's go to the people who aregrinding out there every day
where we're not.
So I like that one, and then Ifocus on solutions, not the
problem.
Yeah.
Because I think I struggle withthat.
SPEAKER_02 (39:58):
Oh, yeah.
Well, we all do.
Do you have an example?
SPEAKER_00 (40:04):
Do I have an example?
Of
SPEAKER_02 (40:08):
something where you struggle with that just for fun.
SPEAKER_00 (40:13):
Let me think about it.
SPEAKER_02 (40:14):
Okay.
Well, let me do the takeawayreal quick.
So just in case you're justtuning in or you didn't hear the
whole thing, you need to go backand listen to it.
But listen, passionate leadersembrace innovation and make
disruptive improvements withinthe organization.
Right?
Period.
Period.
That's what they do.
And so, you know, go kick thecan of beans over.
(40:35):
You know, go kick it over.
It's work.
Like, seriously.
UNKNOWN (40:39):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (40:40):
I mean, obviously, be prepared to clean it up.
But go kick it over.
Change it up.
That's what's going to set youapart as a leader is when you
have the courage to come in andkick the can over, make a mess,
and clean it up.
And that's what you need to bedoing.
As a passionate leader, when youwant to set a different course,
(41:02):
then start kicking the can overand then cleaning it up.
The power of positivity and theimportance of empowering others,
that is the passionate leader.
And so, you know, we've got tobe passionate.
If not, you're not leading likeyou should
SPEAKER_01 (41:20):
be,
SPEAKER_02 (41:20):
right?
SPEAKER_01 (41:22):
I just think without that enthusiasm, then that's
when your influence...
will fade.
Wanes.
You know?
And I just keep going back tothe engaging thing.
And I just think about that.
And I just...
Like, it's...
You see it every day.
People just walking in astraight line.
Not only just business, justlife.
(41:44):
People just don't engage anddon't communicate.
I think about the grocery storewhen you talk
SPEAKER_02 (41:50):
about that.
You're walking by.
Nobody.
We're just like robots.
It's okay.
What's
SPEAKER_00 (41:57):
up?
That's me.
I definitely don't talk topeople in the grocery store.
Daniel, not everybody's anexpert.
Head down.
SPEAKER_02 (42:04):
That's funny.
Sometimes you don't feel likeengaging.
And that's okay.
But it is good to engage others.
SPEAKER_00 (42:14):
Also, the recharging to avoid burnout.
It's important.
SPEAKER_01 (42:20):
That hit me close to home.
Burnout, yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (42:23):
You've got to recharge.
You've got to get around thepeople that will love on you.
And you've got to get out of theweeds.
So here you go, Daniel.
Take things that are not addingvalue to you or to your family
or to your circle.
maybe pull it out, man.
Put something else in, you know?
I mean, I know I've had to dothat myself.
And one of the things thatcharges me, and we talked about
(42:46):
this passionate, I'm apassionate guy, is purpose.
So if, this sounds super funny,but I have to share it because
there's somebody else out theredealing with this.
If I spend my time on me, if Igo and get in a boat and go
fishing every day.
Now, I'm just telling you how itis.
(43:08):
If I do that every day for aweek, you will not want to be
around me because it doesn'tfill me up.
I have to serve people.
And so y'all know I started withthe fire department in the
Buckhead, the volunteer firedepartment, a while back because
I wanted to force myself toserve.
(43:29):
And so in serving, that's whatmakes me tick.
It's a sense of purpose.
UNKNOWN (43:34):
Mm-hmm.
SPEAKER_02 (43:35):
And without that sense of purpose, if I don't
have that sense of purpose andthat accountability, I struggle.
And so anytime, like I'm the guythat you go to the beach, I go
to the beach for a family vacay,and I'm miserable.
I'm serious.
Like people don't want to bearound me.
Because I'm working, I'm on thephone.
(43:55):
They're like, dude, cut it offfor a minute.
And I'm like, dude, I can't.
Like I lose my sense of purpose.
You don't want to be around me.
I'm not very fun to be around.
But as long as I'm...
purposefully finding purpose,then I'm happy.
SPEAKER_00 (44:11):
Purposefully passionate.
SPEAKER_02 (44:13):
Yeah, that's good.
Anyway.
Write that down.
Got it.
We can do a post for that, aquote.
Anyway, is that enough?
How many minutes did we get?
Oh, yeah, we
SPEAKER_00 (44:29):
covered that one.
SPEAKER_02 (44:30):
We covered that one good.
Any more comments, takeaways?
Deporting words.
SPEAKER_00 (44:36):
This was really good for me.
SPEAKER_02 (44:37):
Great job, guys.
Great job.
I love you guys.
Good job, Jeremy.
Signing off.
SPEAKER_00 (44:40):
Signing off.
See ya.
Bye.
See ya.
Welcome back to Impact Podcast.
My name is Jeremy Melton.
I'm your host along with Danieland Maddie.
And our highlight question thatwe try to answer is what kind of
impact are you making on theworld that we live in?
This is episode number 13, 1-3.
And the mandate to cover todayis passion.
(00:44):
I'm excited about this one.
So we're going to get rolling.
But before we do, What aboutNathan Park?
Let's talk about his episodereally quick.
SPEAKER_01 (00:54):
Well, I'll just say that it was so nice to have Mr.
Nathan in the studio.
And he's my neighbor.
He's lived across the streetfrom me for about two years.
But I felt like I got to knowhim so much better.
Having him here, talking abouthis family, and just got to,
like, you know, drivewayconversations, one thing.
But what we talked about wasreal.
(01:15):
And just love him to death.
And...
Let's go, Nate.
SPEAKER_02 (01:19):
It was good.
I actually called him this weekto encourage him.
He's running on the campaigntrail for commissioner.
I said, dude, I just want you toknow I really enjoyed the
interview talking about yourfamily.
It was good.
It was encouraging.
Maddie, did you get to listen into that?
SPEAKER_00 (01:41):
I'm excited to listen,
SPEAKER_02 (01:44):
though.
One thing that Stuck out to mewas Nathan was a family man, of
course.
But the biggest takeaway for mewas when he was talking about
people that had impacted hislife, kind of like everybody
else that we interviewed us.
And he said that his dad had hada big impact on his life.
(02:06):
And when I was asking him aboutit, he said that his dad nailed
it.
Like, you know, being a dad.
And I was like...
Bruh.
I don't think I've ever heardanybody say that about their
dad.
So anyway, we kind of uncoveredthat.
But it was super good.
And I was encouraged to spendtime with my kids.
So Nathan nailed it, in myopinion.
(02:29):
So just like his dad.
SPEAKER_01 (02:30):
It was great.
Let's circle back.
What did he say when you askedthe question...
What his leadership style was.
And he said he was adaptable.
Adaptable.
Adaptable.
SPEAKER_00 (02:41):
That's a good one.
SPEAKER_01 (02:42):
Yeah, that stuck with me.
And actually, listening back, wehad someone else mention
adaptability.
Not like as their key...
style but when we asked thatquestion they said adaptability
is important and i think thatwas nick nick yeah yeah yeah
yeah yeah yeah i think it wasnick so adaptability that is
something that i feel like wehaven't used a whole lot but
SPEAKER_00 (03:05):
that kind of great word it kind of goes along with
leadership is living
SPEAKER_02 (03:09):
yeah exactly it does and that was the maddie's word
yeah maddie quote that was goodexcellent All right.
Well, cool.
Uh, well, yeah.
Uh, like good luck, Nate, youknow, thanks for joining us.
Uh, it was good.
Bring it home.
SPEAKER_00 (03:26):
Can't wait to get that cozy with your name on the
side of it for Nathan.
SPEAKER_02 (03:29):
There you go.
SPEAKER_00 (03:30):
I'll be good.
SPEAKER_02 (03:30):
Koozies are coming.
All right.
So this week, um, so this week'sour, our, our teaching week.
Uh, we're not interviewing.
We're going to be learning aboutthe mandate of passion.
And so you might say, well, whyis that a mandate?
And, uh, Maybe that's silly,right?
You might think that.
Well, today I intend to proveotherwise.
(03:53):
It's a very important attributeof leadership, and so I consider
it a mandate.
But it really, in my opinion, ittakes a good leader and makes
them a great leader, right?
So you can have a good leaderthat's not all that passionate,
and maybe they just go throughand do their job, or they just
(04:14):
lead people, and it's good,but...
When you have a leader thatexhibits passion, it tends to
separate them from the bunch,okay?
And so it's kind of like, youknow, if there's any fishermen
out there, it's the kicker fishto win the tournament, right?
It's the one thing that createsmomentum behind what the
(04:38):
leader's doing.
And if there's no passion, thenthe momentum is less.
And so...
Passion is a huge deal.
So we'll start by definingpassion like we always do.
What is passion?
SPEAKER_00 (04:53):
Daniel?
SPEAKER_01 (04:55):
To me, passion is simple.
It's enthusiasm and it's energyand it's just kind of being that
ball of energy in the room andjust saying like, hey, this is
what we're doing and this is whywe're doing it and saying it in
a way that inspires other peopleto see what you see.
That's good.
SPEAKER_00 (05:16):
Enthusiasm.
I definitely, that word sticksout to me when I think about
passion.
SPEAKER_02 (05:22):
Yeah.
So if you Google it, it's strongand or barely controllable
emotion.
Now, you know, barelycontrollable emotion, you might
think, well, you need to be incontrol as a leader, right?
But when you think aboutuncontrollable emotion, That's
(05:47):
strong emotion, right?
That's what a passionate leaderis.
They're very strong.
And, you know, this is one ofthose things that, again,
people, used in the wrong way,it can be a bad thing.
But a lot of the attributes arethat way, where they're really
good when they're controlled,and then they're not good when
(06:10):
they're not controlled.
So, you know, we're facing asilence phone.
But It's probably mine.
But essentially, when you talkabout passion, you can be too
passionate, in my opinion, aboutthe wrong things or about the
right things.
(06:30):
And so it's one of those thingsyou have to be intentional about
measuring consistently.
SPEAKER_00 (06:35):
Well, and the uncontrollable emotion to me is
kind of like it's not even aboutcontrol.
It's more about...
You just got it.
It's not like you're not trying.
You just have the passion.
You have passion.
You don't learn to have it.
You can't be passionate aboutsomething that you don't care
(06:55):
about.
So it's kind of like you can'tcontrol how you feel about it.
SPEAKER_02 (07:01):
Yeah.
So the easiest way to describeit, in my opinion, and we're
going to go through a deep divehere in a minute, but when you
look at a passionate person, itcreates the ability for you to
influence in a bigger way.
And so if you're a dud, ifyou're just kind of there, then
(07:22):
your ability to influence isless.
And so that's because of humannature.
But being passionate is where aleader demonstrates strong
enthusiasm, like y'all talkedabout, a deep commitment to a
vision and actively inspires andmotivates the team.
So this is where the motivationcomes from, the momentum to
follow.
(07:43):
And so especially when you'rebuilding a business, you want a
passionate leader.
If you don't have a passionateleader, the momentum is way
less.
So if you're in growth mode, youwant to hire someone that's
passionate about what they do.
So if you're interviewingpeople, you're bringing people
in and you're interviewing them,and they're just kind of going
(08:04):
through the motions, that's notpassionate.
you're not going to grow likeyou will if you hire a
passionate leader.
And so again, it's a huge dealdepending on where you are and
what season of life and whatyou're hiring for and what your
goals are.
Sometimes you may not want asuper passionate, aggressive
(08:27):
leader because you're in adifferent time and you're not
ready for that.
Yeah.
Anyway, leading with passion,basically, and this is where we
talk about presence, too,because we talked about the
presence of a leader or theabsence of a leader, and that
(08:48):
quality directly determines theorganization's health.
And so the only time that youcan exhibit passion is when
you're present.
Because if you're not present,and look, you can call somebody
on the phone and root them on,but it's just words.
So your influence is going to beway less.
(09:13):
So anyway, most of history'smost influential leaders have
been passionate.
And so I want to ask you all ifyou can think of anybody that
you would say was a passionateleader.
Just think about it for aminute.
People that lead with passion.
Now, again, we talk about itbeing intense enthusiasm that
(09:38):
fuels vision and innovation.
So a leader that genuinelybelieves in the cause or the
vision and then createsenthusiasm, inspiration, and
motivation to those around them.
That's who we're talking about.
And so I would just ask, do youknow of any that you can think
(10:00):
of?
I have two examples.
SPEAKER_01 (10:03):
I mean, I'm trying to get outside the box.
It's easy to look at who's infront of everybody right now and
Elon and Donald Trump.
They're very passionate.
They're not doing it foranything except for raw passion.
So those are obviously the firstexamples that come to mind.
SPEAKER_02 (10:20):
Elon Musk is definitely a passionate
SPEAKER_00 (10:22):
leader.
That's who I was trying to dothe same thing and pick someone
that is a little different thanwhat we've said before.
SPEAKER_02 (10:31):
Well, so Elon Musk is absolutely an all-star,
passionate leader.
Donald Trump is as well.
You could go back and say, Imean, one of the guys I was
studying one time, like MahatmaGandhi.
I mean, look, Martin Luther KingJr., right?
(10:51):
I mean, the ones that were justled with exuded greatness, that
led lots of people, typically,They are passionate leaders.
And when you think aboutpassion, you might think, well,
they're not, you know, theintense cheering on people.
Not that.
That's not passion.
We're talking about people thatlive and die by what they're
(11:13):
doing, you know?
And so we talk about Elon, but,I mean, he's a passionate leader
because just look at that dude.
Like, he's a worker, you know?
And he's got his goals, and he'sdead set to get them.
Trump.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (11:29):
I mean, I jump back to the football coaches that
we've mentioned before, NickSaban, Kirby Smart.
Obviously, they're verypassionate.
That's good.
That's a good one.
You know, you just said, like–It is for them.
It's life or death for them.
Hey, it is.
Well,
SPEAKER_02 (11:44):
they won't coach there long if they don't listen
to winning.
Kirby Smart's a good one.
He is fired.
That dude's fired up.
That's passion.
Yeah.
No, I agree.
SPEAKER_00 (11:52):
He gives me passion.
I'm like, go Dawgs.
Yeah.
But I think in my real-worldlife, I mentioned this in one of
the episodes of who the–hungriest person was.
And I said, my friend Marie, andthe first thing I think of
someone in my life that is aleader is her and her husband
(12:13):
who co-direct the festival thatI'm working with.
Um, they, she lives, breathes,like exudes everything for this
festival.
And it's a fundraiser, you know,it's not a music festival or
something.
It's, um, it raises money for alocal school and other education
things.
So, And that's all she talksabout.
(12:35):
She's always there.
She's the first person that hasno idea.
So she's very passionate.
SPEAKER_02 (12:40):
That's good.
SPEAKER_01 (12:42):
Daniel?
You know, I guess I'm going tokick it back to myself when I
think about being passionateabout something that I'm doing.
A lot of times I'll lose some ofthe wind out of my sail if it's
not something that I can getinspired about.
Working in creative and I've gota counselor regular and we go
(13:04):
through the motions and thenwe've got accounts that they
have a dream and a goal and I'mlike, I get behind that.
And their passion drives mypassion and then it's like a
whole other level.
The creative gets better.
The creative gets better.
I
SPEAKER_02 (13:22):
got you.
What about you?
Look, I'll be honest with y'all.
I think y'all are passionateleaders.
And I'm not just saying that,but both of y'all have
encouraged me And, you know,even just this podcast, you've
gotten behind it and you're bothpassionate about it at some
level on different terms ordifferent ways.
But you both encouraged me bywhat you do.
(13:45):
And so I would say, y'all, andthen I would say...
Thank
SPEAKER_00 (13:49):
you.
SPEAKER_02 (13:50):
Yes.
I have been known to bepassionate as well.
I don't want to talk about me,but I have been told that I'm
very passionate.
In fact...
Well,
SPEAKER_01 (14:01):
you've talked about your strong emotions.
Yeah.
They're strong.
SPEAKER_02 (14:04):
They are strong.
In fact, that's hurt me in mycareer at some point, at some
level it has, and we won't diveinto that right now.
But it's also helped me in mycareer.
So like I told you earlier, it'sboth, right?
So if you manage it, it can behelpful.
If you don't manage it, it canbe harmful.
But I was told I was I wasrecruited and took a job one
(14:27):
time and I was in the email thatwent out, said that my passion
was part of the reason I got thejob.
Right.
For what I do.
And that's strong.
And I've also been told that I'mtoo passionate.
You know, your passion is toostrong.
You know, it it can be it can bean enemy if I don't manage it.
(14:48):
And so anyway, that'sinteresting.
It is.
But it's.
It's also, like I said, it'sbetter than it is worse, if that
makes any sense.
So that's the other thing I wasgoing to say.
It is vital to some things, andwe'll talk some about that.
You know, anytime there's goingto be long-term success, again,
(15:11):
long-term success from a leader,he is passionate, or she, he or
she.
Yeah.
It creates engaging workenvironment, right?
That's the number one thing thatit does.
It becomes engaging.
And so if you're not passionate,it's not very engaging.
Employees oftentimes feel morevalued around a passionate
(15:33):
leader.
And they stay motivated andconnected to the mission.
And that's the leader'sresponsibility.
And based on the leader and whathe's responsible for, directly
dictates whether or not he hasto be passionate in his
position.
(15:54):
So we'll get into some of thattoo.
So passionate leaders aredriven.
We talked about what drives you,and so this is where you have to
figure that out.
And so some people are driven bya sense of purpose, and some
people are not.
Most people are.
(16:16):
So you have to have a sense ofpurpose.
And we talk about that all thetime.
I get into conversations withpeople about being retired.
They say, man, I'm going to getretired.
And I know we're chasing rabbitshere, but it's a podcast, so we
can do that.
But they say, I'm going toretire in five years.
And I say, well, what are yougoing to do when you retire?
Well, I'm just going to retire.
I don't know.
(16:37):
Well, you need to keep working.
You have to have a sense ofpurpose.
And so that's just in yournature.
That's not something you candodge.
And so a passionate person, youknow, is driven by that most of
the time, their sense ofpurpose.
And so passionate people are notafraid to take risks, right?
(16:58):
So if you're going to be apassionate leader, you need to
be willing to take a risk andthen celebrate if you win or
lose after taking that risk.
Obviously, one of the big onestoo is challenging the status
quo.
You know, so...
A lot of times leaders, they canbe leaders inside the
(17:19):
organization and there's, thisis just the way we've always
done it.
A lot of times a passionateleader wants to do it different.
They change it just to change itbecause they want to be in that
zone, right?
And so that's oftentimes why apassionate leader doesn't, is
not welcomed by lots of folks onthe beginning, right?
(17:42):
Because they're changing stuff.
It's like, what are you doing?
This has been working fine for10 years.
Well, no, not now.
It's not because I'm here and Iwant to see it different, right?
We've got to change it.
And that's what I get in troublefor.
That's right.
You know?
SPEAKER_00 (17:55):
Well, it's funny, you know, changing the status
quo because one of the things Ithink about, one of my first
jobs right out of college wasfor a nonprofit.
And it was the same thing everysingle year.
We never...
upgraded events.
We never, it was just, we didthe same thing every single
(18:15):
year.
And it was like, but what if wedid something like this?
And it was a younger me comingin and trying to change, not
change anything terrible.
I mean, it was just kind of, Iwas thinking to attract younger
people, different type ofvision.
And now we've always done itthis way.
That's always, that was theanswer that I always got.
(18:38):
And I was like, Hmm, Stay therefor two years.
SPEAKER_02 (18:40):
That is death by words.
I mean, that kills me.
Because people don't realizethat people, listen, people
don't want change, but they dowant change.
SPEAKER_00 (18:52):
Well, and with that, it's like they were too
passionate about what it'salways been.
So it's like, well, we can'tchange it.
We've always done it this way.
You've got to change it.
It would be like a deathsentence if they changed up an
event or something.
Yeah.
That's a good example of toomuch passion for something.
SPEAKER_02 (19:11):
Change is so important.
But people don't like it.
But it is so critical to yourgrowth.
As a person, change is good.
And it creates growth.
And it keeps you from justhanging in there.
And too much...
(19:32):
Unchanging can createdepression.
Look, there's a lot.
We'll chase all kinds ofrabbits.
All right, so how do you channelpassion and presence?
Let's channel it.
So I'm going to give one, two,three, four, five, six, seven
ways that you can channel it,and then we're going to get ten
(19:56):
ways to become a more passionateleader.
We're just going to buzz throughthese.
I'll do it on time.
Okay.
So we're good.
We got about 10 minutes on each.
Okay.
All right.
So we're going to channelpassion and presence for
effective leadership.
Okay.
Number one is going to beauthenticity.
So number one, authenticity.
(20:18):
What does that mean?
I mean, it's got to be It's gotto be real.
You know, it's got to begenuine.
SPEAKER_00 (20:25):
Believable.
Yeah,
SPEAKER_02 (20:27):
it's got to be real.
So pretending to care aboutsomething never works, right?
And so it just doesn't resonatewith people.
And so you want to be authentic.
That's the first thing forpassion and presence is being
authentic.
Number two, here's a big one forthe drum roll, continuous
learning.
UNKNOWN (20:48):
Hmm.
SPEAKER_02 (20:48):
Right?
Constantly learning.
We talk about that.
You've got to be a student ofleadership.
Passion often stems from a deepunderstanding of a subject.
The best leaders continuouslyseek knowledge and experience
that enrich their perspective.
Okay?
Number three, opencommunication.
(21:11):
So you're going to communicateyour vision and enthusiasm
effectively.
Okay?
And, you know, again, activelistening, seek feedback, and
remain open.
We talk about some of thatstuff, how important it is to
just communicate.
Empowerment.
(21:31):
And all these things, man, theyecho through all these.
But empowering your team membersto take ownership, it fosters
growth.
Number five, lead by example.
So the things that you'repassionate about, you have to
(21:53):
embody.
So if you're passionate aboutwhatever it can be, you know,
you have to do that too.
You have to lead by example.
You can't, you know, do as Isay, not do as I do, right?
It's the other way around.
I
SPEAKER_00 (22:11):
just got that.
I'm like, what?
SPEAKER_02 (22:16):
All right, number six.
was emotional intelligence.
So again, understand and manageemotions.
Manage emotion, right?
That's important.
And then you can build passion.
And number seven is buildrelationships.
(22:36):
So a lot of passion is driven inrelationships.
It's not really easy to drivepassion without other people.
So you have to buildrelationships The passion with
others and the leader providesvision for the other people to
kind of create that momentumwith others.
(22:57):
And so you have to do it inrelationship.
So there you go.
That, I mean, and which one ofthose sticks out to you most?
Of course, we're really about toget to where the, we're actually
going to get fundamental here ina minute.
Like, What do you got to do?
SPEAKER_00 (23:13):
Well, so I wrote down, so lead by example, when
we had, I think it was Nick andhe talked about how he had a
work truck and he was listeningto one of 4.7, the fish and his
guy had to go move his truck orsomething.
And when he turned it on, thatradio station was on.
And the guy was like, I don'tknow why I remember that, but I
(23:36):
like stories.
Um, but, and he said the thing,you know, the guy was like, I
never would have thought thatyou were, that type of person
or, you know, whatever he said.
And that's when his turningpoint was like, wait a second,
I'm not acting.
You know, I'm, I'm one personhere, but not all the time.
So I liked that.
SPEAKER_02 (23:57):
Nice.
Good story.
Thank you for sure.
I don't remember.
I didn't, I didn't rememberthat, but I do now, now that you
bring it back
SPEAKER_01 (24:02):
up and now it'll stay.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (24:04):
Now it'll stay here twice.
SPEAKER_01 (24:05):
So I got Jeremy.
So we're sitting here talkingabout passion and then like, you
know, build momentum and, Andenthusiasm is contagious.
But is passion something thatyou can just decide or choose to
have?
Or is it something that's justbuilt inside some people?
SPEAKER_00 (24:25):
Good
SPEAKER_02 (24:25):
question.
That is a really good question,Daniel.
In other words, what you'resaying is, can you train it?
Can you teach it?
Which, I mean, we're teaching itnow.
But can you actually put it,plant it in someone?
I don't know.
Uh-huh.
That's a good question.
SPEAKER_00 (24:42):
I think a good leader who's passionate can
teach someone passion aboutwhatever it might be.
So like if you get hired at acompany and the leader is very
passionate about, you know, thevision and the mission and
things like that,
SPEAKER_01 (24:56):
that
SPEAKER_00 (24:57):
can give you passion.
It
SPEAKER_01 (24:59):
can create passion in others.
SPEAKER_00 (25:00):
Right.
SPEAKER_01 (25:02):
But, you know, and I'm just like, we all have
passions about our own thingsand different things and
different things make uspassionate about.
But like, I can't convincesomeone to be passionate.
You have to influence
SPEAKER_02 (25:15):
them.
SPEAKER_01 (25:15):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (25:17):
That's a very interesting question, Daniel.
So I would say, wow, that'sgood.
So again, could you put it insomeone?
I don't think so.
But like Maddie said, anotherleader could influence them to
be more passionate.
(25:38):
Mm-hmm.
But having the desire to bepassionate, is that enough?
That's kind of your question.
You want to be passionate, butcan you, in and of your own,
just decide to do it?
I think you could.
Do you know why?
Because if you decide to dosomething and you commit to it,
(25:59):
oftentimes you can do it.
And so it makes me think of, Ifollow a preacher named David
Wilkerson.
And he's passed away now, buthe's a great guy.
I've listened to a lot of hismessages, but he taught a series
on being a man of another sort.
(26:20):
Maybe we can listen to it oneday on here, but it's like a
four or five minute thing.
And he says that there waspeople in the Old Testament, the
men in the Old Testament, thatwanted to become a man of
another sort.
And what he says is that theBible says they set their heart
So they set their heart to be adifferent kind of man.
(26:45):
And so he says, he believes, andhe preached that you can set
your heart to something, and youcan do that.
So I have to say, based on that,that yes, you could set your
heart to become a better leaderand exhibit passion, and you
could study it, and you could...
(27:07):
learn it and then you couldimplement it and you could do
all the things that we talkabout on the show and you could
improve it for sure.
It's a great question.
Certainly something to thinkabout, but I think you could.
We're about to go over 10 waysto become a more passionate
leader.
(27:28):
You can make your list.
These are things we can do.
These are things that you cando.
What I would...
Before I do that, these aregoing to be 10 ways to become a
more passionate leader.
But if you're thinking toyourself right now, well, I'm
not a leader and I'm not thatpassionate.
(27:49):
Or you could say, well, I am aleader, but I'm not that
passionate.
We all know that we're leaders,but I'm not that passionate.
I need to do these things.
Yes, or you need to find someoneto do these with you, right?
So, I mean, look, maybe you havea boss at work or a manager or a
mentor.
that you could give this list toand say, hey, help me with some
(28:12):
of this stuff.
And so that's good.
So number one, 10 ways to becomea more passionate leader.
Number one is to share yourvision.
Share your vision.
And that is speaking aboutsomething that you care deeply
about that inspire others andembrace your vision and
(28:36):
enthusiasm.
Passion and leadership involvesmore than just words like we
talked about.
So the number one is share yourvision.
That's the most important, Ithink.
Number two is engage witheveryone.
Increase your engagement witheverybody around you.
Obviously, you show up regularlyand engage with your
(28:57):
organization.
It's funny.
You can be sitting in the officeworking.
Somebody out there that'slistening or you guys might be
sitting in the office workingand maybe the boss walks in and
they don't engage with anybody.
They just go to their desk.
They don't say anything toanybody.
Later on, people come around andsay, what's that dude's problem?
(29:19):
As a leader, man, it's yourresponsibility to stop and speak
to all your people.
SPEAKER_01 (29:24):
Every time.
SPEAKER_02 (29:25):
Every time.
Every time.
Yes, sir.
You have to.
It's part of your duty.
You're obligated to it, okay?
And so passionate leadershipdoesn't get mixed up hiding
behind closed doors, if thatmakes any sense.
So engage with everybody aroundyou.
(29:45):
Number three is empower yourteams.
We talked about that just a fewminutes ago, but...
Passionate leaders generateproductivity by instilling trust
and a shared vision.
Don't bottleneck progress bylimiting all the decision making
to yourself.
You've got to embrace everybodyelse's opinion.
(30:07):
And so that builds passion aswell.
Number four is to focus onsolutions, not problems.
I worked for God one time.
His name was Danny Mann.
If he ever listens to this show,he can get plugged here but I
was I used to be the kind of guythat would go to the foreman or
(30:31):
the boss and say hey you got aproblem over here and I want you
to know that I'm solving it youknow so I'd go to the to him
with a problem with no solutionand then I would just wanted him
to know there was a problem andI did that because I needed it
inside and you know I had tolearn that that was not the
(30:53):
right way to do it becausenobody wants to know about your
problems.
So what I figured out was, hey,if I give him the solution, the
way he led me to figure that outwas I would go to him and I'd
say, hey, man, what about noproblems, only solutions?
That's what he would say, noproblems, only solutions.
And so I learned from that.
(31:13):
I started doing that to peoplethat I worked with.
No problems, only solutions.
Number four is, I'm sorry,number five is to remain
positive.
This is hard.
I don't know what y'all think,but it's not always easy to be
positive.
So passion and negativity don'tgo in the same bucket.
(31:36):
They just won't.
Negativity is a tremendouskiller to progress in all kinds
of ways, specificallyleadership.
Number six is to be disruptive.
This is my favorite one.
(31:58):
Passionate leaders anticipateand drive change.
That requires being disruptive.
SPEAKER_01 (32:03):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (32:04):
We talked about change a while ago and how
important it is.
And so most of the time, peopledon't want that.
It disrupts everything.
Everything's moving.
That's just like what Matty wassaying.
Exactly.
They don't like it.
People are like, no, no, no,stop.
Like...
But reality is that when allthat stuff is changing and
(32:26):
everything's moving, everybody'sgrowing.
And if you just stop, like,okay, stop, take a breath.
But guess what?
Keep rolling.
So being disruptive createsimprovement all along the way.
Number seven, and this is a bigone.
(32:49):
We've talked about it a bunch.
Being transparent and humble.
Sharing who you are and whatyour passions are with others in
the organization encouragesothers to do the same.
If you're willing to talk aboutyour problems or things that are
(33:12):
good or bad about yourself, alot of times other people will
be willing to do it as well.
If you keep all that guarded,then they're going to stay
guarded.
So being transparent and humble.
I'm blowing through these.
Y'all slow me down if I need to.
Number eight.
(33:33):
This is a big one too.
Man, these are all good.
Maintain self-awareness.
Self-awareness is critical for apassionate leader.
And because there's a reason forthat.
Actions and decisions thatyou're making as a leader are
impacting others and otherleaders.
(33:56):
Being self-aware of that isimportant because sometimes you
can negatively impact somebody,right?
And if you're not aware andcritical, like if you're not
being intentional about yourawareness, you can be negatively
impacting other people and otherleaders.
And so you have to maintainself-awareness.
to be passionate.
(34:18):
It's, you know, everything thatyou do, look, leadership is
oftentimes looking in the mirrorconstantly, you know.
Number nine is be alwayslearning, which we kind of
talked about earlier.
(34:39):
But learning is a way to stokethe fire of passion.
So when somebody might be sayingto me, hey, Jeremy, my passion
is waning, or I just don't feellike I'm there, then it's time
to go learn, right?
Which is what we're doing.
Because when you're learning, itgenerates passion inside of you.
And so you can read books,listen to podcasts, engage with
(35:03):
others, just chit-chat, youknow, whatever.
But you can go learn.
That helps.
And number 10 is...
Avoid burnout.
So burnout is the opposite ofpassion, okay?
And so it can happen.
You can be burned out because ofdisappointment or, you know,
(35:28):
working long hours, you know,and so you have to recharge.
And, you know, I had a guy, amentor of mine, he told me, he
said, dude, you need todisconnect and recharge.
Mm-hmm.
And I just, I don't need to dothat.
But you do need to do that,despite what you think you do.
(35:49):
You do need to do that.
And so that's 10.
I don't really know which one ofthose is my favorite.
I couldn't
SPEAKER_01 (35:58):
figure it out, but...
There's some good ones in there.
The fundamentals really...
All right.
So if someone asked me, Daniel,what type of lead, what's your
leadership style?
I might say passionate afterlike, you know, like that's the
enthusiasm, like you were sayingabout engaging with everyone,
high energy, like those arethings that I naturally do.
(36:19):
But also with those 10fundamentals, I feel like
there's also pieces in therethat I could fill in some holes.
SPEAKER_02 (36:24):
Oh, yeah.
Dude, you take that list and youcan just...
I want to learn this week.
Next week, I want to maintainself-awareness.
And you focus on these thingsuntil it becomes a habit.
Look, like we talk about,leadership is learned.
You're not just born with it.
Some people think you are.
And you questioned earlier,would you be born with passion?
(36:47):
Some people are, maybe.
But I think that it's learned.
I think all of it's learned.
And I think that you canlearn...
The more you learn about thesubject, the more you learn and
study these traits, and you lookin the mirror, and you continue
to evolve, you can be acompletely different person next
year than you are today.
(37:07):
And you never want to look...
You never want to compareyourself to other people.
You always want to compareyourself to who you were
yesterday.
And you want to be a better youtomorrow.
So when you look at these 10things...
You know, you're talking aboutsharing your vision.
I mean, all you have to do istell yourself to do that.
(37:28):
You can share it with your kidsor you cannot.
But your goals in life and whatyou want to do and who you want
to be when you get old, you tellyour kids that over and over
again until it becomes real.
And you can do the same thingnegatively with your life.
(37:49):
You can...
I was just having a meeting withmy kid last week because she was
getting bullied at school.
And I was like, look, you are abeautiful, smart, kind, loving
kid that's a little short, butit doesn't matter.
And so she's getting kidspicking on our school, which we
won't get into that on thepodcast.
(38:12):
Your kids, you want to be ableto tell them who they want to
become.
And then let them tellthemselves that.
And then the same thing withyou.
If you want to become a greatleader, then you tell yourself
you're a great leader.
And then you look at all thesethings that you need to be
doing, and you do them.
And you pick one out, you workon it until it becomes habit.
(38:34):
You can pick all these 10 thingswe just talked about.
You can pick them out, and youcan come up with a tangible way
to implement that.
SPEAKER_01 (38:46):
Let's just do this.
I mean, I feel like we'veanswered the question that I
asked earlier.
Yeah, we have.
I
SPEAKER_02 (38:51):
mean, we've answered the question.
We got to it.
I think so.
It can be done.
It can be done.
But, like, remain positive.
Dude, remind yourself every day,be positive.
It's a choice.
It's a choice.
100.
That's right.
Yeah.
So, yeah, it's a choice.
I like it.
Maddie?
SPEAKER_00 (39:13):
I like empower your teams.
Um, one thing that we do, I liketo ask and we do everyone, all
the leaders at work do this.
We ask people, the employees,what do you think on a lot?
I think I shared that with youguys, maybe on the podcast,
maybe not.
Um, and it's crazy how empoweredthey feel when you ask them what
(39:37):
they, what their opinion is onsomething so small, you know?
And it's like, we don't have tomake every decision, right?
Let's go to the people who aregrinding out there every day
where we're not.
So I like that one, and then Ifocus on solutions, not the
problem.
Yeah.
Because I think I struggle withthat.
SPEAKER_02 (39:58):
Oh, yeah.
Well, we all do.
Do you have an example?
SPEAKER_00 (40:04):
Do I have an example?
Of
SPEAKER_02 (40:08):
something where you struggle with that just for fun.
SPEAKER_00 (40:13):
Let me think about it.
SPEAKER_02 (40:14):
Okay.
Well, let me do the takeawayreal quick.
So just in case you're justtuning in or you didn't hear the
whole thing, you need to go backand listen to it.
But listen, passionate leadersembrace innovation and make
disruptive improvements withinthe organization.
Right?
Period.
Period.
That's what they do.
And so, you know, go kick thecan of beans over.
(40:35):
You know, go kick it over.
It's work.
Like, seriously.
UNKNOWN (40:39):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (40:40):
I mean, obviously, be prepared to clean it up.
But go kick it over.
Change it up.
That's what's going to set youapart as a leader is when you
have the courage to come in andkick the can over, make a mess,
and clean it up.
And that's what you need to bedoing.
As a passionate leader, when youwant to set a different course,
(41:02):
then start kicking the can overand then cleaning it up.
The power of positivity and theimportance of empowering others,
that is the passionate leader.
And so, you know, we've got tobe passionate.
If not, you're not leading likeyou should
SPEAKER_01 (41:20):
be,
SPEAKER_02 (41:20):
right?
SPEAKER_01 (41:22):
I just think without that enthusiasm, then that's
when your influence...
will fade.
Wanes.
You know?
And I just keep going back tothe engaging thing.
And I just think about that.
And I just...
Like, it's...
You see it every day.
People just walking in astraight line.
Not only just business, justlife.
(41:44):
People just don't engage anddon't communicate.
I think about the grocery storewhen you talk
SPEAKER_02 (41:50):
about that.
You're walking by.
Nobody.
We're just like robots.
It's okay.
What's
SPEAKER_00 (41:57):
up?
That's me.
I definitely don't talk topeople in the grocery store.
Daniel, not everybody's anexpert.
Head down.
SPEAKER_02 (42:04):
That's funny.
Sometimes you don't feel likeengaging.
And that's okay.
But it is good to engage others.
SPEAKER_00 (42:14):
Also, the recharging to avoid burnout.
It's important.
SPEAKER_01 (42:20):
That hit me close to home.
Burnout, yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (42:23):
You've got to recharge.
You've got to get around thepeople that will love on you.
And you've got to get out of theweeds.
So here you go, Daniel.
Take things that are not addingvalue to you or to your family
or to your circle.
maybe pull it out, man.
Put something else in, you know?
I mean, I know I've had to dothat myself.
And one of the things thatcharges me, and we talked about
(42:46):
this passionate, I'm apassionate guy, is purpose.
So if, this sounds super funny,but I have to share it because
there's somebody else out theredealing with this.
If I spend my time on me, if Igo and get in a boat and go
fishing every day.
Now, I'm just telling you how itis.
(43:08):
If I do that every day for aweek, you will not want to be
around me because it doesn'tfill me up.
I have to serve people.
And so y'all know I started withthe fire department in the
Buckhead, the volunteer firedepartment, a while back because
I wanted to force myself toserve.
(43:29):
And so in serving, that's whatmakes me tick.
It's a sense of purpose.
UNKNOWN (43:34):
Mm-hmm.
SPEAKER_02 (43:35):
And without that sense of purpose, if I don't
have that sense of purpose andthat accountability, I struggle.
And so anytime, like I'm the guythat you go to the beach, I go
to the beach for a family vacay,and I'm miserable.
I'm serious.
Like people don't want to bearound me.
Because I'm working, I'm on thephone.
(43:55):
They're like, dude, cut it offfor a minute.
And I'm like, dude, I can't.
Like I lose my sense of purpose.
You don't want to be around me.
I'm not very fun to be around.
But as long as I'm...
purposefully finding purpose,then I'm happy.
SPEAKER_00 (44:11):
Purposefully passionate.
SPEAKER_02 (44:13):
Yeah, that's good.
Anyway.
Write that down.
Got it.
We can do a post for that, aquote.
Anyway, is that enough?
How many minutes did we get?
Oh, yeah, we
SPEAKER_00 (44:29):
covered that one.
SPEAKER_02 (44:30):
We covered that one good.
Any more comments, takeaways?
Deporting words.
SPEAKER_00 (44:36):
This was really good for me.
SPEAKER_02 (44:37):
Great job, guys.
Great job.
I love you guys.
Good job, Jeremy.
Signing off.
SPEAKER_00 (44:40):
Signing off.
See ya.
Bye.
See ya.
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