My passion for creativity, entrepreneurship and life has often taken me places that I would never have gone if I lived my life a little quieter. At the same time, though, my passion has undone me in times when I wish I had pulled back, brought more focus and thought more logically about my decisions.
I heard something this week in a podcast that I found really interesting. The mark of a great leader is their capacity to bring both intuition and intellect.
Intuition can be described I believe as passionate inklings. The dictionary describes it this way;
The ability to understand something instinctively, without the need for conscious reasoning.
A lot of my leadership journey has been strengthened by both passion and instinct. There have been many times where I have been on paper the lesser person at the table, but my weakness has been superseded by intuition. I am able to speak from a place of instinct and prophetically bring something to the table because I have learnt to listen to my inner voice. Essentially I have been the least at the table, but been the conduit for the answer the collective needed. Often I have not taken myself to seriously and spoken like I mean what I am saying and the difference in the room is palpable. I love how Maya Angelou describes it.
My mission in life is not merely to survive, but to thrive; and to do so with some passion, some compassion, some humor, and some style. Maya Angelou
Do you feel crap and unsteady in leadership?
Do you feel unqualified to sit at the table?
Passion is your friend.
Instinct is your weapon.
And humility is your uniform.
If you can bring a sound to the leadership table, if you can learn to listen to your gut and have the humility to look like a fool, you, my friend can go anywhere. You can take down those places that seem unattainable and yes it can take you places you would have never dreamed of.
I have met many entrepreneurs who have the passion and even the work ethic to succeed – but who are so obsessed with an idea that they don’t see its obvious flaws. Think about that. If you can’t even acknowledge your failures, how can you cut the rope and move on? Kevin O’Leary
We need all three of these personality traits to see the success that is long lasting. Passion, instinct and humility to admit our flaws.
Do you feel unable?
Don’t worry I often feel this, but I am determined to keep having a go at doing hard things. When I fail I get back up again, when I am unsure I ask my gang for feedback and mostly I just have a big go.
Speak again tomorrow
