Forrest Guth, 1944<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nHow many times have you heard that\u2014or a variation of it?<\/p>\n
The principle abounds in leadership teaching. To be a truly successful leader, you need to discover your passion and operate only from that grid. Spend your days doing what you\u2019re most interested in. Discover your passion and thrive doing what you do best.<\/p>\n
The principle is true if passion is defined as an overall sense of purpose.<\/p>\n
But the principle becomes problematic if passion is defined as only aiming for life\u2019s sweet spot.<\/p>\n
I don\u2019t know about you, but there have been plenty of times I\u2019ve been called to lead where I\u2019m not doing what I love, and I\u2019m not loving what I\u2019m doing. I\u2019ve been exhausted, frustrated, burned out, angry, or discouraged. I\u2019ve needed to lead from duty, responsibility, will power, or necessity.<\/p>\n
Enter a simple principle, one that\u2019s so powerful it trumps the narrower definition of passion. When you lead from this principle, you\u2019re not worried about having bad days, getting your needs met, or always loving what you\u2019re doing.<\/p>\n
The principle is willingness.<\/p>\n
Forrest Guth, one of the original Band of Brothers, embodied this principle after jumping into Holland for Operation Market Garden. Seconds out of the plane, he discovered to his horror that his parachute hadn\u2019t fully inflated. Guth streamed through the sky, flailing. The men had jumped too low to open reserve chutes. Desperately, Guth tried to smooth out his silk. No success.<\/p>\n
Guth thudded into the dirt and was knocked out cold. When he came to, his back and leg were paralyzed. Medics hauled him to a cattle barn where he lay for two days until the line moved up. They put him in a jeep, carted him to the rear, and put him on a plane to a hospital in England.<\/p>\n
Guth was bedridden for weeks. Gradually, some feeling returned to his leg and back. But his fighting days were over. Doctors gave him the wonderful news that his injuries were sufficient to be discharged from the military. His wounds were his golden ticket home.<\/p>\n
Home.<\/p>\n
That was Guth\u2019s place of passion. Home meant apple pie and girlfriends, hot food, clean sheets, and Glen Miller on the radio.<\/p>\n
Guth could hop the next plane for America.<\/p>\n
But\u2014get this\u2014Guth said no.<\/p>\n
Of his own volition, he walked out of the hospital to rejoin his unit, just as they were heading into Bastogne, one of the coldest, bloodiest, and most miserable battles of history.<\/p>\n
Why?<\/p>\n
\u201cI couldn\u2019t leave my friends,\u201d Guth said, in an interview with me a few years back. \u201cThere was more work to be done.\u201d<\/p>\n
Some might argue that the battle, not home, was Guth\u2019s true place of passion. He was passionate about serving his buddies in their greatest time of need.<\/p>\n
I\u2019ll agree with that.<\/p>\n
But\u2014and here\u2019s the core of the point I want to make\u2014when Guth was huddled in a foxhole with his feet frostbitten, his stomach growling, the water in his canteen frozen, and artillery shells exploding all around him blowing his friends to bits, did Guth ever smile and say, \u201cY\u2019know, I just love this place, and love what I\u2019m doing here.\u201d?<\/p>\n
No way.<\/p>\n
If we define passion as always loving what we\u2019re doing, then we need to broaden our definition of passion, because success in leadership is certainly not about feeling good all the time.<\/p>\n
Another historical leader, St. Paul of Tarsus, put it this way: \u201cBe leaders, not because you must, but because you\u2019re willing.\u201d<\/p>\n
That\u2019s what\u2019s needed.<\/p>\n
Willingness.<\/p>\n
When the battle isn\u2019t over, willingness gets things done.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Question: have you ever been in a place you needed to be, yet it was still difficult? What did you do to go on?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cDo what youlove, and love what you do.\u201d How many times have you heard that\u2014or a variation of it? The principle abounds in leadership teaching. To be a truly successful leader, you need to discover your passion and operate only from that grid. Spend your days doing what you\u2019re most interested in. Discover your passion […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1105,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[40],"class_list":["post-517","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-parenting","tag-band-of-brothers"],"yoast_head":"\n
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