Have you ever wished that there could be a "silver bullet" for success in the business world?
I am beginning to believe that a certain ingredient sets the top leaders aside from every one else. It became clear, recently, while I was a judge and listening to the testimonies of chief executives at the Global Leadership Awards in Malaysia. In nearly every speech, there was a common thread: passion.
This was one of the most consistent messages shared by a group of senior leaders, including the famous shoe and fashion designer Jimmy Choo, the airline industry entrepreneur Tony Fernandes, and the philanthropist Yank Barry. But how is it that passion could be deemed so critical to business that we might call it the silver bullet?
Some experts argue that the most important elements for business include capital, the kinds and quality of products or services, or an employee base. It is true that each of those is important. Yet what would leaders be without passion? Some might argue that even if you are in a cash-rich position but do not have passion about your business you can forget being number one in the market.
When the topic of passion comes up, many people typically think of love, lust or hate.
But in its purest form passion is intense enthusiasm towards something. In business, passion is what gives employees the effort to make the extra effort to provide the best quality, greatest products or incredible service every time. Employees with passion have an eager interest to do more.
The reason that passion matters so much in business is summarised in Plato's belief that passion overwhelms reason. Businesses that act within reason never reach number one because success lies outside the bounds of tradition. Imagine a workforce that was full of intense enthusiasm, and notice how some people seem to be successful, happy and living their purpose, while others seem to be stuck in a rut, unfulfilled.
Yet having passion about your company as a leader, and instilling that passion in others regarding the work they do, are two different aspects of leadership. Just because you are passionate for your company does not automatically translate into the same level of passion by the people you lead. Great leaders build passion in their employees, and throughout the leadership awards dinner it was obvious that these leaders, in addition to having passion, recognised the importance of building that sentiment within their organisations.
This approach is especially needed in work environments in the GCC.
While there are huge ambitions here and good capital positions, the work environments tend to be cautious, reserved and hierarchical. One of the roles of a leader should be to instil passion in their employees. This means giving an employee a reason to work and painting a picture of the future that is exciting, energising and rewarding. In other words, give them something to look forward to.
Of course, if your ambitions are not to be the best and strive to be number one, then passion may not matter as much. But the champions of business know that passion is the silver bullet of success.
Tommy Weir is an authority on fast-growth and emerging-market leadership, author of The CEO Shift and managing director of the Emerging Markets Leadership Center.
