THE POWER OF PASSION IN LEADERSHIP
Lead From Your Heart, Not Just Your Head
Dr. Hans Finzel
THE POWER OF PASSION IN LEADERSHIP
Lead From Your Heart, Not Just Your Head
Dr. Hans Finzel
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, transmitted, copied in any form or by any means, with any type of media without permission in writing from the author.
Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version ®, NIV ®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by Biblica, Inc ™. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com. Scripture quotations marked NLT are taken from the New Living Translation of the Holy Bible. New Living Translation copyright © 1996, 2004 by Tyndale Charitable Trust.
© 2015 by Hans Finzel
Top Ten Enterprises Publishing
9457 S University #712
Highlands Ranch, CO 80126
ISBN 978-0-692-33348-8
FOREWORD
CHAPTER ONE: Lead From Your Heart, Not Just Your Head
CHAPTER TWO: Do What You Love, Love What You Do
CHAPTER THREE: Seven Deadly Motives in Leadership
CHAPTER FOUR: The Passion Piranhas Out to Get Your Heart
CHAPTER FIVE: Are You Strolling Among the Walking Dead?
CHAPTER SIX: The Road to Passion Recovery - Option One: Stay Put and Get Your Groove Back
CHAPTER SEVEN: The Road to Passion Recovery - Option Two: Seek a Way Out as you Move Toward Your Heart
CHAPTER EIGHT: Go Ahead – Take the Plunge
ABOUT HANS FINZEL
OTHER LEADERSHIP BOOKS BY HANS FINZEL
The Top Ten Mistakes Leaders Make
The Top Ten Leadership Commandments
Change is Like a Slinky
New release by Hans Finzel and Rick Hicks
I hope you enjoy this little book about a big topic: passion in leadership. The longer I live the more I find that matters of the heart reign supreme in the lives of all leaders.
“Above all else, guard your heart,
For everything you do flows from it.”
Proverbs 4:23
I have made this eBook interactive, with lots of links to podcasts, books and other resources that can help you in your journey.
I would love to hear from you. I can always be reached through my website at www.hansfinzel.com on the contact tab. I promise that I read every email personally and respond, as I am able.
Website: hansfinzel.com
Twitter: @hansfinzel
Facebook: facebook.com/hansfinzel
YouTube channel: Youtube.com/hansfinzel
“Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do the work you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven't found it yet, keep looking. Don't settle.” - Steve Jobs (Walter Isaacson, Steve Jobs, Simon and Schuster, 2011)
My heart seemed to be battling my head for a long time. In my heart I knew something was wrong, but my head kept telling me to ignore it. “I am making a great impact--so what if I am not happy?” It came to a head for me one day in my garage at home. I was going on a walk and put on my favorite “Life is Good,” baseball cap. I noticed that they had sewn their slogan inside the cap, so when you put it on your head you see their message. “Do what you like, like what you do.” I said to myself, “I am doing neither.”
It was time for a change. I used to find fulfillment in my career, but not anymore. I needed to start paying attention to my heart. Isn’t it funny how some of the oddest things can speak to us and change our whole direction in life? I guess the important thing is to listen and respond. I am a follower of Christ and find that He talks to me in all sorts of ways. Of course God speaks to me a lot through my Bible. Sometimes He speaks to me at church or through a deep conversation with someone. God uses my wife to speak to me from time to time, and I really listen to that! I love the outdoors and I often sense God’s whisper as I am pursuing my love of mountain biking or am in the hot tub on our deck. But this time it seemed He used my cap. My heart was not in what I was doing for my day job—I was just going through the motions with my head. I had to figure out how to flip my heart and my head…. And there were just two options. More on that later, along with the rest of my story.
Leading from the heart is working and leading from your passion zone. Why does leading from the heart really matter? It can be natural to think, “If I am smart enough, gifted enough and work hard enough, of course people will respond to my leadership.” I know what I am talking about, because occasionally in my career I put my head before my heart. The more gifted you are, and the smarter you are, the more that this can be a temptation and the easy default. The problem is, that kind of leadership does not inspire people and build deep loyalty. I have noticed just the opposite. People follow people who they know, trust and believe. That trust is built between leader and follower within their hearts. People follow leaders who are operating in their “passion zone.” There is some sort of a magnetic loyalty that grows in followers who respond to leaders who lead with passion out front. I unpack this zone a lot more in later chapters.