As you begin this year I hope you are?thinking about new ways to improve your leadership in all aspects of your life. Beginning today, I have a way to help you do just that.
Today I am proud to release my newest book: “The Power of Passion in Leadership.”
Do you do what you love and love what you do? How many of us are stuck in day jobs that really don?t suit us? Has your heart left the building? In this short new passion-packed book you will learn what it means to work in your ?passion zone.? I explain from my own journey, how to find your passion zone and what action steps to take if you are far from that place of fulfillment.
Don’t just take my word for it, here are some comments about the book from some great mentors in leadership:
You?re in a leadership role?or maybe you?re headed for your first leadership role. If you?re an emerging leader, are you looking forward to the opportunity? If you?re already there, are you fulfilled, finding joy and peace? Does your leadership inspire others? Do you love what you do or is it a drudgery? Are you where you belong? Is your heart engaged or are you just going through the motions? The Power of Passion in Leadership by Hans Finzel will help you grow into a better understanding of yourself, your leadership role and what inspired leadership looks like.
Bob Creson, President/CEO, Wycliffe Bible Translators USA
Passion matters. Hans does an incredible job teaching us how to find the passion that will lead to both success and significance. He expertly guides us in the ways that compel people to naturally follow us and also how to connect the deepest feelings of our heart with our work. If you?ve lost your passion, or never quite found it, read this book! It will teach you how to lead with a heart that is fully alive.
Kathrine Lee, Life & Business Strategist, Co-Creator of the Ultimate Source & Founder of the Pure Hope Foundation.
How many of us are stuck in day jobs that really don?t suit us? We have no fire and our heart has left the building. In this short new passion-packed book by Dr. Hans Finzel, you will learn what it means to move toward working in your ?passion zone.? People love following leaders who lead from their hearts as well as their heads. I could not be more enthused to recommend this short and to the point book to all my listeners.John Lee Dumas, Host of the award winning podcast, Entrepreneur on Fire.
Here is a preview of part of Chapter One, to give you an idea of what to expect:
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.
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. There is some sort of a magnetic loyalty that grows in followers who respond to leaders who lead with passion out front.
Don’t get me wrong. Our heads are important. A lot of great leaders that we love to follow are very smart. I can think of a lot of famous people throughout history that changed the world through their powerful intellects and gifting. But if you dissect their leadership, you always find the passion factor very high and usually the thing that drew people to follow them. Think of the likes of Nelson Mandela, Margaret Thatcher, John F Kennedy, Martin Luther King, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Gandhi and Princess Diana. These were all very smart people who led with their hearts out front.
Nothing trumps passion. If you light yourself on fire, people will come to watch you burn. People follow people of passion. Conversely, when the fire goes out of our hearts, nothing will make people wander away faster and find someone else to follow. Some of us end up pretenders walking like zombies among the walking dead. Sound a little dramatic? It would be if I had not met some of you. I will explain that in a moment.
I love the razor sharp focus of this verse from the Old Testament book of Proverbs. It sums up the topic of this book and why everything in the leader?s life flows from the heart (Proverbs 4:23):
?Above all else, guard your heart, For everything you do flows from it.?
If you don?t think that passion is a big deal, read that verse again. It is the deal. Our passion lives in our heart of hearts. If we lose our heart we lose our leadership credibility. Proverbs declares that everything we do and touch flows from the heart as its ultimate source. The actions of our hands and the thoughts that flow out of our mouths all emerge from our heart. ?Everything that we do,? seems to flow from our heart of hearts.
