“Fearless Leaders” book Part 4: Dr. TC North on ColoradoBiz TV with Associate Editor Lisa Ryckman. Unrelenting Fire (the Power of Passion).
This is the fourth part of the Fearless Leaders book interview with Lisa Ryckman and me. Unrelenting fire, or passion is the fourth defining characteristic of what makes Fearless Leaders great leaders. Here is the interview, you may watch and listen, or read the text.
Lisa: TC, let’s talk about the fourth defining characteristic of Fearless Leaders. What is the fourth characteristic?
Dr. North: The fourth defining characteristic is having unrelenting fire. It’s passion. I’ve worked with hundreds and hundreds of people who are great, or the best in the world at what they do. And I can tell you, Lisa, you can be good, you can be very good, but to be great at what you do, you’ve got to have that unrelenting fire; you’ve got to have that drive. That’s the only thing that allows someone to go from good, or very good, to great.
Lisa: So give us some examples of people that have that unrelenting fire.
Dr. North: Malcom Gladwell [shared a great story] in his book, “Outliers” about Bill Gates. Everyone thinks about Bill Gates as creating Microsoft, but they don’t really know about him in his youth and how he became a master as a programmer first. He loved programming so much that when he was in high school, he would literally climb out of his window at night. He would go up to the university where he could get on the computer for free, and he would program for about four or five hours. Then he would go home and he’d climb back into his window so that he would be in his bed when his mother came to wake him up in the morning. That’s unrelenting fire.
Another example, a very different example … is Rebecca Lolosoli, … I feel very honored that I got to interview her for the book. Rebecca Lolosoli is changing the way women are treated in the whole country of Kenya, and she’s doing it single-handedly. Rebecca is the most courageous person I’ve ever met. She’s been beaten more times than she can count. She’s had a gun held to her head. Every day she lives with “am I going to die or not?” and she doesn’t worry about it. She’s just committed to improving the life of women in Kenya. So both Bill Gates and Rebecca Lolosoli are amazing Fearless Leaders but very different in how they apply it.
Lisa: So how do you find that unrelenting fire? How do you find that passion? People go through their lives and never have any idea what it is they’re passionate about. How do you find it?
Dr. North: There is a process to go through to find passion. Most of us as adults have accepted a life without passion. You can tell passionate people, when you meet them, they just love what they do. They’re always great. It doesn’t matter whether they’re sweeping the floor or they’re an executive.
To find it, you have to search; you have to be willing to be honest with yourself. There’s a process that we take people through where you look at what are you really good at, what do you love to do and have passion for, and then, how you connect … what you have passion for with something the world needs that you can provide?
If you love playing tennis and you’re never going to be a professional tennis player, how can you connect your love of tennis to doing something that you love and can make money doing? Maybe it’s to be a reporter of tennis. Maybe it’s to be a tennis teacher. Maybe it’s something involved in selling tennis equipment so that you’re around tennis. Find something so that you can live in, or around your passions.
Lisa: What’s the difference between a leader who has that unrelenting fire and someone who does not have it? … What’s the difference in terms of their trajectories as leaders?
Dr. North: The one with unrelenting fire usually goes like this [motions arm upward into the sky]. I’ve worked with leaders long enough, and some of them long enough individually, that I’ve had them go like this [motions arm upward toward the sky again], and then, they lost their fire and went like this [motions arm down toward the floor].
They were no longer interested in their own industry, or their own business, because of how it had changed or whatever, because of rules, different technologies. I work with a lot of people in technology, and they didn’t like the direction of the new technology, but that was the space they were in, so they lost their energy, their passion for it, and literally their companies go down at some point after they go down in their unrelenting fire.
Lisa: So finding it is one piece of it, but keeping it is another piece.
Dr. North: Yes. This morning I was coaching a guy who’s been the number one guy in his field for 21 years, and I’ve worked with him for all of those 21 years on and off. And with him and others we’re always looking at what motivates you this year. What keeps you at the top, if that’s what you want and if that’s not what you want.
One of the things that we looked at today is we redefined ROI for an entrepreneur. The return on your [work] time is both financial and it’s free time and we looked at that balance. Well this year, he had his best financial year ever, so he committed to the same in terms of revenue, but to do it in a way that he has more free time. That’s a better return on investment.
Lisa: What your passion might be, may be something that’s evolving from year to year, from month to month? Does it have to be a constant? Can it be something different?
Dr. North: Yes, absolutely. It’s often related, but it can and will change for many people. In these four interviews, Lisa, we’ve covered the four sections of the book. The four sections are Act With Inspiring Courage, Be a Mindset Master, Think With Mindfulness and Excel With Unrelenting Fire. What I love about the book is it not only presents the information, but it also gives you the tools to be successful with the 12 Fearless Leaders secrets.
Lisa: Thanks so much, TC. This has been great. Thanks for watching Colorado Business TV.
Dr. TC North is a small business coach and speaker. He is also the co-author of the best selling book, Fearless Leaders. This post is partially exerted from the Fearless Leaders book.
