Can Passion be taught? [Leadership Summit 2011 – Part 5]

I love this question! LOVE IT!

Passion does not need to be taught…it is already inside of us…it is part of our DNA.

It is embedded inside our very language…it is the discourse that cannot escape us. Think about one thing that if the world was going to end next week…what would you really want to do with your life?

What is the one thing in the world, in your world that makes you get up in the morning and smell the breath of life. The one thing that fuels your fire. This one thing that makes you do things that you never expected you would ever do if logic took complete control of your life.

Finding that passion is part of our coming of age. I remember the first time I found the entrepreneurial spirit inside of me. I was working for a technology company, and my mentor had passion like no other. He had the unbelievable ability to help me see life through his eyes. He taught me that there is no such thing as failure and that swinging the bat is a good thing. He has a passion for entrepreneurship.

Passion is language…it is like learning a new word, and once it has entered your vocabulary…it is hard to remove that word from your everyday routine. So how do you find that passion? You surround yourself with passionate people sharing a common cause. That is why you find great entrepreneurial leaders spending lots of time building great board’s of directors or advisors. They have a desire to surround themselves with the same, equally yoked, passionate people.

Passion is language and we have it embedded inside our hearts…we just have to learn the words to express those inner most feelings.