Last week I had the pleasure of speaking to a group of students at the Richard Ivey School of Business. The event was hosted by Nspire, an organization developed to drive tomorrow’s leaders to innovate and create positive change.
As I hopped on the bus to London my adrenaline was rushing. This was one of my first speaking engagements as a leadership coach, and I was feeling confident in the topic that was chosen: The Passionate Leader.
When I took to the stage, I began by taking the crowd through the past 4 years of my life (super condensed obviously), where I lived thinking I was a passionate leader. I had achieved all these great things, that in my mind I was convinced I was a passionate guy who was leading. Then I told them about my crash in 2011 when everything began to fall apart and I had no idea what was going on or where I was going. It was through a series of events that I finally learned 2 of the most valuable lessons of my life.
1) Passion has nothing to prove
All my life I had been doing things to prove to others that I was a somebody. I would achieve great things, with the mentality ‘Hey, look at me’. The problem was, as soon as I wasn’t ‘achieving’ in 2011, all that confidence went away. In my eyes, passion is innate. It isn’t fuelled from the outside, but rather burns from the inside. In the presentation below you’ll see some of the key elements I use to describe passion.
2) Leaders don’t walk alone
Seeing as I was always trying to ‘show others’ what ended up happening is I always wanted to stay ahead of them. I was leading myself, but on the journey with me didn’t seem to be anyone else. It was this strive to be better to prove something, that I often looked out for myself and forgot about others. The way I see it, true leaders don’t walk alone. They join others who are on similar paths and always keep a hand outstretched to help others who want it.
By the end, I felt like I had given the crowd everything I had, and thankfully they responded. With humbling comments from many after the talk, I was most excited that they were able to relate to my story in their own way and learn how they can truly become a passionate leader in their lives.
Some Other Highlights…
- I randomly met the organizer of the event at a coffee shop before a conference last year, and through that connection he asked me to be part of this event. (Thanks Dhruv!) Moral of this point: you never know where a connection with someone may lead you!
- Someone I met just before I spoke told me how they tried out marketing, loved it, and decided to attempt to switch out of their current science stream to pursue it. To me that was amazing to see and I even incorporated it into my talk, because that is passion. It’s listening to what you want in your life and going after it.
- I had my first appearance techvibes, a popular online community. Check out the article here. (Thanks Herbert!)
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I speak on any topic from a leadership perspective. Click here to find out more.
Imagine you could change the world with 2 words. Well you can, and it's simply your name. Your name not only defines you, but it represents YOUR thoughts and interests... thoughts that lead to actions, and interests that drive passion... it's these very elements that shape the world we see today. We are all part of this; each and every one of us in our own unique way. What you are about to read is a collection of my thoughts and interests... my attempts to change the world... 
