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#Passion Driven Leadership

By LeaderTalk Contributor — December 14, 2010 4 min read
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The word passion is thrown around in education so much that we need to “rescue " the concept as education leaders.

Let’s set aside for a bit the research studies and strategies, and think carefully about the habits, attitudes, and behaviors of passion-driven learners and passion-driven teams.

Considering questions like:

* What is passion...really?
* How do you define passion?
* How could/does passion change the game?
* How does passion present itself in your work? life? organization?
* What does it mean for you? our students? your teachers? parents? community?
* Can passion be “taught”?
* How is passion different than engagement?
* What conditions are necessary for passion to exist?
* Is passion a necessary or a “nice to have” quality?
* What are the repercussions of being a “passion-less” person or organization?
* Can we quantify passion? If so, how?
* What is misunderstood about passion?
* What can we do to change this? move the conversation forward?

In an effort to push the boundaries of the conversation, I recently invited a diverse group of thought leaders from across the Blog/Twittersphere to examine this topic and weigh in with their perspectives and advice.

Each with their own stories and insight examined the role passion played in their work, learning, and life. I was not only awed and amazed at the candidness, honesty, and boldness of their answers; I was amazed at how contagious the conversation became. Hundreds of tweets and fifty plus blog posts later, confirms that passion matters to educators, innovators, marketers, bloggers, branding specialists, parents, radio personalities, project managers, PR pros, professional speakers, leaders, scientists, leaders, coaches, and students.

Seth Godin would say,“a tribe” like this, could change the world, and I couldn’t agree more! This small Twitter project is a microcosm of the potential these conversations could have in your world.

Passion, energy, and initiative are gifts that people choose to give or withhold day-by-day and moment-by-moment. Engaging these gifts requires managing and organizing our classrooms” and our schools in very different and distinctive ways.

Inspiring people to give generously of these talents and gifts requires a renewed commitment to passion. We need to help keep the conversations going. Join me in rescuing this very important topic by using the hashtag #passiondriven, so all conversations can be linked.

We CAN change the world, but not alone and not without passion!

Happy Holidays, Friends and Leaders!
Angela MaiersThe word passion is thrown around in education so much that we need to “rescue " the concept as education leaders.

Let’s set aside for a bit the research studies and strategies, and think carefully about the habits, attitude, and behavior of passion-driven learners and passion-driven teams considering questions like:

* What is passion...really?
* How do you define passion?
* How could/does passion change the game?
* How does passion present itself in your work? life? organization?
* What does it mean for you? our students? your teachers? parents? community?
* Can passion be “taught”?
* How is passion different than engagement?
* What conditions are necessary for passion to exist?
* Is passion a necessary or a “nice to have” quality?
* What are the repercussions of being a “passion-less” person or organization?
* Can we quantify passion? If so, how?
* What is misunderstood about passion?
* What can we do to change this? move the conversation forward?

In an effort to push the boundaries of the conversation, I recently invited a diverse group of thought leaders from across the Blog/Twittersphere to examine this topic and weigh in with their perspectives and advice.

Each with their own stories and insight examined the role passion played in their work, learning, and life. I was not only awed and amazed at the candidness, honesty, and boldness of their answers; I was amazed at how contagious the conversation became. Hundreds of tweets and fifty plus blog posts later, confirms that passion matters to educators, innovators, marketers, bloggers, branding specialists, parents, radio personalities, project managers, PR pros, professional speakers, leaders, scientists, leaders, coaches, and students.

Seth Godin would say,“a tribe” like this, could change the world, and I couldn’t agree more! This small Twitter project is a microcosm of the potential these conversations could have in your world.

Passion, energy, and initiative are gifts that people choose to give or withhold day-by-day and moment-by-moment. Engaging these gifts requires managing and organizing our classrooms” and our schools in very different and distinctive ways.

Inspiring people to give generously of these talents and gifts requires a renewed commitment to passion. We need to help keep the conversations going. Join me in rescuing this very important topic by using the hashtag #passiondriven, so all conversations can be linked.

We CAN change the world, but not alone and not without passion!

Happy Holidays, Friends and Leaders!
Angela Maiers

The opinions expressed in LeaderTalk are strictly those of the author(s) and do not reflect the opinions or endorsement of Editorial Projects in Education, or any of its publications.