After leaving his job as a vice president at D.E. Shaw & Co, a Wall Street-based investment banking firm to start a company no one ever heard of, everyone told him he was crazy. Many felt Bezos made the biggest mistake of his life, but Bezos was unfulfilled at that job, and you cannot lead people if you are not inspired; you may be able to manage them, but you cannot influence them.
However, he found the inspiration within to ignore the naysayers and follow his heart to start Amazon. It was difficult at the beginning, just like any other startup, but he believed his company will one day make it big, his faith was so high he was willing to bet against popular opinion to pursue something he loved. Bezos followed his heart, found his love, and went for it, and now Amazon is the most valuable company in the world.
When Chris Gardner decided to become stockbroker with his 2-year-old baby with no place to live, he followed that feeling in his heart. Chris went for it despite all the hardship; sleeping in shelters and in the MacArthur station toilet floor with his baby to pursue this dream to become a stockbroker. His faith was much more significant than his fears, and he persevered to become a multi-millionaire because he chooses to live by faith as opposed to the fears in his mind.
Become Passionate
Leaders are passionate about their mission and vision of their organization because they understand that their passion and love for their work, enable others to feel excited as well. Shared passion makes organizations soar, according to Susan M. Heathfield. It is so important to follow your heart and pursue something you love to do despite failure and challenges. You must believe everything will work out at the end.
Take The Risk, If It Doesn’t Work Out, That’s OK, Try Something-else
If you try something and it doesn’t work out that’s OK, keep trying. I listened to an interview with T.D. Jakes and Steven Furtick, and in the discussion, T.D Jakes shared a story about his son who was pursuing an engineering degree in Music and had concerns about his purpose. T.D. Jakes son said “dad, suppose I throw everything at it, and it’s really not the thing I want to do,” and T.D Jakes replied, “don’t worry about it son, if it is not the thing, it will be the thing that leads to the thing.” Everything in life is connected, every experience is a preparation for the thing you were destined to become, don’t be afraid to try something new, even if it doesn’t work out that’s OK, those experience will bring you closer to your purpose.
Don’t Hold Yourself Back
Take a minute for a second, really, take a second; relax your body, let your mind wander a bit, let your mind loose; what's that thing you want to do but for some reason you are holding yourself back. Forget about what your coworkers may think, or your mother or your father, or people in general; this is your life, and you must live your life happily, fulfilled, and to the fullest. Our society today is driven by our minds, our fears, and our ego, according to Connie Chapman. We do not place as much value and emphasis on passion, love, fulfillment, and spiritual purpose. Instead, we are driven by fear to remain safe and to get the approval of people we think to have our best interest at heart.
Are you willing to make a sacrifice for your dream? Are you willing to follow that feeling in your heart to pursue your calling?
To become an inspirational leader, you must have a deep-seated love for your work, you must do something that you love, you must become a master of your craft, and you must have a strong relationship with faith. Your team will draw their inspiration from you, so it is imperative you love what you do. As a leader your team will feed off of you, your team will draw their inspiration from you, so don’t hold yourself back, life is too short, follow the feeling in your heart, because when you do, you automatically give people the confidence to go after their dreams.
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About The Author
Gifford is the author of The Inspirational Leader, Inspire Your Team To Believe In The Impossible, the founder of Leadership First, a member of Harvard Business Review Advisory Council and A leadership consultant with GLG. Follow our 45,000 + community of leaders on LinkedIn and download a copy of my book by following this LINK to become a leader who can inspire their team to believe in the impossible.
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