David Stannard – author and Best Practice Network Member
I describe “Passion as the hidden secret ingredient. It is the leadership glue that can transform an organisation and its results. It is quite simply a difference maker, a culture transformer, that extra something that separates excellence from average”.
But passion is not automatic. It cannot be bought like a software package. It can’t be inoculated or taught by a consultant. It is a leadership quality. It is an intrinsic value; it comes from within. You have to find inside of you; you have to create the attitude yourself.
But where does it come from? How do you get it?
One of our tag lines or mantras at Paradise Rescued is “Mission Vision Passion”. We find that this describes and motivates us pretty damn well. Our start-up as an organisation came about from our desire to sustain the land around our family and our neighbours’ homes as a vineyard rather than have more housing constructed which would have removed our rural existence. Hence our goal therefore was to maintain the heritage of our village that is overlooked by a small 12th century church. Our WHY – our Mission – had been easily defined.
We worked hard to create a strong physical and mental picture of what Paradise Rescued would look like in the future. We drew our (now) well known Vision picture which reminds us every day of where we are going and what our future will look like. The WHAT was clear.
And the combination of our Mission and Vision inspires us to give the project every ounce of energy we have got. Where we lack in skill, knowledge and experience we compensate with energy, research and diligent hard work. And that’s what is called Passion. We also found our HOW.
But it doesn’t quite end there. The greater the passion, the energy, the commitment we give, the greater the desire to fulfil our Mission and realise our Vision. And so a small mutually supportive loop – our Trifecta for Success – has been established.
And slowly over time that passion grows with our team. When we started operations, we were told that our first vineyard block was planted in Merlot. Just days before signing the final legal papers we learnt that the vines were actually Cabernet Franc. Once we got over the initial shock and disappointment, we worked out that we had a unique opportunity. We started to get to work on converting our so-called “Cabbage Patch” into one of the best Cabernet Franc vineyard blocks and full varietal wines in Bordeaux. The handcrafted passion and skill that has gone into resurrecting that small Cabernet Franc vineyard is very evident in the taste of the B1ockOne wine that it now produces. We are now proud to be participating, leading and promoting the global renaissance of one the world’s most versatile and beautiful wine varieties.
Passion is pretty difficult to fake. As it comes from within, it always on display. And leaders, if you want passion within your organisation, it starts with and inside you! When you have passion, so much more becomes possible. The ideas flow, the innovation kicks in and a focus for success is established.
You can read more about “Passion – the secret ingredient” in David Stannard’s second book entitled “It’s Not About the Dirt”, just released through Kindle on
https://www.amazon.com.au/Its-Not-about-Dirt-Paradise-ebook/dp/B01N7T4GNN