There is a lot of great material available about how to create a great company. There is certainly no shortage of advice on how to succeed. There are guidelines, rules, tips, and tricks for taking your business—and your personal success—to the next level.
As a matter of fact, there was a great article by Paul Alofs that showed up recently on Linkedin® entitled 8 Rules For Creating A Passionate Work Culture. You can read the whole article here (and I recommend it), but let me summarize Alofs’ “8 Rules”:
1. Hire the Right People
2. Communicate
3. Tend to the Weeds
4. Work Hard, Play Hard
5. Be Ambitious
6. Celebrate Differences
7. Create Space
8. Take the Long View
Those are all great topics, and Alofs does a really nice job of unpacking them. I’ve spoken and written often on several of these topics, myself, because they are critical to business success. The thing that really impresses me about these things is the common goal behind all the activities: Creating a Passionate Work Culture. None of these eight activities stands alone. You can hire the right people—but then what? You can be ambitious, but where does that lead? You can take a long view of your business, but who cares?
If you’re not passionate about what you’re doing you won’t be able to hire other passionate people. And if you and your employees aren’t passionate about what you do, you’ll eventually stop doing it—or at least you’ll stop doing it well. There’s nothing wrong with financial success. But eventually, that won’t be enough. You need to set your sights higher.
The great thing is that if you are truly passionate about what you do, those other eight things tend to fall into place much more easily. But it starts with you.
I’m passionate about helping individuals become great leaders that build great companies. It’s what keeps me up some nights and it’s what occupies my thoughts when I wake up in the morning. Frankly, I have a hard time imagining doing anything else. I’m always looking for ways to get better at doing it, and I’m always looking for people I can help. That’s the inner fire that drives me.
What’s your inner fire?