Love Your Job and the Rest Will Follow: Passion as a Leadership Skill

Love Your Job and the Rest Will Follow: Passion as a Leadership Skill

Irish-Australian colleague DJ Cronin speaks his mind with passion and humor, reflecting on the importance of truly loving the role of leading volunteers.

I love my job. I am in love with my job. I intend to live forever! So far so good! But saying such things in today’s society can arouse suspicion. What? You are happy? It’s much more acceptable to say “I hate every minute of my job… “

Like any relationship, this love affair is not perfect. We all have the down days. We might even feel like storming out the door on some occasions. But to maintain healthy relationships, we need to work on them…I’d like you to reflect on your relationship with volunteer management as your job and will give you a few tips on what works for me with this lover.

In this feature article, Cronin proposes four key elements of success: authentic leadership, a sense of humor, excellent communication, and passion. He also shares tips for how to “keep the romance going” and what to do “if the relationship fails.”

Is he speaking in your voice?

To read the full article

Wed, 04/15/2015
My favorite bit of this was the section on humor. Research such as is found in the Happiness Advantage by Shawn Anchor (highly recommended) and mega-successful companies such as Zappos in the USA are just two examples of why DJ's advice on a sense of humor are worth following. Thanks for the volunteer/politician joke. It made me chuckle and I've posted it in our kitchen. :)

Wed, 04/15/2015
Brilliant Article! Thank you so much for sharing! I agree with all of it but certainly feel the most connected to the idea of taking time to actively stay engaged with volunteers. I love your description of the Volly's! Too fun!

Thu, 04/16/2015
Great article. I too, loved the humor, we do not laugh enough. When did life become so serious? I also believe we as managers do not take care of ourselves. I love the idea of a VM retreat. Now I have ideas dancing in my head for our local VM association. I also love my job and consider it a blessing to be able to say that.

Sat, 04/18/2015
Wonderful to read about someone else loving their job as much as I do. It sometimes feels so against the current to be admitting to this passion especially here in undemonstrative England. It is so right and healthy to align ones values with the work one does that I struggle to be tolerant of those who remain in jobs they hate and have to remind myself that not everyone is as lucky.

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