Questions to Ask To Help You Lead with Power, Energy and Passion

I just got back from Sonoma CA where I presented a custom keynote at the request of the CEO of a major hotel brand in California. When I talked with him about his team he said that they were highly intelligent, some of them were Harvard grads including himself, he said that they were jaded and had heard almost every leadership consultant out there and that they were looking for ideas that would motivate them to be better leaders.

I put together a keynote I called, Lead With Power, Energy and Passion based on the key items the CEO wanted covered. With a title that says lead with power, energy and passion they might have expected a rah rah session full of cliches and quotes and instead I took the concept deep.

When I talked about Power I talked about personal power and how leadership is no longer about ‘power over’ (it really never was) rather it is about ‘personal’ power. The ability to self manage, self adapt and self flex that creates powerful outcomes for leaders.Leaders need to ask themselves questions such as “Am I able to hold myself accountable to being self aware?” and “Do I self manage my behaviors so that I am consistently leading from the highest level of integrity the majority of the time?: Personal power is about having high levels of emotional intelligence.

When I talked about Energy I talked about energy management and how leaders need to shift from a time management mindset to an energy management mindset. They need to ask themselves questions like, “what gives me energy as a leader?” and ‘what behaviors from others gives me energy?” these questions lead to quick prioritization and helps leaders to stay motivated, energized and focused.

And when I talked about Passion I talked about ‘passion for a purpose’ and how as leaders if we are not passionate about our purpose we really should rethink our leadership role. Leaders who lead with a passion for a purpose lead with vision, direction and aligned action.If you think of leaders who lead with a passion for a purpose think, Hilary Clinton, Ellen DeGeneres, Oprah, Michelle Obama, Steve Jobs, and more. The questions leaders can ask themselves about passion are, “Why do I do what I do?” “What would I do if I couldn’t do this?” “How does what I do make the world a better place?”

You see, we as leaders have to get back to the simple and powerful reasons as to why we choose to lead. This is the root of our power and the road to energy and passion.

Oh and by the way the CEO loved the session, the common feedback from the senior leaders was, “we have been coming to these events for over twelve years and Cheryl’s insights and tools on leadership were the most relevant and best we have ever seen”.