Show Me Passion
I have a friend—a coach—who says, “Give me passion. It doesn’t matter for what, just show me passion. That, I can work with. ” This month, our class found its passion. I didn’t expect that a day focused on arts and culture would have ignited the spark, but perhaps I should have.
Art, after all, is intended to create conversation, and in doing so, to build community. And, if we are honest with ourselves and each other, it’s also intended to create conflict. While most of us agree on the value of “art for art’s sake,” the implementation sometimes feels less clear cut, and therein lies the rub.
I’ve realized, that the details of what our class responded to—what we were comfortable with, and the places we found discomfort—aren’t important. What is important is that it created the opportunity to listen constructively to smart people whose worldview is just a bit different than our own, to share our own ideas, and to become just a bit richer in the process. And, isn’t that the point?
Published in Leadership on Wednesday, December 30th, 2009