Leadership is a complex art, a performing art. Think about leaders who have had a positive impact on you. Invariably they engaged you beyond the intellectual. They engaged your emotions.
With leadership taking on a more portable quality, leaders are called on to create performances that vary from organization to organization, from culture to culture. There is no set formula. It is much like performers moving from band to band, troupe to troupe.
Leadership involves the infusion of vision, direction and purpose into the enterprise and entails mobilizing both people and resources to undertake and achieve shared ends. The same applies to the performing arts. When leaders truly motivate and inspire they are representing their passion. The collaborative nature of leadership requires a balance between the establishment of structure and the intuitiveness of improvisation.
Have you ever noticed the buzz you get after witnessing an artistic performance? The experience engages the audience. When we look at what we do as leaders, another world opens up to us. Artists juxtapose things to create possibilities. They shake things up but they also reassure us. When I think about “consummate professionals”, 
I think of artists such as talented musicians and their determination to learn as much about music, performance, production and recording as they can. They have a passion for music – it’s not just a job.
I have found that the same passion with which artists connect – to engage, educate and entertain audiences – is the same passion found in leaders that we admire, and, more importantly, follow. I use the performing arts as a way to nurture my passion, to explore what it draws from inside me, so that I can translate that into how I lead, inspire and motivate others.
What is your passion? Through what hobbies and pursuits do you express it? How do you use that expression to enhance your leadership capabilities?