Tuesday, September 23, 2025

Inspire with Passion

The contagious power of believing in what you do

By André van Heerden, Communications Director

I love listening to people who are passionate about what they do and care about.

It could be about a job, a hobby, their family, their faith, or even about a movie or book. Recently my youngest daughter watched the movie, KPop Demon Hunters. I’ve never been interested in anime or KPop (didn’t even know what they were!) but her joy and excitement in describing the movie, its songs, and animation made me surprisingly interested. And when I watched it, I enjoyed it too, in large part because I was watching and enjoying it with her.

It's incredible how infectious someone else’s passion can be. We often experience this in big ways when watching inspirational movie speeches. Against all odds, when everything looks dark, and everyone is feeling defeated, one person’s fervent belief and zeal turns things around. It’s hard not to think of movies like Braveheart, Remember the Titans, and Independence Day without remembering their iconic inspirational big speech scenes.

But what holds true in these moments of extreme conflict and drama, also holds true with things in our everyday lives. What we are interested and passionate about, people will be interested in. American philosopher and psychologist, William James, urged people to "act as if what you do makes a difference. It does." And Nobel Peace Prize winner, preacher, and human rights activist Martin Luther King, Jr. noted, "If I cannot do great things, I can do small things in a great way." Embedded in both of these men’s encouragements is the genuine belief that what they’re saying is true, and can make a difference to someone’s life and work.

In his book, The Conviction to Lead, Albert Mohler writes, “The leadership that really matters is all about conviction. The leader is rightly concerned with everything from strategy and vision to teambuilding motivation, and delegation, but at the center of the true leader’s heart and mind you will find convictions that drive and determine everything else.” Clearly Mohler is passionate about leadership.

Do you enjoy what you’re doing? Does helping an elderly person through their day give you joy? Or does looking at a building that you helped build give you a sense of pride? It should, and likely if you told others about it they’d share a bit of that delight too. Former British Prime Minister, Benjamin Disraeli, observes, “The greatest good you can do for another is not just to share your riches, but to reveal to him his own.”

I love working with our CLAC Training, Apprenticeship, and Jobs staff. Their passion for helping people get the training they need, or landing them a job, makes me want to help them even more. I want to enjoy their success and build upon it.

Famous inventor, Thomas Edison, wrote that, "Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work."

It’s important that we share our joy for our work and what we care about with others so that they don’t miss how wonderful it is.

Without being stirred by my daughter’s enthusiasm for KPop Demon Hunters, I still wouldn’t know what anime is.

Inspire with Passion

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