In this issue:

• The Irish Pub Owner

This is our regular e-message to people who are interested in leading their lives with passion. We will send you a short note with information, stories, examples, and practical things you can do to lead your life, work, and organizations with passion. You are receiving this message because you have attended one of our presentations, expressed an interest in our work, asked to be put on our mailing list, purchased one of our books, or are one of our friends, colleagues, or associates! If you would like us to take you off our mailing list just reply to this e-mail and type 'unsubscribe’ in the subject field and we would be happy to do so. Leading With Passion We like the term 'leading with passion,’ because it has two very significant, but related meanings. The first suggests leading off with passion. That is, making the very first priority in your life to live, work, and play passionately, and to fully embrace every possible moment. Second, it means that we can lead our organizations, teams, and projects with passion - creating passionate work environments by transferring our own enthusiasm for the organization to all others who come into contact with it.

The Irish Pub Owner

Declan Ryan left the family farm at the age of 18 with 40 pounds (the Irish currency of the day) in his pocket. After quitting his job as a chef in a 5 star hotel a year and a half later he got sidetracked on his way home and started working in a bar. Today he owns two thriving Irish pubs. He is 32.

It wasn't easy. He leased his first pub for 2 years before he could come up with the deposit, which was 164,000 pounds. He saved the money first by bartending and then by leasing the pub. After paying down the mortgage by 50% he bought his second pub, the Wander Inn, in Kelmare, Ireland.

The Wander Inn dates back to the 19th century and has a traditional public bar as well as a restaurant and bed & breakfast business. Traditional Irish music lures travelers into the bar, and inexpensive rates attract lodgers to their en-suite guestrooms. Irish pubs seem to have an ambiance and a personality all their own, combining music, family, community, a pint of Guinness or two, and tradition to make you feel like you belong no where else on the earth.

We met Declan during our trip to Ireland to present two papers, one about Passionate Leadership and one about Passionate Work: Developing Passionate Employees and Workplaces, at the 5th International Conference on HRD Research and Practice across Europe. We also interviewed people we wouldn't ordinarily meet in the United States about what makes them passionate about their work. One day we saw Declan providing exceptional, responsive customer service – with a great sense of humor – and knew we had to interview him.

We asked Declan what made him love his work.

The Staff are Your Business
"I like people and I love the environment that I work in. The staff are your business. If you have a good staff you have a good business," Declan says.

He is a working boss. He cleans the yard, sweeps the floor, and works behind the bar. If you work with the staff, he says, they will work with you. He has a ‘brilliant' relationship with his staff.

He is very selective about who he hires. "I go out to the country to get people" he says. "I don't use town people. People I hire are like 10 miles out in the country with farming backgrounds. Healthy living. Those people appreciate work. Town people don't."

Someone who loafs around all day makes it bad for everyone. If a staff person doesn't measure up, he let's them go. "It is down to having good staff," he says. "If you have good staff you can walk away and they will be honest and they will have their job done."

Taking Risks and Working Hard
We asked him if he'd had to take a big risk to follow his passion. "Yeah, it was all risk," he says.

He bought his first pub with money he'd earned and borrowed and doubled its earnings in 3 years. When he bought the Wander Inn he had to triple its weekly earnings just to break even. He was losing money every month. "The first two to three months were hard," he says. If he'd failed with his second pub he would have lost everything.

He had no one to look to but himself. "I would have lost my three years of hard work," he says

He got "shot down" by banks when he started. "Bang, bang, bang." The irony always is that when you need a loan to get started you can't get it. Later, when you're doing well, you can. "At the start they wouldn't give me any money. Now I can get 5 million in the morning." His banker now is a personal friend.

"If you want something enough you will always get it," he says. "If you stick with it you will succeed. But you can't do it without work. It is like a relationship and your business – if you work hard enough you will get it. That is my theory."

Healthy and Happy
"Money is not my mission," he says, "I am not interested in if I make $2.00 or $10,000, it is the same thing. It is not about the money." Rather it is about enjoying life. Being "healthy and happy" he calls it. "I enjoy life," he says. "I enjoy what I do." He loves the work.

It's the whole atmosphere he works in that makes it great for him. "The music...I love the music...love it. I like people and I love the environment that I work in.

He now has friends all over the world, who he keeps in contact with. Many of them come back to the Wander Inn every year, or he goes to visit them. "We keep in touch and that is what it is all about. You know, meeting nice people and having a few beers and having a laugh."

"What would I do if I didn't do this? Sit at home on a computer and drive a fancy car? Not me. I was born on a farm and worked for 20 pounds a week and you never forget. I will never forget my roots."

Are you prepared to work hard and take risks to achieve your goals? Do you surround yourself with people who have your same passion to do great work? Are you working for the love of it, or just for the money? Are you in the kind of atmosphere that turns on your spirit instead of squashing it?

Declan Ryan put it all on the line to get the kind of work he loves. Will you?

If you're traveling, find more out about the Wander Inn at www.thewanderinn.com.

Next Issue
Next month we'll share insights from our interview with Ann Rhoades. Ann has been the Vice President of the People Department for Southwest Airlines, Vice President for First Interstate Bank and, most recently, Executive Vice President of People for JetBlue Airways.

We asked her about what it takes to create a passionate work environment. We'll share what she said with you.

Leading with Passion is a regular communication from Michael Kroth and Patricia Boverie. Michael and Patricia have been researching passionate work since 1999, and their book, Transforming Work: The Five Keys to Achieving Trust, Commitment, and Passion in the Workplace, is about the indispensable necessity of passion for personal and organizational success in the workplace.

© Copyright 2004, All Rights Reserved Patricia Boverie and Michael Kroth