Passion that Drives a Leader

What drives me is not the pursuit of titles or recognition, but the passion to elevate one more person at a time. True leadership is not measured by how high we climb, but by how many others we lift along the way.

There was a moment in my life when I could have stopped at the face of the greatest trial in my life, a season that questioned not just my strength but my very validity as a leader. I didn't choose to influence my daughter to become greater than herself, to see beyond her limitations and rise, she picked it up as she saw us tackle our daily lives. Yet the truth is that influence came with a heavy cost. It requires sacrifice, sometimes from places you never imagined.

But when I think of my own journey, I am reminded of Joseph in the Bible, a man who endured betrayal and imprisonment. He could have given up at any point, but instead, he held fast to his God given calling. Joseph’s trials were the very tools that shaped him into the leader who would save nations and his own family. His path was costly, but his influence was immeasurable.

Leadership, then, is not an accident, it is a divine direction and positioning designed by God Himself. Just imagine a world without leaders who influence for the greater good, who pay the cost of their calling so others can rise. Leadership is not without sacrifice, the weight can be heavy, even devastating at times. But those who are called are also given a supernatural tenacity—like a fire in the belly, a relentless drive that will not let them quit.

The true leader knows the price, yet presses on, not for self-gain, but for the hope that one more life can be transformed, one more person can be positioned, and one more leader can be raised. And he will not stop until the last person he can reach is turned over better than before.

Like Joseph, I recognize that my trials are not meant to destroy me, but to refine me for a greater purpose. This is the cost of the calling. This is the essence of leadership. - Zandra, The Lady CEO