Leadership Gold Part 3 of 10: Passion
February 18, 2009 by dr. lam · 8 Comments
This is not the first time I have talked about passion and it certainly won’t be my last. Passion underscores everything that I do, and everything that I stand for. I had a hair transplant consultation last year with a gentleman who asked me, “Why are you better?” It took me about 30 minutes to go through the artistry, the way that I harvest the hair, not outsourcing a team, how I protect the tissues, etc. But I said, “I can summarize it in one word, passion.” That is why I’m different. People know that the moment they meet me. And if they don’t, they will when they finish talking with me.
I like to say that when you chase money, money will leave. When you chase your passion, money will come. There was a study that looked at 1,500 business-school graduates between 1960 to 1980 and they divided the group into those who followed their passion at all expense and those who wanted to make money then be able to use that money to chase what they wanted. Twenty years later, there were 301 millionaires from the original group. Out of the 301, 300 attained their wealth through chasing their passion at all cost. One attained his wealth by chasing money first.
When you are beset with problems all around you, the only thing that will stand the test of time is passion. Passion will drive you through the hard times and carry you over the good times. It will help all those around you carry that same passion. It is infectious. Maxwell says he has never seen a leader who was not passionate about what he or she did. Passion must be the starting point and the defining point of everything you seek.
Maxwell says find something that you would do even without compensation, then go and pursue that passion. (Obviously, get paid for it.) The easiest way to find a work you like is not to work a day in your life because every day at work should be fun and enjoyable. It should not be work. If it is work, it is not your passion. It should be your passion and underscore everything you are and you do. I am a passionate person, and if you have no passion in your life, it is much harder for me to relate to you. If you don’t have a passion, find your life’s passion, then live it!
FOCUS: WORKING WITHIN THE BLUE FLAME
August 21, 2008 by dr. lam · Leave a Comment
I have been asked by many, “Have you ever thought about doing breast augs?” I don’t have to think more than a fraction of a second and say, “No thank you.” My entire career has been centered around focus, focus, focus. I have narrowed my specialty and not widened it. Yes, I have built a 27,000 square foot wellness center in which I have partnered with other specialists to provide you the best care but I have no intention working outside the blue part of my flame, i.e., the focus of my passion.
I go to 14 to 16 meetings a year to sharpen my focus and to be better at what I do than anyone else. I constantly try to focus my energies to offer something that no one else does. The Internet has allowed me to capture what Chris Anderson calls “The Long Tail”. If you haven’t read his book, it is truly amazing and seminal in his ideas about the impact of the Internet. With a practice that varies between 60 to 80% fly in, I don’t have to be all things to all people. Even when my practice was only mainly Dallas, it still was not all things to all people. That is not how I run my business or my life.
In my recent blogs, I had a lady from Australia ask me, “Wouldn’t it be enough if your patient was happy and you weren’t with your result?” I answered with about a 10 paragraph response to that question and the short answer is “No”. I have a very well defined sense of my mission here at LFP and it is to make people look better in alignment with what I perceive as excellent aesthetic ideals. I do not simply do something for money. I do not just “sell” you a procedure. I haven’t done a browlift in over 3 years and I have no intention of starting again. Even if you brought in a stack of money and said, “Please Dr. Lam, would you please do this for me.” The answer still would be no. Simply put, my aesthetic ideal has been greatly refined and I am not here to appeal to the lowest common denominator. I take pride in my work and I want to offer only something that I would be proud of. I can’t physically do repulsive work. It makes me sick.
So what am I babbling about here. I want to simplify everything for you guys out there and just make sure that in your life you have moved toward a highly focused career or whatever you do. Some people struggle to please everyone. I turn many patients away who do not fit my aesthetic ideals. I am sure many patients pick me only if they are fully in alignment with me.
Whatever you choose in your life and whatever you do in your life, I hope you do it with passion. I hope you continually specialize yourself so that the operative word is “focus”. Focus in what you love. Everything else will follow. Focus, focus, focus.
Btw, for those fans of my blog, I have written a blog entry every day on my spa site until my team there can take it over hopefully next week.