Passion and competence

“Francis, I’m so inspired with what you have done and what you are doing.” I get messages like this all the time, and I always respond by saying, “Thank you. You are very kind.” “Francis, I listened to you speak many years ago, and what you said pierced my heart. From that time on, I became a different person.” What a compliment! Kind words I don’t deserve at all! So I say a little “thank you” and move on to the next work at hand.

I don’t want to be super spiritual, but then again I really wouldn’t be able to do anything at all had it not been for God’s grace and mercy.

What many people don’t know is that when they listen to me speak, they’re witnessing the product of years of hard labor. They don’t see the tremendous opposition I had to face to get to where I’m at today, nor the many bloopers I committed before I became a recipient of such remarks today. Had it not been for God’s grace upon my life, for the full support of my wife and for the understanding of my kids, I wouldn’t have accomplished the things I have, and I wouldn’t be doing what I’m doing today.

A lot of the messages I receive would also go, “And this is why I want to be like you Francis. I also love to speak, and I love to inspire and motivate others. I also want to make a difference. How can I do this?”

To myself, I give my immediate response: “How would I know?” It wouldn’t come out polite, would it? So I just keep it to myself. Let me explain.

I love speaking. For 12 years, I averaged some 120 talks and travelled all over the country, paying for my own plane fare and lodging in many occasions, just for the love of the game. And guess what? I didn’t charge a single cent for doing so. You should see how many coffee mugs and ball pens I’ve been given all those years; I still have many of them with me today!

When I turned professional, I had to face the critics. I remember the first years of my speaking profession (Yes, I finally turned professional a few years ago.) – one time, I spoke in a room full of trainers, after which some of them remarked that I was putting too much fun into the talks and treating them like children with my “childish antics.” (Only to find out later on that they’ve adopted my style and applied it to their audiences as well!) I’ve had HR executives say negative things against me even if they’ve never attended any of my talks. Those were the days that I faced the challenges of my chosen profession. Those days weren’t easy. I guess nothing worth doing is, anyway.

How can someone be like me? I’m not sure. But here’s my advice for those who want to make a difference, whether it’s in the area of training or public speaking. There’s no rocket science here, but when you heed this, you surely won’t go wrong. My advice: Find the one thing you do well, and do it. Be good at it, and be known for it.

When people come to me for advice, I respond by asking them two questions:

What are you good at that people would be willing to pay good money for?

What’s the one thing you’re willing to do even if you’re not going to be paid doing it? Some people call this passion. I call this purpose or mission.

There are so many people who are so passionate about things they’re not even good at. They really love what they do, but no one is interested with the quality of their work. What good is this anyway except to stroke one’s ego? Some are passionate with speaking and training. They want to inspire people, they want to change the world. The problem is, when they speak and train, people wake up refreshed after they sleep through their lectures!

Passion isn’t effective when the skills and the competence aren’t there. Then again, those with great skills but without purpose are simply winging it and may actually be shortchanging their audiences.

You need to marry passion and competence in order to be good at what you do. Ask those who are successful. They will tell you the same thing.

(Spend two whole days with Francis Kong as he facilitates the well-acclaimed Dr. John C. Maxwell Program “Developing The Leader Within You” on Nov. 21-22 at the EDSA Shangri-La Hotel. For further inquiries, contact Inspire at 09158055910, or call 632-6310912 for details.)