The Power of Passion

The Power of Passion 

I have always been a big believer in following your passion and sticking to it. But not everyone is lucky enough to know what their passion is at a very young age. Kunal Kapoor, CEO of Morningstar, is one of these people. At a young age, he had a lot of opportunities that came his way, but he tried what he was most interested in. Lucky for him, he found passion inside the organization that he chose. 

"When you are so aligned with the mission of a firm and you believe so passionately about it, you contribute a lot of discretionary effort to move that mission forward." - Kunal Kapoor.

Kunal came from India and started at Morningstar when they were a small company. He found an affinity and belief in the mission of Morningstar, which motivated him to embrace opportunities that no one was interested in. It also enabled him to go the extra mile and help grow the company. This kind of mindset has led him to become the CEO—someone who lives and breathes the organization's mission and culture.                                    

Because of his passion, being a CEO has been easy for Kunal. Sitting back and thinking about how things can change and how the company can adapt to it has been fun for him. 

Communication

What's also been fun is talking about the company. Having to communicate with many people is also easy because of his strong affinity for the company's mission. He believes that strong communication skills are required of every leader. 

He has a few rules when it comes to communication. First is to always be prepared. Nothing beats preparation when you need to do a presentation. He is a strong advocate of practicing one's communication skills.

Also, he believes that a good communicator should avoid using jargon. According to him, these are just fancy words that no one really understands and just cover up uninteresting things. With practice, a good leader should be able to communicate jargon-free. 

Think Long Term

Lastly, Kunal strongly believes that you only create value over time. This is why he encourages people to stop focusing on the short run, which a lot of leaders do. Once you start something, persevere on it and see it through long term. 

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