A few months ago, someone was praying over me at church and three words they prayed have stayed with me ever since.
"Lead from passion..."
But what does that look like? It's one thing to lead with passion; it's another to lead from it. For starters, it's easy to overlook the fact that there's even a difference between the two, but the difference is there.
When I think of leading with passion, images are conjured up in my mind of someone speaking vibrantly and eliciting cheers from their audience. It makes me think of someone eager, someone ready-to-go. Make no mistake: people who lead with passion are praiseworthy. They inspire those around them with their enthusiasm and accomplishments.
Beyond inspiring people, leaders who are passionate have an easier time acquiring followers and acquiring people who are actually willing to serve their vision. Your particular passions attract similar minds.
Passions are like a smoke signal. Even miles away, it tells people where you are and what you're about. But like many things, passion can fade.
I believe that your leadership must be built on something more substantial than eagerness and excitement. Leading with passion inspires and attracts, but I don't believe it makes room for longevity.
When you're leading with passion, you're leading from your head. When you're leading from passion, you're leading from heart.
To lead from passion, you must go beyond leading with an enthusiastic attitude and lead from an engaged, enthusiastic heart.
When you lead from passion, you see that dealing with the harder stuff (things like confrontation and administration) are necessary because dealing with those things helps you clear away the field that you're about to build in.
Leading from your heart's passion gives you a vision to reference when things look dire. When the field looks cluttered, your heart gives you an idea of what things can look like in the future.
"Without a vision, the people perish....."
Proverbs 29:18
Unlike leading with passion, leading from passion does enable longevity to operate in your life. As a leader, the vision you receive from your heart empowers you to choose the right decision, not just the easy one.
As the seasons begin to change and the days become more reflective, I ask myself, "Will you lead from passion and not just with it?"
My expectation for the next few months is that I would choose to lead from passion and not just with it; that I would choose to go beyond having an eager outlook on my life and choose to have an expectant heart about it.
"Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life..."
A Conversation With… is a regular feature on this blog. It’s my way of being able to interview people who I find inspiring. I hope you enjoy reading this series as much as I enjoyed making it.
I can finally say that I love Des Moines, Iowa.
Over the last two years, I've become better acquainted with Des Moines and everything that it offers. While we may not be New York City, San Francisco, or even Chicago, we have something special here.
But what is it that makes Des Moines so special? This question led me to seek out an answer in the East Village district, because it was there that I began to fall in love with my city and all that it offered.
Chrissy Jensen is the owner and operator of Domestica, a warm, corner-lot shop that opened back in 2010. They specialize in stationary, lifestyle periodicals, and indie arts and crafts.
I sat down with her a few days ago to talk about her store, her experiences as a small business owner, and what she likes most about living in an "up-and-coming" metropolis.
Evan: So how did you come to start Domestica and what was the goal behind it?
Chrissy: I wanted Des Moines to have a cool, quirky shop similar to the shops I loved visited in Minneapolis and Chicago.
A friend of mine and I were both really into "indie craft" - stuff you'd find on Etsy - and we just kept talking back and forth about opening our own store.
We started thinking, "We know what we're doing. We know a lot of vendors; we know a lot of makers. Let's see if we can get this going!". We worked on it for a really long time, but then she got transferred out-of-state. So I kind of sat on it for a little while.
Then I found another friend to help open with me, but she didn't end up staying. We're still friends, it just didn't work out. But without her help, I don't think I would've stuck with it. I would've been scared. So it was kind of nice that she at least opened with me.
Evan: What were you thinking as you were getting ready to open?
Chrissy: Will I be robbed?! No, just kidding! Mostly it was the fear that we weren't going to make it and that we were going to fail. I think that's what probably makes people not try something. There's a million fears you might have, but honestly, I think you're just afraid you're gonna fail.
Evan: How did you overcome that fear?
Chrissy: I think having another friend helped. Somebody else saying "What's the worst that could happen?" or asking "How much are you willing lose?" Once I started attacking those fears and actually answering those kinds of questions, it became a little easier.
Evan: Where does the name Domestica come from
Chrissy: Finding a name for your business is really hard! We were going through the planning stages and put out so many different names and we could never agree on anything. Then one of my favorite bands changed their name to Domestica and around that same time Cursive put out an album and it was called Domestica, too. So it just kept coming up.
Domestica is also like a house cleaner. In a Spanish-speaking country, if you're trying to hire someone to clean, you'd say that you want a Domestica.
Evan: Your store sells a wide variety of craftier items. Were you always interested in arts and crafts?
Chrissy: Yeah! But I never really thought about it that way. I always wanted to be in advertising.
But looking back on the stuff I used to do as kid, that's all I ever did in my room! A lot of it was me cutting stuff out to make a new ad out of an old ad or dumb stuff like that. Kids are crafty.
Evan: What do you like about being a small business owner in Des Moines?
Chrissy: I like how easy it was to get going, the ease of getting started. In other cities, even just trying to get a realtor to show you a space requires you to pay a fee.
And being able to call someone up and say, "How does that work?" and just getting a quick answer. If you don't understand how something works with your taxes, you call down there and get someone on the phone that is actually willing to sit there and explain it. It's like I said before, it's the ease of living here.
I grew up in Pittsburgh, West Virginia, Philadelphia. So I'm used to all kinds of different places. I came out here to go Iowa State and I never went home. At the end of school, everyone in my family was totally expecting me to just show back up and I didn't. I decided to stay here.
Evan: It sounds like you were a little surprised when you decided to stay.
Chrissy: I expected to go home after the first semester! I was like, "Get me out of here!" But it's so easy to live here and to find friends who are actually your real friends and who don't have a lot of secondary reasons to be your friend.
I got a job at Wellman's Pub on Ingersoll and I'm still friends with those people! It just lasts here.
Evan: Do you find people to be friendly here than the East Coast?
Chrissy: I don't know if it's so much friendliness or if it's just that everyone else's life is easier here, too.
Friendly is a good word, but sometimes that word is offensive to me. It sort of seems like it means "simple" or "down-home folks" and I don't think it's that way here. It's a little different than just being nice. It's a genuine willingness to help other people.
When you leave a shop, a lot of times you'll say, "Thanks a lot!" But in other cities if you say that kind thing, the cashier just looks at you like, "What? Oh, thank you....".
We're just a lot nicer because we have time to be and we don't have to deal with seventeen trains or whatever the heck people have to go through!
Evan: Over the last few years, Des Moines has continually been making appearances in all these different publications. Forbes recently named us the nation's top "up-and-coming downtown". I thought that was cool, but I get worried that all this press is going to bring in a huge influx of people someday.
Chrissy: I've been getting worried, too! I was looking at this weather map and it was showing where the extreme weather was compared to where it's not, and Iowa's weather is really temperamental. I just thought, "Oh my gosh, they're all gonna come here!" Another terrible storm out East and they're all going to come to Iowa!
Evan: What do you think is something that Des Moines needs more of in the city?
Chrissy: Somehow, someway, I think we need less car transportation.
Evan: Do you mean like a train?
Chrissy: Something like more commuter-friendly bike paths. I'm glad they put a bike path on Ingersoll because it makes it easier to get downtown, but it's really scary to ride a bike on that street.
So what about a thorough-way that's just for bikes? Something along Woodland Avenue where it's quieter and it's just for bikes so people can commute for real.
Also, we don't have a park that's right downtown. So if you're with kids and you're staying at Embassy Suites you have to schlep all the way over to Gray's Lake to go to a park. So that'd be really nice to have a park right down here. It's nice to have space to just take a breath.
Evan: What are some of your local favorites?
Chrissy: My new favorite is the Des Moines Social Club. I think it's so cool!
Evan: Did you go to Malo?
Chrissy: I haven't eaten there yet, but I've had drinks there. So I haven't quite done the whole experience yet. We have an eleven year-old so a lot times we just opt for Noah's - which is my other favorite place in Des Moines.
Evan: I've never been there. Is it a buffet?
Chrissy: No! Oh my gosh, it's so old school! It's a really old Italian place, but the food is a little bit more modern. When you go, all the pageantry that goes along with it is really fun.
Obviously, I like my neighbors: Subsect, Ichi Bike, Raygun, Eden, Hill Vintage. I do all my Christmas down here in the East Village.
Evan: I get the feeling that there's a small, little community down here. Is that how it is?
Chrissy: You get a little May Day basket on your front step from Eden, you know what I mean? Stuff like that is always going on!
Evan: What's your favorite city in the U.S. besides Des Moines?
Chrissy: New York City!
Evan: What's your favorite neighborhood?
Chrissy: This is going to sound weird, but I like Gowanus and Cobble Hill - that area of Brooklyn. It's sort of like one way and the other...
Evan: Do you mean like parts of it are more like old Brooklyn? I keep hearing how Brooklyn is becoming more manicured, and more and more like Manhattan....
Chrissy: It is, but it isn't! People are always saying, "It's so full of hipsters!" And, yeah, certain parts of Williamsburg you're walking around thinking, "All my clothes suck." But Brooklyn is kind of like Des Moines in a weird way. It's a very small town. You can go into the same cafe for three days in a row, and people will start calling out your drink order.
Evan: My parents are going to New York City for the first time this fall. Do you have suggestions for them
Chrissy: No matter what, you have to take the Staten Island Ferry! It's my very, very favorite thing. That's number one, but number two is Grand Central. I think it's just amazing.
Evan: Did you go to the oyster bar?
Chrissy: Yes! You have to get a drink at the oyster bar, but I wouldn't suggest eating there unless you're going to have oysters. But if you go downstairs in the basement, there's everything you've ever wanted.
Evan: What are some hidden gems in Des Moines? I loved City Bakery, but then they closed! I was so sad.
Chrissy: That was a hidden gem! When it was first open, no one knew it was there. I told the owner, Joel, "I'm not going to tell anyone about this place.".
I keep reading about this placed Pho All Seasons and it's got like a gazillion kinds of Pho. I think people should check out some of the older places, like Jesse's Embers, if only for fun. We also have two James Beard nominees. That's huge for our town! I would say definitely eat out! Ask people where they eat, don't use just Yelp.
Evan: About a month ago, I went to Eatery A and I liked their food a lot, and their patio!
Chrissy: I love that patio! It needs to bigger though. I think all of Des Moines wants to sit on it. That whole place is an old Blockbuster, isn't that something?
Evan: It reminds me of something that would happen in New York! You always hear about these restaurants and condos that used to be hospital wards or something.
Thanks so much for talking with me, Chrissy. Now, I need to get the latest issue of Kinfolk.....
