Meet Steven Haden | Chief Executive Officer, Envision:You

We had the good fortune of connecting with Steven Haden and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
If you could do one thing to transform your life, I would highly recommend it be to find something you are passionate about and do it for a living. Learning how to find your passion may not be as easy as it sounds, but it is well worth the effort. Following my recovery from a substance use disorder and debilitating depression, I committed myself to using my story to help others in need. That commitment and passion led to the launch of Envision:You (envision-you.org).

Passion is more that this though. Passion is about vision, and contains energy, excitement, and enthusiasm.

Passion inspires others to join and identify with your vision as the work of Envision:You is not about me. No one has ever been inspired by a leader who is not passionate. Passion – and alternatively, the lack of passion! – is contagious. If you want to have a passionate, inspired workforce, it begins with you: the leader.

Turning vision into reality requires passion. Passion elevates productivity and ensures employee commitment to your vision. Passion is born out of something that is intensely meaningful to you. It is not a general hobby or a fleeting interest; rather, it is core to who you are.

Strong leaders understand it is the ability to drive people to reach great heights of performance and success and to demonstrate the qualities employees will follow by choice—passion, purpose, listening and giving meaning to their role.

The inspirational leader feels passionate about the vision and mission of the organization. They are also able to share that passion in a way that enables others to feel passionate, too. Shared passion makes organizations soar in the accomplishment of their mission and vision.

When you are passionate about something, you cannot help but think about it, work at it and be excited about it. Your passion influences your daily choices and activities. What you do and say centers on your passion. Passion eventually leads to mastery and success, in large part because you are always thinking and working on the thing you are passionate about. Most successful leaders do not have a job – they have a passion.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?

From the highest sand dunes in North America at Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve to 54 Rocky Mountain peaks that rise over 14,000 feet to red-rock formations that seem to rip from the earth to the rolling grasslands of the eastern plains, Colorado has one of the most unique and varied natural landscapes in the world — and it is a playground for discovery year-round.

Colorado has long been known as a hiker’s paradise. There is almost no end to the number of trails and backcountry treks in this part of the world, and most, if not all of them, are fun to explore. So, my out of town friend or family member, we are headed west and up into the mountains to explore the beauty of Colorado with my two labs, Rigby & Henry.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
A story told by a professor in graduate school encouraged me to never let one failure from the past hold you back in the future.

“As a man was passing the elephants, he suddenly stopped, confused by the fact that these huge creatures were being held by only a small rope tied to their front leg. No chains, no cages. It was obvious that the elephants could, at anytime, break away from their bonds but for some reason, they did not.

He saw a trainer nearby and asked why these animals just stood there and made no attempt to get away. ‘Well,’ trainer said, ‘when they are very young and much smaller we use the same size rope to tie them and, at that age, it’s enough to hold them. As they grow up, they are conditioned to believe they cannot break away. They believe the rope can still hold them, so they never try to break free.’

The man was amazed. These animals could at any time break free from their bonds but because they believed they couldn’t, they were stuck right where they were.”

Website: www.envision-you.org

Instagram: envisionyouco

Facebook: envisionyouco

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stevenhaden/

Youtube: www.youtube.com/channel/UC4LEtKoz4dobd4n77iJrGFA

Image Credits
Samantha Markey and Veronica Holyfield