Erik Charas, Founder & MD, CHARAS LDA on Passionate employees

Among the many interesting Young Global Leaders who came together at Tianjin was Erik Charas from Mozambique, a feisty young man who drives one of Mozambique’s most popular newspapers.

Erik is driven by passion about what he does, which is to carry every citizen's hope and expectation on to the global scenario. There is no faking passion, says he. If you are passionate about what you do, you can connect with people and earn their respect. How true! Have you noticed how you can immediately tell whether a person is truly passionate about a cause or is just a pretender?

Erik is proud of the fact that his employees share same passion and sense of responsibility and ownership. What I found most interesting is how he passes on the flame of his passion on to his people.

There are no short cuts here. Eric invests in a 2 hour long discussion on his vision with every interviewee. They are then asked to join the team only if they too believe in the vision and can make it their own. For Erik believes that giving the ownership to employees gets the best results. I could not agree more.  ?One of the foremost tenets of the Employee First philosophy is the power of transferring the ownership of change to the people.

His is the perfect example of how a leader will find like-minded followers if he or she truly and passionately believes in a cause. Erik’s newspaper, an apolitical publication focussed on development issues, was launched just two years ago. But it is already among the most popular in his land, having gained the trust of the people by giving them a positive direction through access to information.

The path may not be easy, but together with a shared passion, I believe it is possible to transform a vision into reality. I wish Erik and his team the best of luck for continued success in their effort.

How far do you think passion can carry you? I invite you to view the video and write in your thoughts.