Passion is Everything

Rocky Simmon’s view on values and leadership and how they relate to mine.

On Wednesday, November 18th, I had the opportunity to interview Rocky Simmons, the CEO and Chairman of Eco-Tec Inc. Eco-Tec Inc. is currently a global leader in manufacturing efficient and economical recovery systems for industrial operations. The interview was on the topic of leadership and for the first time in my life, I have met a person that I was inspired to become.

The interview opportunity came from course I am currently taking at the University of Toronto called Engineering Leadership. This course teaches the values of leadership and fills in the gap of missing leaders that come out of the Engineering program at the University of Toronto. Through this initiative from ILead, they prepare engineers to not be the technical capable they already are, but to be the leaders of tomorrow.

Throughout the interview, Rocky would always relate everything to the company’s values and philosophies. Never once would he or the company sacrifice their values. He made a huge emphasis on this and mentioned if they ever did sacrifice them, he would not be able to sleep at night. Through my life, I’ve never been clear about my values, let alone sticking with them. This emphasis has taught and inspired me to do the same.

To end off the interview, the team asked him a very open ended question. We asked “What does leader ship mean to you?”. Rocky took a few minutes to think about it and it was obvious that he was struggling with what he believed was the answer. And what he said opened my eyes in what leadership truly is.

A leader is someone who is passionate at what they are doing and inspires other to be passionate at what they do, at the right place at the right time.

— Rocky Simmons

When was I ever passionate about something? Throughout my whole life, the things I have done was for everyone else, and yet, to be a leader in Rocky definitions, I have to be passionate in the things I love doing and the things I want to do. So the question is, when will I be actually doing something I am passionate about and when will it be?