I lead two lives. One is dedicated to coaching and mentoring leaders and transforming organizational cultures so they become inspiring places for employees, customers, suppliers and communities. Thirty of Fortune’s Most Admired Companies and 11 of Fortune’s Best Companies to Work for in America are our clients. And I speak to audiences all over the world each year.

My other life consists of skiing in the winter and mountain biking in the summer. Years ago, when I was running Manpower Ltd., I employed a salesman called Mike. He weighed 285 pounds, drank 6 pints of beer each day and played 36 holes of golf for as many days of the week as he could – which was usually at least six. He was an awesome golfer. As his manager, I could not organize him, encourage him to follow any kind of structure, submit reports or make sales calls. In fact, I couldn’t put him into a box of any kind. But his personal production was extraordinary. Clients would call our office and ask to play a round of golf with Mike so they could personally renew their contracts with us. Mike had a waiting list of clients wanting to get onto his dance card. I knew a genius when I saw one – I supported him in every way I could and set aside my need for conformity. He was a fabulous and high-producing asset for our company. I’ve skied for 49 years all over the world, with some of the best skiers on the planet, and I can handle most any kind of ski terrain. Although I have owned a home in Copper Mountain, Colo., for many years, I have spent too little time there because I have been constantly traveling on behalf of our clients – just like all the other non-Mike consultants.

Then one day, I wondered to myself, why aren’t I more like Mike? I teach it – why can’t I do it? How could I combine my two lives – my two passions really – into one seamless whole? What I have learned over the years from coaching others (and sometimes we are cobbler’s children) is that when we are following our calling – our passion – and using our finest gifts to serve, we become inspiring and are therefore more effective at inspiring others. Yet, far too often, we sigh and say, “Someday, I will do that.” So a few years ago, I decided to practice what I preach by initially offering 2- to 3-day retreats for leaders in my Colorado home 10,000 feet up in the mountains. We call it the Leadership Summit, and we teach leaders how to ski better and how to be more effective leaders. This year we will run four of them – two for the public and two for private organizations. In addition to our Leadership Summits, some clients have chosen to bring their entire senior leadership teams to spend time with us in Colorado. These private skiing and consultation events, and the Leadership Summit, are both opportunities to improve technical competence in skiing while growing as a leader – plus strategizing and bouncing ideas or discussing challenges, and making new personal and professional friends. Skiing is a great metaphor for all these. By using the metaphor of skiing, participants leave Copper Mountain better skiers and re-energized and re-inspired leaders.

In a typical winter, I ski 100 days. People look at me when I mention this to them and they sigh wistfully, saying, “Oh! How I envy that!” But there are two realities here: 1) This is a choice – I have chosen this format and adapted my life and professional practice in order to embrace my two worlds and passions, and 2) It’s not all play. I ski every day, but I work every day too, and many leaders will work very hard with me – learning leadership and skiing. It’s not a boondoggle – it is a big personal and organizational stretch – for my guests and for me. Marsha Sinetar wrote a book called Do What You Love, the Money Will Follow. The advice is in the title. Life is too short to stifle our creativity – if we identify our passions and blend them into unique and valuable resources, we will develop magical and inspiring opportunities to serve and prosper. Funny thing, my dance card is beginning to look like Mike’s!

This blog is adapted from an article I wrote in Motto Magazine.