85. It Helps to Love What You Create - Leading Organizations That Matter

Summary3 min read

Podcast Summary: Leading Organizations That Matter

Episode 85: It Helps to Love What You Create

Host: Rey Spadoni
Date: September 30, 2025

Episode Overview

In this brief solo episode, Rey Spadoni explores the importance of finding personal connection and love in the things you create—be that art, work, or organizational impact. Drawing on his own evolution as a photographer, Rey connects the creative process to leadership and career choices, ultimately arguing that genuine passion elevates both outcomes and satisfaction. This episode is a reflective meditation on meaning, motivation, and the value of loving your work.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

The Evolution of Creativity (00:25–03:00)

Personal Journey in Photography:
- Rey reflects on his long-standing hobby of photography, admitting that while he enjoyed the process, he didn’t always love the resulting images.
- Quote (01:12):
  
  “I loved making images, I’m not sure I always loved the images themselves.”
- Early work was “incredibly average,” focused on postcard landscapes—which were fun, but unremarkable.
A Shift in Perspective:
- Recent self-discovery: The key wasn’t just improving technique or gear, but cultivating a love for the images themselves.
- He started analyzing which images moved him, focusing on elements like emotion, texture, movement, and irony.
- This renewed focus led to real improvement in his work.
- Quote (02:30):
  
  “I found out that it helps to love what you create.”

Applying to Leadership & Careers (03:01–06:15)

Process vs. Passion in Professional Life:
- Rey draws a direct parallel between his artistic growth and organizational leadership/career development.
- Many professionals, he observes, fixate on external markers: process, promotions, prestige, and money.
- He cautions that if those are the only motivators, regret and dissatisfaction often follow.
- Quote (03:58):
  
  “I’m not going to argue that anyone should totally ignore prestige and money, but when that’s all that matters... that is what’s reflected in the end result—and more often than not, there’s regret expressed in those stories.”
The Role of Loving the Work:
- He shares experiences from his leadership coaching, seeing that those who have a deep appreciation, even love, for the work itself are more motivated and happier.
- References Martin Seligman’s research on happiness and motivation.

Reflective Questions and Advice (06:16–07:40)

Rey poses guiding questions for listeners:
- “Do you love what you create?”
- “Do you love how you spend your time doing it?”
- “Do you love the people with whom you do the work?” (06:20)
He acknowledges that this can sound “corny,” but stands by his conclusion: love leads to impact and fulfillment.
Quote (06:45):

“Just as artists who love the images they create create better images, I’ve seen that leaders who love the work that they do end up having a more impactful, meaningful and joy-filled career and life.”

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

On Creative Improvement:

“Instead of cameras, software and destinations, I began to look at images I liked and then try to figure out why I liked them... I found out that it helps to love what you create.”
— Rey Spadoni (02:15–02:30)
On Career Regret:

“When prestige and money are all that matter, that’s what’s reflected in the end result... and more often than not, there’s regret expressed in those stories.”
— Rey Spadoni (03:58–04:08)
On Motivation and Happiness:

“Whenever I coach someone who understands the work that’s being done and values that work in and of itself—okay, I’ll say it—actually loves it, then that becomes a critical part of their motivation matrix. It elevates their happiness quotient.”
— Rey Spadoni (05:05–05:25)
Summary Reflection:

“Leaders who love the work that they do end up having a more impactful, meaningful and joy-filled career and life.”
— Rey Spadoni (06:45–06:55)

Timestamps for Key Segments

00:00–00:25 — Introduction of episode and theme
00:25–03:00 — Lessons from the host’s photography journey
03:01–06:15 — Connecting creative love to career choices and leadership
06:16–07:40 — Reflective questions and closing thoughts on loving your work

Overall Tone & Takeaway

The episode is warmly reflective, direct, and gently provocative. Rey encourages listeners to move beyond external measures of success, urging a return to self-examination and love of the work itself. The central message: When you love what you create, you create something truly worth loving—and that’s as true in organizations as it is in art.

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Transcript1 lines

[00:00]
A
Foreign welcome to Leading Organizations that Matter, a podcast about leadership and how we find impact, integration, meaning and joy in our work. I'm Ray Spadoni and today's topic is it helps to love what you create. In last week's podcast episode, I drew a lesson from photography and applied it to career and life planning and got a nice response from my audience. So I thought I'd stick with the theme for one more week as I described in that episode. I've been making images for a long time, but truth be told, it has only been more recently that I have actually begun creating images worth writing home about. Going back in time, I made some nice postcard style landscape photographs and I put them up on a website and that was fun. My work was, to be blunt, incredibly average, but I figured out something along the way. While I loved making images, I'm not sure I always loved the images themselves. Let me explain. For decades, if someone asked me this question. How are you trying to improve your photography? I would have said things like I got a new camera, I'm getting better at Photoshop, or I'm going on a cool trip to some far away exotic location. In other words, I talked about the process of making photographs, but I never actually talked about photography, about what I was going to do to improve how I created, and nothing about what I wanted to create and why. That thing I've discovered more recently and get ready to roll your eyes, you artists out there. But I learned that I needed to fall in love with images so that I could make better images. Instead of cameras, software and destinations, I began to look at images I liked and then try to figure out why I liked them. I started to think about things like movement, emotion, texture, story, contrast, juxtaposition, irony and and more. And wouldn't you know it, I think my images started getting much better. I found out that it helps to love what you create. I've been relating this to my leadership coaching work. Some people plan their careers, make job changes, accept or reject opportunities as they arise, and even plot out their days, weeks, months, and entire lives based on process, technique, and the typical indicators of success such as prestige and money. I'm not going to argue that anyone should totally ignore prestige and money, but when that's all that matters, then I believe that that is what's reflected in the end result, in the total summation of a career and someone's ultimate satisfaction with it. And more often than not, there's regret expressed in those stories. Whenever I coach someone who understands the work that's being done and values that work in and of itself. Okay, I'll say it actually loves it. Then that becomes a critical part of their motivation matrix. It elevates their happiness quotient to quote the researcher Martin Seligman. So I ask you, do you love what you create? Do you love how you spend your time doing it? Do you love the people with whom you do the work? Sounds kind of corny I know, but in my experience, just as artists who love the images they create create better images, I've seen that leaders who love the work that they do end up having a more impactful, meaningful and joy filled career and life. Thanks for listening. Leaving a positive review and letting others know about this podcast will help a great deal. My mission is to help empower organizations that matter by supporting those who lead them. I offer coaching, mentoring and consulting services. You can learn more about me and my work@racepadoni.com.