Try Talent, Passion and Purpose

The Passion discussion started on February 26th as a result of Phil Gerbyshak's "Wow" Factor article (Phil, I hope you've found some of those "Wow" people by now).

Since then, the discussion about passion and work has been passionate.

Why?

I'm sure there are as many individual reasons as there are individuals. These are mine:

1. Passion is, by definition, an emotional word.

2. A significant portion of the population is not wired to inherently associate the words passion and work. That doesn't mean those folks don't care about work, aren't enthusiastic, or don't excel in their chosen fields. It's just that the two words create dissonance when used in the same phrase.

3.  Passion, in and of itself, is usually associated with unbridled, unguided, energy. Not a staple of the business world, nor healthy as the prevailing force in one's life.

4. The notion of a direct cause and effect relationship between passion and an effective worklife is utter, feel-good nonsense. (Intentionally focusing one's passion and enthusiasm within the context of other considerations makes absolute sense).

Thank you. Now I feel better. I was somewhat passionate about #4.

Where Did The Passion-At-Work Thing Start?

I don't know and I couldn't find out, no matter how many hours I spent passionately drinking coffee and Googling. Please send in your cards and letters if you can answer the question.

My hunch is:

• Whoever used it first in a business context evoked a positive response.

• An article was published or a speech was made. Validation!

• The word plays well in cultures that lean toward the idea that if it feels good, it's true.

• Because business people aren't necessarily any smarter or more discerning than others, job candidates in many places are overtly or covertly evaluated based upon perceived passion

• Astute marketers ran with the word and built a movement around it.

It worked. I've been writing about passion for nearly three weeks. P.T. Barnum was right: there is one born every minute. I'm him. Over and over again.

To give you a sense of the scope of the "passion at work" movement, here are the Google results:

Note: Don't Google your name to see how you stack up; you may immediately suffer a deep sense of inadequacy.

Do Not Despair: There is Hope and A Legitimate Place for Passion and Work

Peter Vajda  and Bill Peel both added context to the discussion and an element that had not yet been included: Purpose.

See what happens when you read the definitions and start to create a relationship between them:
(Definitions from Merriam-Webster and American Heritage Dictionaries).

Passion

1. emotion (plural) : the emotions as distinguished from reason b: intense, driving, or overmastering feeling or conviction c: an outbreak of anger
3. ardent affection : love b: a strong liking or desire for or devotion to some activity, object, or concept

Talent

3: the natural endowment or superior ability of a person

Purpose

1. an anticipated outcome that is intended or that guides your planned actions

What guides your planned actions?

It's actually quite simple to list goal after goal and figure out how to get there. But to reach a place of peacefulness and contentment with work--which is what I believe people are really looking for in all of this--one has to arrive at an overarching sense of purpose in life, as well as reconciling the purpose of life.

Without that as an anchor, talent and passion have no guidance system. You'll spend your energy wondering why you seem out-of-sync and discontented, even with talent and ambition.

Have you thought of the importance of "Purpose" those two ways?

In the next post I'm going to attempt to show Bill's model graphically. I hope to see you here.

Sheet Music Source: www.rtpress.com

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Comments

[Kent Blumberg]

Steve,

So true. Going to work with purposeless passion would be like launching an unguided nuclear missile - lots of power, but not likely to do any good for anyone.

Kent

P.S. I did just google my name and your name. Your's drew twice as many pages as mine. Darn! Must be all the great writing you are doing. Keep it up!

[peter vajda]

Hi, Steve,

You write, “…But to reach a place of peacefulness and contentment with work--which is what I believe people are really looking for in all of this--one has to arrive at an overarching sense of purpose in life…Without that as an anchor, talent and passion have no guidance system. You'll spend your energy wondering why you seem out-of-sync and discontented, even with talent and ambition.”

In my years working as a coach, I’ve always been curious about folks who (1) face a mid-life crisis at 30!, and (2) spend countless dollars, enormous amounts of time and energy studying, for example, law, medicine, IT, finance, management, etc., and end up literally “hating” what they are doing, sooner rather than later.

In some of these cases (i.e., clients I have been working with), they chose to enter a profession/career area because they were directed by career folks, career coaches, career consultants, etc., of one kind of another that their interest, talent, or other assessments pointed them in that direction. So, “you should pursue those areas.” “You’re really “talented” in (fill in the blank). Ergo, your path. Your "purpose." Hmmm

What career folks, parents and relatives, “good friends” etc., almost never measure is heart. Heart is the focal point of purpose. Not the mind. Not “logic”. Not “what’s sexy”, not what “The Futurist” says one should do, and especially, not “Hey you’re really good at that so why don’t you pursue that?”

Some never get it. Purpose is not, (read: not) a career area, a job, a talent, an expertise. Purpose, however, can be manifested by working in a career area, a job, with a talent or an expertise. The difference is the energy (passion) one brings to that endeavor, when it's "purposeful".

So, two lawyers, two IT professionals, two managers, two bloggers can both “do” the same thing, but their energy, their engagement, their true love (not ego) of the work, their stick-to-it-ive-ness, their steadfastness, their joy of work, their sense of inner peace and well-being, depends on whether or not they are “on purpose” when doing it.

As you so aptly say, purpose is the anchor, and not only the anchor but the beacon, the direction, the career compass that guides one to making decisions that keep one living a life “on purpose.” Without such a guide, then, are those many who hit a dead end at 30 (then 40, 50,…), constantly wonder and lament, “Is this all there is? Or “I have all this talent, and I don’t understand why I’m not happy.”

The heart is what drives purpose, not the mind, not the ego. When one has one’s heart in their work, their play, their life, then meaning abounds, they are, and feel, purposeful in their work, in their life. When all is ego driven, meaning is trumped by unhappiness, agitation, and constant negative judgments and invidious comparisons with others’ …always feeling to some to some degree, lacking and deficient. As you say, disconnected. And what are they disconnect from? I say, their heart, their purpose, their True and Real Self, their Essence. The ego mind (logic, assessments, "thinking...") is not the path to purpose.

[Reeve Fritchman]

Googling the phrase "passion at work" (as shown, including double quotes) returns 19,700 entries; using Live Search, I get 17,700. Note to the Live Search team: call me!

Okay, what's a few orders of magnitude among correspondents? It doesn't deprecate the fact that "passion at work", in its broadest definition, is on a par with "faith", in its broadest definition, as a catalyst in society's development.

Unsatisfied passion is highly corrosive on the human spirit; for some, it's devastating. I feel sorry for any person who's never been consumed by passion for work...

[Wally Bock]

It occurs to me that sometimes passion for one thing drives other things as well. Every work has some "laundry," an irreducible minimum of tasks that we need to do, but don't like much. If you're passionate about your purpose, you do those other things because they enable you to keep pursuing the purpose.

[Steve Roesler]

Hi,Kent,

Gee, I had no idea.

But hey, you're making the big bucks:-)

[Steve Roesler]

Peter,

You delve into an aspect of this that people struggle with, some for a lifetime: that the kind of "satisfaction" that many seek is found in satisfying something other than self. That is, one's purpose may very well transcend keeping score in raises, bonuses, and accolades; it is the career version of servant leadership.

Shall we pursue this further?

[Steve Roesler]

Thanks, Reeve, for the accurate info and gracious follow through. Don't know why I sometimes forget to use those double quotes to bound the search; it indeed makes a difference:-)

As you point out, the issue of fulfilling, meaningful work is an issue of the spirit. Walking the hallways of organizations and getting the sense of the spirit of the place can tell you a lot about where the people--and the organization--are in their integration of talent, passion, and purpose.

Reeve, thanks for weighing in. Hope to see you again and let me know if you get a call from the Live Search folks. . .

[peter vajda]

Steve, further pursuit is your choice...purpose, passion, the notion of servant leadership...are all near and dear to my heart....; me, I'd be grateful to acccompany you on such a journey if you choose to...

[Steve Roesler]

Wally, that looks dead-on to me.

We all have "stuff" that we have to do in order to "keep the main thing the main thing."

Without a main thing--an overarching purpose--the tedium of "stuff" becomes oppressive. With purpose, those "menial" things are understood to be part of the path we've taken; and their not seen as a burden.

Thanks.

[Jim Stroup]

Hello Steve,

I've always assumed the frothy concept of passion at work came into use during the frenzy that arose around efforts to capture the high ground in the great leader guru field - everyone struggling to find the special characteristics, or the one distinct trait, that sets the extraordinary leader apart from the pack.

Then, as the wind drained out of those sails, and the anti-elitist reaction kicked in, these same gurus turned democratic and decided passion was something we all had to bring to work with us in order to develop into leaders, or that great leaders had to inspire in all of the rest of us - or something like that. The word seems to sell in a book or article title, so the angles for pitching it continue to be ferreted out.

Thanks for such a great, continuing dialogue on this!

[Steve Roesler]

Hmm, Jim...there's a loud ring of truth in that line of thinking.

I'm 99% sure it has to have something to do with a felt marketing need.

So when "charisma" is discovered not to be a common--or must-have--leadership ingredient, we insert something like "passion" and "instilling passion"as an emotional substitute; forget the validity or substance.

This is a clever one, though. Arguing against passion is akin to arguing against motherhood and apple pie. I can see a good attorney getting ahold of this on cross-examination: "So you are saying that passion is a bad thing for a leader or worker to have?" "Are you discouraging your people from being passionate about their work?" Did you ever--at any time in your life--wish that you could instill passion in those around you?" And my favorite: "Are you saying that perhaps you aren't even passionate about your family?" Blah, blah, blah. . .
(Sorry. Too long working with a county prosecutor client:-)

Perhaps if the field of leadership studies wants to be taken as a serious discipline, there needs to be a style guide for writers that prohibits the use of syrupy superlatives.

Gotta mull this over a bit more. . .