Are You Passionate About Work?

I was listening to the HBR podcast recently on whether leaders are becoming too emotional. One of the side comments struck me as worth diving into, the idea of being passionate about your work. There is a romantic notion that we should be passionate about our work. I’m not convinced we should all aspire to passion in our work. 

In the podcast, Gianpietro Petriglieri points out the root of the word passion is “passio, which means to suffer.” Anyone who can recall a moment when they were passionate about something or someone will recognize how much this strikes home. When we are passionate about work, we are not only engaged in the work we also care deeply about the outcome. Sometimes to an unhealthy degree.

As I think about passion, it helps me to think about these two dimensions. I can remember as a small business owner being deeply passionate about making the company a success. I was constantly engaged in the work of making it a success. I would work twelve hour days seven days a week. I was also emotionally attached to the success that I would sacrifice almost anything to see the company survive and thrive. I was both highly engaged and attached to the outcome.

If you consider a two-by-two chart with attachment across the x-axis and engagement across the y-axis we have a model in which the upper right-hand quadrant is passion. The upshot of this situation can be an unhealthy relationship to the outcome, perhaps working extended hours ignoring other parts of your life (like family or health).  

The first dimension, engagement, can be thought of in how we are focused and attentive to the work at-hand. We can be highly engaged in work without distraction. We can pour ourself into work one-hundred percent and provide our best efforts to deliver results.

The second dimension, attachment to an outcome, reflects the noble truths of Buddhism. The first noble truth is that life is suffering. It is easy to misunderstand this truth as pessimistic. We naturally attach to what we desire. We don’t realize how little control we have over all the factors required to make the outcome a reality. We suffer when we want what we do not have and cannot control.

Petriglieri also points out that many people mistake passion in the place of meaningful work. Many of us want to be working on something that has a large impact and makes a difference. Consider another helpful two-by-two that measures impact instead of attachment across the x-axis. When we hit the “magic quadrant”of this model we are highly engaged and making a large impact. At this point we are effective, not passionate. In this quadrant, we are highly impactful in our work.

The reality of passion is that it is exhausting. If you strive for passion in your work, home, community all the time it can be more than is possible to sustain. Leadership requires understanding the difference between passion and effectiveness and when to pursue each. Choose to be engaged in all the work you do, and allow yourself to let go of attachment to outcomes that may not be healthy. Choose to be fully engaged in the work on which you can have the biggest impact.