The Change Dude’s Blog

Passion Play

Passion’s a word that’s made it’s way into the lexicon of everyday life like never before.  We’re  passionate about everything from baking cupcakes to processing accounts payable.  Passion reflects such a range of potential definitions from deep emotions to boundless enthusiasm.  I hear the word used so often that it’s lost the oomph it once had for me.

Children use it to describe their excitement over a new video game.  Executives use it to proclaim their focus on a business objective.  Job seekers put passion into their interviews as a way to show desire for the open position.  It’s all a bit confusing, really.

Last week during a client meeting a senior executive exclaimed “a passion for customer service”, followed by explaining that with that passion came a focus on reducing costs to serve and increasing revenue per customer.  All very worthy goals with complete consistency.  Yet it left me very confused as to that executives real emotion.  Was it a driving love of being face-to-face with customers and serving their needs? Was that passion for designing cost effective customer service solutions?  Or was it simply an enthusiasm for getting positive feedback for a job well done?

Interestingly vague word this passion thing. 

Rick Neuheisel, (UCLA football head coach) coined the term "Passion Bucket" on the Dan Patrick Show when he said "When you’re at UCLA, you have to have your passion bucket full when you play the Trojans."  What I think Coach Neuheisel meant to say was that his players should bring their highest level  enthusiasm and desire to win.  Very colorful use of passion as an adjective to describe a bucket.

Passion is a powerful word I suggest should be reserved for things we are truly passionate about.  Personally I have a great passion for my family and my country.  Very clearly these reflect the values that are closest to my heart, I would sacrifice everything to protect and hold true to these things I have a passion for.  It would seem a bit ingenuous to  say I had such a deep emotional connection as passion to the pizza I made for dinner last night, although it was quite fresh, tasty and a joy to assemble.

As business leaders let’s reserve our passion for those key components of the business that we would sacrifice deeply to maintain.  We should be passionate about our communities, our mission, our values and our associates. 

Happy Valentines Day!

February 14, 2011 - Posted by thechangedude | Uncategorized