Passionless workers are more likely to be axed

Bob Weinstein,
Tags: talent management, business management

If your goal is just to stay employed, you risk being replaced by someone more enthusiastic and passionate about the job.

So says Vaughan Evans, a London-based economist, business strategist and author of Backing U! A Business-Oriented Guide to Backing Your Passion and Achieving Career Success.

Evans cites a recent report on employee attitudes that found that more than half of American workers (55 per cent) and two-thirds (66 per cent) of workers under 25 are dissatisfied with their jobs. 

Passion defined
Innumerable books and articles have been written about the importance of passion. It’s the mysterious crowbar prying open the door leading to life and career fulfillment. In The Occupational Adventure Guide: A Travel Guide to the Career of Your Dreams, author Curt Rosengren says that the “power of passion fuels success.” Variations on that phrase have been used countless times to promote the importance of passion.

Put yourself in an employer’s shoes, says Evans. Wouldn’t you be more likely to hang on to a positive, upbeat, enthusiastic employee? The answer is obvious.

As Evans sees it, if you’re stuck in a job you’re not passionate about, you’re faced with two choices. The first is to find ways to make the job more challenging, exciting, and fulfilling. The second is to search for a new job that fires your imagination, one you’re likely to feel passionate about.

If you choose the latter path, do some homework and find out what fires your adrenaline so you don’t make the same mistake twice. Evans offers the following helpful tips:

If all your hard work pays off, you will have made a life-altering and life-enhancing move.

The power of passion
And once you’re settled into a job you love, never lose sight of the power of passion. Make no assumptions about the jobs you hold. Realize that there is no such thing as a perfect job. By the law of averages, you’re likely to change jobs several times throughout your career. The reasons almost always will be events beyond your control (erratic or cyclical economies, organizational mishaps).

But if passion is the impenetrable cement that defines you in your field, finding a new job will never be difficult. Without presenting supportable evidence of success in your career, prospective employers will immediately sense your value.

Interviews with heads of the world’s household IT innovators cite passion as the prominent component firing their persistence for achieving their goals.

Take corporate strategist Evans’ advice and use your “passionate interest” to sell yourself and get hired.

“Passion” is a powerful word that is worth researching. It can mean the difference between mediocrity and excellence.