49 1/2 Shades of Passion

Admit it.  You just keep coming back for the pictures.

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In my last post, I came to the defense of passion, since it seems to have taken a major beating in the media during the past few months.

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In this last post I also pointed out that people look at following passion from different vantage points.

Some individuals are drawn to passion when talking about their careers- or potential careers- while others find the word about as useful as standing around watching two monkeys hug one another.

(Note: I suppose some people might have a passion for watching monkeys hug one another, but that's a different blog post all together.)

It is with these dual perspectives in mind that I began looking at the various approaches to passion from our headline grabbing writers, Aspen Institute founder and biographer Walter Isaacson, Linked-In CEO Reid Hoffman and professor/author Cal Newport.  From their writings and public commentary we can see how they have painted the word "passion":

Walter Isaacson: Self-Centered Passion

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In a recent article, Mr. Isaacson spoke with the Huffington Post about the Aspen Institute's new focus on encouraging youth to serve America after graduation.  He discusses the importance of doing something larger than yourself, which can be reached by doing some kind of service corps right out of college or high school. It might be a medical corps or teaching corps or the military- anything that serves other individuals.

It is in this context that he relates a conversation with Steve Jobs about following ones passion:

"We talked about the fact that it isn't just about your damn passion-- it's about doing something larger than yourself. It's about serving this world, helping others.  So if you have a whole generation of people [who've been told, 'Oh, just follow your passion,' they're going to forget that there's some purpose in life."

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The philosophy of looking at something greater than yourself is spot on and is a very integral part of the career design method that I use with my clients. However, the above statement presumes that discovering yourself and following your interests and abilities is mutually exclusive of helping others or being practical.

I contend it can be both. Many people view the word and their passion not only as an expression of themselves but also as an expression of what they can offer to others. In fact, most of my clients come to me asking the quintessential question, "How can I best help others using my passions and talents?"

By first asking this powerful question, clients are better able to reach the goal that Isaacson says we need to reach: meeting the needs of others.

Reid Hoffman: Passion Poppycock

passionate about this poppycock
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Hoffman seems to view following one's passion as a lofty, end-gaining, unrealistic career vision that will quickly become obsolete with our ever-fluctuating times. He alternately uses the more objective, dispassionate phrase, "flexibly consistent framework" to describe how we need to pursue careers.

While his point about fluidity certainly makes sense, I believe Hoffman's advice is best taken by first asking yourself, "What interests and abilities (and even passions!) are going to help me build a solid foundation upon which to build my framework?" Far from the vague and lofty question Hoffman rails against, this type of question is razor sharp.

Answering this potent question gives you self-confidence and a solid knowledge base from which you can adapt and thrive in ever-shifting work environments. It allows you to manage setbacks more efficiently and determine how you can best help in your profession. Moreover, you are then able to adjust your career goals as your passions, interests and needs change. 

Cal Newport: Plain Ole Vanilla Passion Doesn't Cut It

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In the same vein, Mr. Newport seems to suggest that conventional wisdom's version of "passion" equates to a pre-conceived fantasy, lacking authenticity until cultivated for several years.  He instead uses objective terms such as "deliberate practice" and "unifying mission" to tell us how to get to valuable, satisfying work, or "Passion 2.0."

Newport's method definitely has merit; however, it works best when a person first takes the time to ask themselves, "What do I need to deliberately practice, cultivate and care about in order to develop a unifying mission?" Even Newport himself, on his blog, Study Hacks, reveals in his bio that he has a need to "decode" (great verb, by the way!) overly simplistic conventions for success such as "follow your passion." Rather, he says he "dive[s] deeper, looking to decode underlying patterns of success, in all their nuanced glory."

"To nuzzle" is a good verb, don't you think?
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(That has to be one of my favorite bio's, by the way.)

We all have pre-existing passions, fascinations and/or proclivities, no matter what you want to call them. Everyone has something-a function, let's call it- that they feel a relentless need to do, like "decode" or "guide" or "illustrate." These are functions that energize us and often make us lose track of time. 

Of course, the way in which we express these needs will change over time.  We may lose interest in a subject area or we may find that we evolve out of performing our once-loved function into a more nuanced version.  Likewise, we may move into other roles that have lain dormant for a good while.

However, the essence of who we are, what we're naturally good at and therefore drawn to doesn't change. Good career guidance translates the need to do x or y or z into a sustainable career. It also provides the language and insight to help people articulate what they need to have in a career and why, before they determine how to get there. It gets you in the right field before you embark on the journey.

Which leads me to the conclusion of my series on passion:

Get in Your Game: Passion-filled or Otherwise


No matter how you view "passion", all of these methods work best once you figure out your foundation and what careers are in your playing field.

And when I hear my clients talk about wanting to follow their passion, I'm really hearing them say that they have a yearning that needs to be met, even though they can't quite articulate what that need or urge is yet.  

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Through career coaching, individuals eventually discover that this "passion" is actually something they are driven to do because of their natural talents and interests, so that's when they have to ask themselves the razor sharp, function-oriented questions that I detailed above.

The answers are complex and will evolve mostly with the trial and error knowledge that comes with going out and experiencing the world.  But that experience will be most efficient and useful if, once again, you have a solid sense of yourself and your general field of ability and potential expertise.

So honor your passion, if that's what you want to call it, discover your talents, find your playing field, and then...

PLAY BALL!

My Defense of Passion: Keep the Baby! (And Throw Out the Bathwater)

A Very Cute Baby, If I Do Say

The backlash against the simple mantra, "follow your passion" raises some very important concerns, as I detailed in my last post.  Cal Newport, Walter Isaacson and Reid Hoffman all point out that the phrase is not only idealistic and over-simplified, but also misleading in it's expectations of young people embarking on new careers.

However, I'd hate to think that, due to the onslaught of equally simplistic headlines to the tune of "Don't Follow Your Passion!" we would throw the baby out with the bathwater, so to speak, and forget the passion piece entirely.

(Because how can you throw out that sweet little angel baby above?  The cheeks alone are priceless!)

The media has certainly been trying to do just that, jumping into the "don't follow your passion" fray with typical gusto. The Huffington Post, for example, in a recent article titled, "Warren Buffet's Predictable Career Advice: Follow Your Passion," criticized the billionaire mogul when he told Forbes Magazine,

"I always tell college students to take the job that you would take if you were independently wealthy. You're going to do well at it."

Hmmm.... call me crazy, but that seems like sound career advice to me! And why not follow the wisdom of an 82 year old man who is one of the best investors and philanthropists in the world? Especially since he also speaks from experience, as someone who pursued his passion for finance from an early age.

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With all of this bad press, someone needs to come to passion's defense, don't you think?  And I suppose I'm the perfect person for the job, since I've been on both sides of the "follow your passion" fence.

I spent many years confused and frustrated because I couldn't figure out what passion to focus on in order to make a contribution.  That was very real to me, that hole I felt in my life. My identity and self-worth withered away while I struggled to find a direction to pursue. Had I read Newport's book during that period of time I would've hurled it out the window in frustration, yelling, "How can I use the 'craftsmen approach' when I know WHAT CRAFT to hone?!!"

Which is one of the many reasons why I contend that finding one's career passion- or passions, as the case may be- is one of those values that deserves preserving.

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Throw Out the Idealism, Keep the Introspection

These days, in today's shaky economic climate, the notion of allowing yourself some introspective time to discover your interests and then plan a corresponding course of action is a tough sell.

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(Trust me, I know. I have to sell it every day.)

Many in the older generations- especially parents who were looking forward to empty nests versus ones filled with little birdies coming back to roost (indefinitely)- tend to applaud the "forget about your passion" slogans.  They may, understandably, find it an answer to the current unemployment rate- currently nearing 12%- of the Millennial Generation.

In other words, "Forget about your what your so-called "calling" is and just get a #*@#$ job!"

However, if young people don't take any time to determine what motivates and fascinates them, they are going to end up like so many of my clients in their late 20's, 30's, 40's and 50's, who seek my help because they skipped on the introspection entirely and determined their careers by looking at the so-called "practical" elements: good money, industry outlook (think of any "Fastest Growing Careers!" article,) and perceived stability.

Trying to be practical, these individuals (yours truly included) ignored their passions and interests entirely, went for the quickest and "surest" bet they could find, and in turn found themselves unhappy or maybe even unemployed several months or years or even decades later. This is because they were unable to compete with colleagues who were a better fit for- and more interested in- their work.

What's more, after six months, or five years, or even 25 years (and perhaps thousands of dollars in student loans) the only thing they figured out was what doesn't suit them, rather than what does.

How practical is that?

I'm feeling quite passionate about this pie, actually.

I'll Take a Slice of Passion with a Side of Reality, Please...

So here are two main insights that I believe we can gain from this "Do-vs.-Don't-Follow-Your-Passion" career debate and still keep the passion portion in tact.

1. False Expectations are Bad Enough, but NO Expectations are Worse.

We need to prepare graduates for the fact that a career is not going to be fulfilling and chock full of passion right from the beginning.  Young career starters can't expect fulfillment to come without putting in ample time and hard work, as Newport shows us in his many examples.
He emphasizes the fairly common knowledge among seasoned professionals that the more effort we put into a career the more we will reap the rewards that come with those efforts.

But I believe there's an important distinction to be made between working hard at just any job versus one that's in our general field of interest and abilities. These elements give us the motivation day in and day out, and the competitive edge we need to succeed.

And that's one of the main problems we see in the workforce today: many people have no idea what to expect from themselves or their career, mainly because they have no idea what career field they should even be playing in. Will they really benefit from working hard to build what Newport calls "career capital" over the years if they're in the wrong field altogether?

In my experience, both personally and in working with clients, the answer is a resounding "no."

They will most likely gain nothing other than the presumed monetary rewards and increased responsibility, both of which will be short-lived if they don't excel at their job. Most importantly, even if those extrinsic rewards come about, that typically isn't enough to sustain them.

Bottom Line: Figure out your playing field, then get in the game, even it means you have to start by warming up the bench. Knowing you're in the right field motivates you to work hard, play hard and win.

2.  Houston: We Have a Word Problem

Photo credit: NASA

Another point Newport, Isaacson and Hoffman inadvertently bring up is a semantics problem that no one seems to include in the public discourse, and that is: we all view "passion" in a different way.

(Remember, we're talking about careers here, My Friend, so let's not allow our imaginations to get crazy!)

For some people, a passion drives them to make a difference in the world.  It's intense, and visceral, meaningful and, ultimately, personal. Most of my clients, for instance, use the term in describing their motivation to work hard, as do I.

(Heck, they may even throw around romantic terms such as "purpose" and "calling" in there too! Talk about craaaazzy!)

But some people don't relate to the word in the least.  It's way too touchy feely and dramatic for them and doesn't aptly describe how they see their work- no matter how much they enjoy it.

Take my sister, for example.  She is an advocate, gifted author and blogger for lupus awareness as well as an inventor of products that help people with chronic illnesses.  She motivates hundreds of people every day to keep going despite Lupus and their many other setbacks. (Can you tell I'm a proud sister?!)

But she never EVER uses the word "passion" to describe what she does for a living. That term is just not part of her vocabulary, being more of the Thinking than the Feeling Type.

While my sister is a fairly open-minded individual and can respect the passion other people feel  for their work, other individuals are a bit more, well, perplexed by the whole prospect. These are the people who tend to hear "follow your passion" and equate it with pure, unadulterated idealism.

"I love you, even though you're an ... well, you know."

Tell them that you're toying with the idea of following your passion and they'll assume you're going to:

1. Quit your job
2. Join an artist's commune in Oregon and
3. Prolifically engage in smoking a substance that, until November, was illegal in all 50 States.

(Oh, and clothing is probably optional at this freewheeling commune of yours.)

So, given these different perspectives, how do our headline-grabbing authors view passion?

Stay tuned until next time, when I shall reveal all in my concluding post, "49 1/2 Shades of Passion."

(I know, who writes these headlines??!)

Passion: A Dirty Word?

Here in the career community, "passion" seems to be the contentious word of 2012.  And I'm as much to blame as the next guy, as my two last blog posts revolved around the "P" word.

However, just to set the record straight, I'm not speaking of "passion" in the, ummm, carnal sense, because, as you know, it's not that kind of blog.  However, just because I'm in a generous mood, I've drummed up a few images of that passion, sprinkling them throughout this post for your viewing pleasure.

You may thank me later.

The Debate

As I was saying, the passion-in-your-career debate has been creeping into every nook and cranny of the press.  As with most of today's conversations that get a lot of attention, major boxing matches are springing up, pitting pithy little slogans against one another. Lest you feel left out of the loop, I'll fill you in on this debate:

In one corner of the ring we find the long time defending champion,

"Follow Your Passion." 

And in the other corner we have a new contender coming into the fight, one that basically says:

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"It's Not About Your Passion!"

Those slogans, they're rich little suckers, aren't they?

After reading much of this passion debate from various media sources, I decided to break down the dichotomous sound bytes into much more nuanced components (a sort of 49 1/2 Shades of Gray, if you will) which I shall share with you now.

Once again, you may thank me later.

Overlooking Passion: Contender Number One

Since I'm sure you've been listening to the whole "Follow Your Passion" mantra over the last decade, I'll focus in on the newest contenders, currently being led in the media by author, Millennial and Georgetown University Assistant Professor of Computer Science (I know: ??!), Cal Newport.

"If you really loved me you'd share your hay with me."-Flickr

I've read many an article lately that address Newport's popular new career book, So Good They Can't Ignore You: Why Skills Trump Passion in the Quest for Work You Love. The book's main title is a quote from one of my favorite comedians and writers, Steve Martin.  (Mr. Newport gets a big point for that one.) Newport wraps his argument around the comments Martin made to Charlie Rose in a 2007 interview.

In this interview Martin recounts his struggle for over ten years, battling rejection, failures, anxiety, low pay, lack of feedback, painfully slow professional progress and isolation.  But during these difficult years Martin managed to hone his craft to the point that his performance was not only superb, but so unique that the public and show business execs couldn't help but notice him. Mr. Martin lived up to his own words, "Be so good they can't ignore you." Furthermore, this mastery led to the enjoyment of his career, entailing constant work, getting an impressive following and earning hefty paychecks.

Newport labels this slow and deliberate method of developing ones career, "The Craftsman Approach." This method serves as a sort of antidote to the entitlement mindset that he feels has saturated his young generation. In Newport's opinion, years of being spoon fed "follow your passion" has given young people false career expectations. They assume they'll love their career from the onset, and that work will feel purely rewarding from day one. This is idealistic, he says, because of the realities of the workplace:

"Most jobs don't offer their employees great autonomy and the ability to make a big impact. If you're a recent college graduate in an entry-level job, you're much more likely to hear 'go change the water cooler' than you are 'go change the world.'"

Furthermore, Mr. Newport contends that a passion- the correct version of which he dubs "Passion 2.0"- will evolve gradually, once you build up skills and therefore gain workplace value. He contends that searching for some pre-existing passion out there only leads to unrealistic expectations, anxiety and chronic job hopping. (As in, "I won't stop until I find my perfect career and passion!") Moreover, lots of introspection can be harmful and a waste of time for young people in the beginning stages of their career search.

Some decent points made, no?

Contender Numero Dos

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Joining the fight against the conventional passion slogan- in a brief but widely circulated way- is Walter Isaacson, the influential thought leader, head of the Aspen Institute and author of the best-selling biography of all times,  Steve Jobs.  Mr. Isaacson too has some strong words  to say about the slogan. In response to the self-centered mindset he believes the "follow your passion" mantra perpetuates, he stresses the importance of going after something greater than yourself and your passion; most notably, the value of contributing to society.

Hard to argue with that notion, right?

Third Times a Charm

The last contender I'll mention is LinkedIn CEO, Reid Hoffman, who, in his new book, The Startup of You: Adapt to the Future, Invest in Yourself, Transform Your Career, advises that a person should adopt a "flexibly persistent framework" in his or her career planning.  He finds outdated the advice of both Richard Bolles (What Color is Your Parachute?) and Stephen Covey (The Seven Habits of Highly Successful People.) in that both authors propose the philosophy of "begin with the end in mind." This mindset, Hoffman points out, is too fixed and predeterminate for constantly changing times such as ours.

He says that trying to answer "lofty questions about identity and moral purpose, along with deceptively simple ones like 'What am I passionate about?'" is futile, since the answers to questions such as these are always fluid, always evolving.

So, as you can see, the plot against passion thickens....

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And just to keep you wanting more, (this is 49 1/2 Shades of Gray, after all) this post will be continued. So stay tuned for next time, when I'll come to the defense of passion.

'Cause somebody has to.