During mass today, the sermon asked "Where is your passion?" It made me start to think about passion and it’s role in business.
Passion is one of those words that people use so often, that it often loses its meaning completely. There are countless business books and articles discussing the need to have passion for our businesses and what we do. It's certainly easier to passionate when it's your business, but are you creating an environment of passion, where your employees can be passionate as well?
Last weekend, my family went into NYC to watch an afternoon and evening program of dance, presented in Battery Park to help revitalize the downtown after the tragedy of 9/11. In the evening, we saw five different ballet companies, each presenting a different piece and usually a different style. Now, we're talking some of the best ballet companies in the country, including American Ballet Theatre, Boston Ballet, Joffrey Ballet of Chicago, New York City Ballet and the BalletMet Columbus. It was quite an enjoyable evening but one performance stood head and shoulders above the rest. It was a piece that the Boston Ballet did, a pas de deux from Don Quixote.
Now, all of the performances were well danced. But this pas de deux had the crowd on their feet at the end from the sheer joy and passion that they had for dancing. They were excellent dancers with great technique. All of the dancers were. But boy, you could see their absolute joy for dancing every single moment of the dance. With the passion that they had, they could have simply walked across the stage and I think we would have enjoyed it!
But, when you combine an incredible passion and love for what you do, with the skills to actually do it well, that is a magical and unforgettable combination! Usually, the bar is so low, that we’re content with a basic knowledge from people, forget really knowing something! And passion, hey, leave that to day time soaps! But, I can still see the look on those dancers faces while they danced and you can be certain that I will look to see the Boston Ballet again.
Are you passionate about what you do or is it just the job? Have you created an environment for everyone who works there to be passionate? Can you see a difference in the success of your business on days that you’re truly feeling a love for what you do? Are there people that you deal with who’s passion is so contagious that you just can’t help but become passionate yourself? I know that every time I get a post from Erik Hauser, the founder of the IXMA, I can’t help but become reenergized about the work I do!
Have any passion experiences of your own? If so, send them along and we’ll include them in our newsletter in the future!
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