The One Thing About Passion In Business

People with passion are irrational.

To be irrational means to border on not being very logical or reasonable – possibly even viewed as being a little “crazy.”

Someone with passion goes ALL out.

• Cyclists in the Tour de France prove their passion by pushing their bikes to speeds up to 65 mph as they race down mountain roads.
• Surgeons and medical staff at many hospitals express their passion by persevering through numerous multi-hour intricate and tedious surgeries.
• Many entrepreneurs demonstrate their passion by working 18-hour days for weeks and months at a time, for little-to-no pay.

Passion is clearly a strong motivator for people to push beyond their normal limits. It can also be a catalyst for amazing results.

This is the reason many businesses try to leverage the power of passion.

Here are a few companies that claim passion as a core value:

• BorgWarner has a passion for excellence.
• Emerson Electric has a passion for progress.
• Tech Data has a passion for winning.
• Rite Aid has a passion for customers.
• Celgene has a passion for patients.
• L Brands believes passion leads to success.
• Mattel encourages their people to play with passion.

Of course, how well each company demonstrates its stated passion is unclear. Ideally it’s clearly evident wherever employees do their work and where people interact.

The fact is, passion cannot be mandated. But leaders can create an environment that encourages it.

Here’s an important secret about fostering passion: It can only be about one thing.

As a leader, if you want your people to exhibit passion, then you must decide on the one thing that matters more than anything else. It’s the one thing that separates you from your competitors, and defines what makes your organization unique.

• It’s what reward and recognition programs are based upon.
• It’s what gets talked about and discussed the most.
• It’s the reason people come to work.

This one thing is also your key differentiating value.