When being passionate is actually a weakness

Disclaimer: The views presented in all the blog articals are solely my own and do not reflect that of any individual or entity or present or past employers. These are based on my experience and are meant to drive a change.

Generally being passionate about your work and bringing that passion along with you everyday at work is generally a great thing.

One of the key responsibilities of a leader, if not the utmost responsibility especially as the people leader, is to identify individuals passions, give them increasing responsibilities in the area of their passion and channel their passion in the right direction.

Over the years, sadly in more than one occasion, I have witnessed passion getting suppressed or crushed. In my books, this is the ultimate crime one can commit as a Leader – period.

While one should work in the organization and for the leaders that appreciate and handle the passion the right way, as an individual with passion, there are a few important things one has to pay attention to, otherwise the passion can be the cause of your down fall and pay the ultimate price.

• Control your passion! Uncontrolled anything is not a good thing. Passion needs to come through but in a very controlled fashion. One has to be very conscious and careful for it to not come across as arrogance. Can not stress this enough.
• Stay positive, listen a lot, acknowledge others and their opinions and share your work. Let your work speak for itself. Staying calm, even if people in audience tries to find faults or critically criticizes.
• Ideally one with the passion on the topic is driving the conversation but there could be some unfortunate situations where that is not always the case. In those situations, be curious and not defensive. Take it easy and let the individual driving the conversation take leadership. Let it go. Best thing to do is to be a team player.

This is not easy by any means, in fact, it is extremely difficult to pull it off. If you happen to be in that situation as a Leader, I encourage you to take handle of the situation and if you are the individual in that situation, think of something pleasant while the discussions are happening, it will help you through the difficult time and prevent you from making potentially a career killing move.