One of my favorite movie lines can be heard at the end of the romantic comedy, Serendipity: “The Greeks didn’t write obituaries. They only asked one question after a man died: ‘Did he have passion?’”
* (This is partially true and partially Hollywood. The founders of Cyrenaic (435-356 BC) held this philosophy and they were Greek. But this practice was not true of all Greeks.)
What if we were evaluated only by our passion?
- Would we spend our time differently at home and at the office?
- How would we have to act and behave if passion was a requirement of our job?
- Would we still prioritize our emails and altercations, or our impact and contributions?
- Would we focus more on the output we deliver or the outcome we influence?
If passion were revered and valued at work, would we add it as a leadership competency and evaluate it during the annual performance review: “So Bob, how should we rate your passion this year?” … and perhaps reinvent the exit interview: “So Bob, did you have passion while you worked at our company?”
But what is passion? Intense enthusiasm, energy, and tenacity for something that excites us. Typically it manifests as:
- unquenchable desire and devotion
- an internal drive regardless of circumstances
- dogged determination to make a difference
- intrepid risk-taking in spite of doubters, naysayers, critics, and judges
- obsession with improving: self, others, processes, products, profits
- courage to challenge mediocrity, complacency, and the status quo
So what should do we do if we would fail the Greek’s obituary-test today?
Start creating passion… in moments. Soon enough, the moments will add up to define a passionate life. And even the Greeks won’t need to write an obituary about us!
