Thursday, October 04, 2012

Passion 2.0

Like so many job and career truths, the "work with passion" rule is being rewritten as we speak. No one captures the changing truths better than Cal Newport, a Georgetown University professor, published author and millennial expert if there ever was one.  Here's his latest piece: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/30/jobs/follow-a-career-passion-let-it-follow-you.html?src=me&ref=general

Conventional wisdom says follow your passion and everything, including your career and work dreams, will come true. Newport throws this point on its head. That's a good thing. While it's difficult to name someone who accomplished great things in the world's eyes without passion, there are plenty of worker bees who are quite good and well compensated for what they do who may not be filled with passion every day. They let their passion channel the more pertinent challenge: Identify where the greatest need lies matched up against gifts, talents and where the greatest energy can be derived. From there passion becomes a byproduct or ingredient in the larger goal vs. a means to an end or even the end itself. Newport puts it more succinctly when he says let your passion follow you as opposed to you following your passion. Great food for thought.

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