{"id":12314,"date":"2017-04-26T19:13:34","date_gmt":"2017-04-26T13:43:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/manuscrypts.com\/test\/?p=12314"},"modified":"2021-06-25T11:50:14","modified_gmt":"2021-06-25T06:20:14","slug":"that-passion-profession-debate-again","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/manuscrypts.com\/test\/2017\/04\/26\/that-passion-profession-debate-again\/","title":{"rendered":"That passion – profession debate, again"},"content":{"rendered":"

In many beer fueled conversations, I have heard the sentiment of “quitting my job and doing something I am passionate about<\/em>.” While I see merit in that line of thought, these days I also end up playing party-pooper by asking if he\/she has a business model in mind, especially since the ‘passion’ is more often than not from the usual suspects list – digital photography, cooking\/baking, writing, travel and so on. To clarify, unlike funded startups this model doesn’t even have to scale, but in the medium-long term, the revenue has to be greater than expenditure. That’s a requisite for survival in the world, unless one has alternate sources of income.<\/p>\n

I saw a meeting of worlds when I noticed yet another job listing that demanded the person to be “passionate about digital marketing<\/em>“? As someone who has been working in the domain since 2004, I have seen a version of this phrase appear in many job descriptions. I could replace digital marketing with startups, consumer insights, programming and so on, the question remains the same.<\/p>\n

The professional & the mercenary<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

In 2010, when I was working with an NGO, I had a debate of sorts with a management expert, who had come for a training session. The crux of it was that I said that I was not passionate about the domain in which the organisation was operating, but that it was mostly irrelevant to the quality of my work. I had a skill set and expertise that was useful in the context. He labeled me a mercenary, my response was that I was a professional. Manish expressed by sentiment best when he wrote in a post<\/a> on culture later – “You become a professional when you care.”<\/em><\/p>\n

The skill and the spirit<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

That point of view remains – I am not passionate about brands or digital marketing, the domains I work in. Interested, most definitely. Passionate, not. If it is taken out of my life, I will show withdrawal symptoms but I don’t think I’ll miss it for long.  So why do I work in these domains? Simply put, it allows me to work on interesting challenges. Digital, in all of its ever-changing forms and manifestations, continues to be one of the most formidable and exciting frontiers of any business. I try to solve problems using critical thinking and other skill sets, and I find that stimulating. However, I will do it when I am paid for it, or as a help to friends. On the other hand, I have declined payment offers around the things I really like – reading, travel, food (barring my restaurant reviews for Bangalore Mirror) because I experience a freedom in enjoying these things without constraints\/obligations. I will continue to do these things even if I’m not paid for it. Maybe that’s passion!<\/p>\n

The purpose and the philosophy<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

An organisation is defined as a social arrangement which pursues collective goals<\/em>, controls its own performance, and has a boundary separating it from its environment. While the organisation is defined only by those collective goals, the people who are a part of it will most likely have an individual purpose. And yes, they can be committed<\/em> to both. Passion might help, but what (I think) helps more is discipline. In fact, this discipline would be part of the individual’s life philosophy and visible in other facets of his\/her life – health, relationships etc.<\/p>\n

A committed professional will work on his\/her skills, hone them and adapt them to meet the objectives. I think that creates a dependability and pragmatism that can work better long term than passion because it’s a process. I agree that these aren’t mutually exclusive, but given we don’t usually have utopian scenarios, I would mostly choose a committed professional over a passionate individual if I were hiring. Since this is eminently debatable, I’d love to hear other thoughts.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the discussion around “passion as a profession” at social gatherings usually ends with me being exposed as a cynic when I utter, “Maybe it’s (also) the escape from the routine that makes it your passion. What happens if you realise that your passion is reduced to a task when you take it up as your day job<\/em>?” One must try, but one must also set expectations.<\/p>\n

\"quote-our-passion-for-learning-is-our-tool-for-survival-carl-sagan-80-98-71\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In many beer fueled conversations, I have heard the sentiment of “quitting my job and doing something I am passionate about.” While I see merit in that line of thought, these days I also end up playing party-pooper by asking if he\/she has a business model in mind, especially since the ‘passion’ is more often […]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1479,6053,6027],"tags":[551,6419,6420,1511,1909,1796,519],"class_list":["post-12314","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-thoughtstream","category-purpose","category-work-org-culture","tag-job","tag-mercenary","tag-missionary","tag-passion","tag-profession","tag-professional","tag-work"],"aioseo_notices":[],"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/manuscrypts.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12314","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/manuscrypts.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/manuscrypts.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/manuscrypts.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/manuscrypts.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12314"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/manuscrypts.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12314\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15900,"href":"https:\/\/manuscrypts.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12314\/revisions\/15900"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/manuscrypts.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12314"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/manuscrypts.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12314"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/manuscrypts.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12314"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}