What is Passion?
Passion is more than just an excitement for something. It’s an obsession that you can’t seem to shake, even when things are challenging. Passion is the drive inside of each of us.
The word Entrepreneur is believed to have roots in the Sanskrit Word “Antha Prarena” which means “Inner-Motivation“. While the origins of this word are debated, one thing that everyone can likely agree on is that entrepreneurs work out of an “Inner Motivation”, or what I like to call… passion.
Now, this doesn’t mean you have to be an entrepreneur to have passion. I use this as an example when trying to explain what it means to be passionate about something as it relates to a career. There is an inner motivation, obsession, driving force that keeps you coming back for more each and every day.
Who has it & how can you find it when hiring?
Personally, I’ve never found that passion can be trained or learned. I’ve consistently found that I can teach a lot of things, but passion (specifically in my case, for helping businesses grow) is either there or not.
Not sure what to look for? Here are some things that stand out to me when determining if someone has the passion that karma digital needs:
Are they excited when talking about non-work topics? Everyone (or mostly everyone) appears to be excited about work during an interview, I’ve found the difference with passionate people is that excitement carries over into other areas of their life and they get excited when talking about things they enjoy in their life (such as hobbies).They are always trying to grow and develop, both in life and career. Passionate people don’t settle- they are always trying to learn, move up, and get in closer alignment with their core values. Don’t mistake this “seeking more” for climbing the corporate ladder (although that may also be true), growth and development to passionate people may not always come in the form of climbing the corporate ladder and often manifests in personal growth. Be sure to get to the root of career risks, changes, and opportunities they’ve taken and why.
They tend to have positive expectations- I don’t mean they are naturally positive people, but in general, they set high expectations and have a positive outlook on pursuing their passions.
Why does passion matter?
Hiring passionate people is increasingly important when expectations of careers and employers are the highest they’ve ever been. People today value their time, we spend over 40 hours a week every week “working”. We look to our careers to fulfill us in ways that past generations never thought of, and we want to surround ourselves with people and companies that align with personal passions more and more. For employers, when you find a team who shares your passion they will prioritize “work” over other things, because they enjoy it. Your team will provide better results and work harder, because they have an inner motivation pushing them.