A Working Passion

In the Summer 2010 issue of Connecticut College Magazine I read an article by Rachel Harrington in the Lives section. It’s about Nicholas Leichter (Class of ’94), who founded Nicholas Leichter Dance, a New York-based contemporary dance company two years after graduation.

In the article Leichter is quoted as saying, “When you’re younger, you want to focus solely on passion. But as you get older, it’s really important to be multifaceted.”

Leichter says he would like to just dance and teach, but also must work on fundraising for his dance company. He apparently has passion for his work.

His story and that quote made me think… Can we spend our careers without being passionate about what we do every single day? Without passion, isn’t work…well, just work?

Webster defines “passion” as a strong liking or desire for or devotion to some activity, object or concept.

Webster defines “work” as an activity in which one exerts strength or faculties to do or perform something.

So what if we connect the two? Let’s see if we can come-up with the answer...Working is an activity in which one exerts strength or faculties to do or perform something with a strong liking or desire for or devotion to some activity, object or concept…

Wow!! I am not rewriting Webster, just looking for ways to make us realize passion prevails!

Another good example…I recently attended the National Association of Securities Professionals (NASP) conference where I met Dr. Michael G. McMillan. Dr. McMillan is the Director, Curriculum Projects at the CFA Institute in Charlottesville Virginia. He was on a panel moderated by Ginny Clarke, author of the upcoming book Career Mapping.

That panel underscored the importance of networking, education, career planning and developing a 10-second elevator pitch. Dr. McMillan stressed the need for having passion to excel in life personally and professionally. Without passion, it is just work!

Dr. McMillan joined CFA Institute in October of 2008 after more than a decade as a professor of accounting and finance at Johns Hopkins University's Carey School of Business and George Washington University's School of Business. Before that he was a securities analyst and portfolio manager at Bailard, Biehl, and Kaiser and Merus Capital Management in San Francisco, California.

Dr. McMillan said he always returns to academia. It’s his passion!

And therein is the lesson…you NEED to look for your passion!

In today’s shrinking job market with millions of people looking for work, it is hard to place passion at the top of the list when listing pro’s and con’s for a new job.

We better like what we do because we are spending an awful lot of time doing it!

A Dear Job Hunter recipe: Try mixing in one-third passion with two-thirds work, maybe that’s a step in the right direction and maybe, just maybe that’s when we’ll be good at what we do and our work will be good to us!

Please post your comments below. If you would like to comment privately, please email me at trishhoffman@gmail.com.

Trish Hoffman