PASSION? Wait - There's MORE !
Business Directions 20 Feb 1995Ever noticed how some speakers grab and keep your attention no matter what they are talking about? There you sit in front of the TV
At midnight rivetted by this guy selling you 472 classical CDs (wait - there's MORE) and he loves them so much he'll send you a complete set of steak knives free when you order (phone now - send no money) your CDs for only $49.95 (be quick - stock is limited).
This guy is now a national celebrity, almost a cultural icon, making guest appearances on game shows, and so on.
Why do we give him our undivided attention when he is flogging stuff you and I would never buy in a blue fit ?
For the same reason we find ourselves glued to the TV at 3 am on a Tuesday watching Olympic speed skating, gymnastics, or weightlifting, for heavens sake.
Or why we pay $150 for scalped tickets to the Stones' concert.
Or listen to the loggers and greenies defend their opposing views in the news broadcasts.
What captivates us? Passion.
We are watching, sharing, and feeling someone else's passion. Passion for direct selling on TV. Passion for a sport. Passion for good old' Rock n Roll. Passion for jobs from the forests or passion for those forests.
Passion is emotion. Passion is attitude. And most important of all, passion is excellence. Passion is attractive.
You cannot excel without a passion for what you are doing. The best salesperson must passionately believe in their product. The best engineer passionately understands and respects the principles of engineering. The most creative accountant passionately uses accounting methods to solve new corporate challenges. The best lawyer passionately works the mechanics of justice in our society.
Without passion, they cannot be the best. Good, maybe, but not excellent. Scratch the surface of excellence and you will find passion at work.
Now this need for passion is a bit of a bother, especially in Australia. Bit uncomfortable. Best not talked about. Not really the done thing, Bit sort of, you know, American. Making all that noise, showing all that enthusiasm, rather than just getting on with it.
The Quiet Achiever is more like it. Just get your job done and don't make a song and dance about it. Then she'll be right. Mate.
Thus spake the 20th century. We are entering the 21st century. A century where survival depends upon excellence. Excellence can only occur when passion is operating.
Do you care passionately about your product and your service? Do your staff? Do your suppliers? If not, then neither will your clients. And when others come along doing just what you do but with passionate excellence, then bye-bye client.
Given the choice, we will always choose excellence. It feels good. It works best. I want it.
One very disconcerting fact about passion is that you cannot fake it (in spite of what Cleo and Cosmo tell us). It is that old story about never being able to fool all of the people all of the time.
We sense the insincerity of faked passion, or sales hype as its known. Warning flags wave in our minds. We look for the con. We are ready to distrust the speaker and therefore distrust the product.
Just like when someone does not practice what they speak. So do not tell me about passionate excellence - show me !
So how do we encourage and nurture passion in ourselves and in our teammates ? Here are five suggestions.
Five Points Pushing Passion
- Ask yourself if you and every team member really does care that much about
what the organisation offers to clients. If anyone does not, then it is
time to immediately part ways, to find the activity or product in life that
they can be passionate about.
Employ only people who are passionate about your organisation's business. Sounds drastic, but there is no room for mediocrity in the new corporate world. Your team must excel for your organisation to survive. - Keep your team informed on why they have every right to be passionate
about their work. Provide the comparative sales statistics with other products
in the marketplace.
Tell them how the product is being improved right now to be even better. Tell them of customer response. Share the feedback from distributors, sales staff, marketing research, customers comments, and so on.
Make a positive noise to the whole team about anyone who has received good words from clients or suppliers - they are obviously operating with passion ! - Live your own passion for what you do. Be the example, the model, the demonstrator of proud enthusiasm for your product, your service, and how you achieve each. Passion is an attitude - easily observed, truly felt and felt truly,
- Take time and make opportunities to reinforce your own knowledge, beliefs,
awareness and caring for your product and your industry. Attend seminars
to keep up to date on what's what; network with industry leaders who share
your enthusiasm.
Find and spend time with other people who live and breathe passion in their professional lives. Choose to be around only those who share a positive view of themselves and their world. Passion, like laughter, is contagious. Be where you can catch more of it. - Structure your professional and private world to involve creativity.
Make things, develop iideas, write down thoughts, learn to daydream (yes!
contrary to what Miss Jennings drummed into you in third grade, daydreaming
is healthy, constructive, and promotes better thinking & decision making).
Read science fantasy.
Enjoy watching, and even better, participating in creative experiences such as doodling, or singing, or photography, or music. Browse through galleries. Sit in sidewalk cafes and enjoy the variety of people around you, and their lifestyles, fashions, and personalities. Look for and enjoy their differences. Look for their passion.
Wait - there's MORE.
Author G.K. Chesterton did not use the word passion but he was certainly expressing it when he wrote : The whole difference between construction and creation is exactly this: that a thing constructed can only be loved after it is constructed; but a thing created is loved before it exists.
Are you a constructor or a creator? Do you have a passion for what you do ? Excellent ! We will share the 21st century together.
Passionately.
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