Are you curious about how Passion Drives Success in Business?
What is the relationship between passion and success?
It can be summarized in a phrase you’ve probably heard many times before; Do what you love, and the money will follow.
Put it another way, if you find something you love doing, you’ll never have to work another day in your life.
This is a simple maxim that has been echoed by some of the world’s most successful people.
Chris Gardener was a former salesman who suffered homelessness before he turned his life around.
Today, he is a successful stockbroker who has a multi-million net worth.
When asked about his secret to success;
He said simply that you have to find something that you love doing so much that you can’t wait until the next day so you can do it all over again.
How Passion Drives Success in Business
Passion is one of the keys to success.
If you’re not deeply interested in what you’re doing, you will likely lose interest and quit.
If you’re only in it for the money, then you might not be successful.
You may be able to enjoy some short-term success, but you will not be able to sustain it in the long run.
In fact, there have been many studies conducted, which have shown how passion drives success.
A 2014 study published by the National Academy of Sciences explored whether the pursuit of internal satisfaction or external rewards was more conducive to success.
Although you would think that combining the two motivations would lead to an individual being more successful, in fact, the researchers discovered the opposite.
The pursuit of material goals such as money and recognition could actually be counterproductive to becoming successful.
The study looked at 11,320 cadets from nine classes entering the West Point Military Academy.
They were given a set of motives and asked to rate how highly each of these influenced their decision to enter the academy.
These motives included the desire to get leadership training in the Army and the desire to be able to get a good job after reentering civilian life.
Several years after the classes graduated, the researchers looked at how their subjects did.
Those who had strong internal motives for attending West Point, not surprisingly, were more likely to become commissioned officers.
Also, they were more likely to earn recommendations for early promotion.
They also found that those who had both internal and external motives were less likely to succeed.
Fewer of them graduated.
Also, those that did either did not perform as well as their counterparts or felt less motivated to remain in the military.
The Importance of Passion in Business
Still curious about how passion drives success in business?
Ask any successful entrepreneur and they would tell you that passion and success are intertwined.
If you have passion, you can achieve anything you put your mind to.
This is because you are willing to put in the hard work necessary.
Passion will also help you persevere during the times when it seems that success is far from certain.
For instance, when reflecting on his long and storied career with the NBA, Michael Jordan said that his love for the game was one of the main reasons he was successful.
He pointed out that to be the best, you needed to have that certain love for something that would enable you to conquer all the obstacles you encounter.
Being passionate also means pursuing goals that are personally meaningful to you.
Warren Buffet, one of the richest men in the world, has said that success is not about material wealth.
The real meaning of success is finding something that brings meaning to your life and makes you feel that waking up each day is valuable and worthwhile.
At the same time, you should not see having passion as an automatic formula for how to become successful.
There are no guarantees that if you pursue something that you love doing, it will eventually lead you to material rewards.
Money is just a side effect of following your passion, but not a guaranteed reward.
In addition, just because you are passionate about an idea does not mean it is worthwhile.
You still have to validate it through market studies and other means.
A bad idea is still a bad idea, even if you feel strongly about it.
But the combination of a good idea and your passion is one of the keys to success.
Being passionate also gives you an advantage in business.
Here are some of the reasons why passion is very important for success in business;
Being Passionate About Your Business Makes It Easy For You To Attract Investors
Investors are overwhelmed with scores of pitches from people who believe they have the next big thing.
Of course, they would assess the idea itself, as well as your business plan.
Often times one of the factors that would convince them to invest in a venture is how passionate the entrepreneur is about their idea.
The fact of the matter is that most businesses fail, no matter how good their idea is.
But entrepreneurs who are passionate about their idea will go above and beyond to make their business succeed.
They are motivated by the desire to see their idea reach its fullest potential, and material success will only be the icing on the cake for them.
Passion Gives You The Strength To Persevere
Starting a business is hard work.
It requires that you spend long hours before your business starts to become successful.
If you are not passionate about your idea, it is highly likely that you will give up when things become too tough.
Starting a business also requires you to make a lot of sacrifices.
You will have to forego many short-term pleasures in order to achieve your long-term vision.
Only people who are passionate will be able to do this.
This is because they have a meaningful goal they want to achieve that would allow them to bear these sacrifices.
Passion Ensures That You Handle Your Business Based On Integrity
How do customers choose which businesses they will deal with?
While the price and quality of the product will always be a consideration, just as important is the passion the vendor displays towards his business.
If a vendor is genuinely passionate about his product, then he will not only go out of his way to sell it but also ensure that the customer is satisfied with it.
He will make sure that quality control is high and that the product is as good as it can be.
He will also take pains to ensure that if the customer is not happy, their concerns will be dealt with in a timely fashion.
Passion Makes You Undeterred By Failure
Being passionate ensures that when you encounter setbacks, and you inevitably will, you don’t give up.
Business history is filled with stories of entrepreneurs.
They had to overcome failure after failure before they finally achieved their greatest success.
To convince you more about how passion drives success, let take a look at the story of Col. Harland Sanders and Kentucky Fried Chicken.
At the age of 65, after experiencing many business failures, Col. Sanders was broke and only had $105 in his pocket from his first social security check.
So he decided to hit the road to try and interest restaurants in buying the rights to a fried chicken recipe that he had spent nine years perfecting.
Over the course of the next two years, he suffered more than a thousand rejections before he found a restaurant owner willing to give his recipe a try.
During that time, he often slept in his car to save money rather than paying for a hotel room.
Today, Col. Sanders is a good example of how passion drives success in business.
Kentucky Fried Chicken or KFC as it is known today is a global corporation with franchises in nearly every country in the world.
But despite his huge financial success, Col. Sanders continued to be driven by passion rather than financial gain.
After he sold the company, he frequently expressed his displeasure at how the new owners changed the franchise.
He was so dissatisfied that he eventually left the company in 1970.
He also got into a dispute with the new owners over Canadian franchise rights.
After he was successfully able to regain those rights, he used his stock holdings to create a charity foundation.
This foundation would make sizable donations to children’s hospitals and other Canadian charities.
How Important is Passion At Work
If you ask some of the world’s most prominent entrepreneurs how important is passion.
They would tell you that having passion is essential if you want to succeed.
Virgin Group founder Richard Branson also believes that passion drives success in business.
According to him “the best thing you can do with your work and your life is to follow your passions in a way that benefits both you and the world”.
If you ask many employers, they would say that they prefer to hire a passionate worker.
Employees who are passionate about their job can contribute a lot to the workplace above and beyond their regular duties.
For instance, they can find new and better solutions to common problems and constantly strive to improve their performance.
They are also willing to work the extra hours necessary to complete the job.
Unfortunately, most workers do not feel passionate about their work.
In fact, according to a survey conducted by global professional services network Deloitte, only around 12.3% of workers possess the attribute of being passionate.
Bridging this “passion gap” is essential for businesses.
This is because passionate employees are more likely to commit to reaching higher levels of performance in their work.
Benefits Of Having Employees With Passion
- Passion improves their contribution at work.
An employee who feels passionate will strive to go above and beyond to complete their work to the best of their abilities.
- It also increases their enthusiasm
When your employees are more passionate about what they are doing, there is greater energy in the workplace.
This creates a more positive working atmosphere and helps improve the organization’s performance.
- They are more interested in the growth of the company.
- Furthermore, they feel like the company’s success is their own personal success.
- They are more focused on their work.
Due to this, they will ensure that their output is more accurate and precise.
Signs That Your Employees Lack Passion At Work
They Don’t Help Each Other
If an employee is not interested in your business, they will not go out of their way to do things such as proofread their colleague’s work or give pointers to new hires.
They Don’t Share Information
When employees in an organization are not passionate about their goals, they will often hoard information that should be known to all.
If the information that is needed for a company to strategize, plan, and innovate is only available to a few, it can affect the organization’s performance.
Employees Are Afraid Of Making Mistakes
As we have already pointed out, failure is an essential component of success.
Whenever Edison had failed attempt at an invention, he didn’t call it a failure.
Instead, he said he was eliminating an unsuccessful avenue.
They Don’t Communicate Well
Personal interaction is key to good collaboration in the workplace.
However, when employees only communicate through impersonal means such as email;
It may be an indicator that they don’t feel it is worth the effort to set up face-to-face meets.
How Can An Employer Encourage His/Her Employees To Become A Passionate Worker
Here are some tips:
Create A System That Rewards Innovation
For instance, you can challenge employees to find ways to make certain processes more efficient, with a rewards system in place to serve as an incentive.
Encourage Participation
You can encourage employees to give feedback and suggestions, as well as share ideas, by asking them what they think about certain issues.
You should ensure that you create a workplace culture where they would feel safe sharing their ideas without feeling that they would be threatened or belittled.
Encourage Workers To Learn A New Skill
You can offer them incentives such as paid leave to learn new skills that would enhance productivity in the workplace as well as contributing to their personal growth.
Spend Time Together
You can create opportunities for your employees to get to know each other better.
In addition, you to get to know them as well.
For instance, you can celebrate birthdays and other milestones in the office.
Make Sure That Your Employees Understand The Value Of Their Contributions
When your employees have contributed to meeting the organization’s targets or helped improve its performance metrics, you should be sure to let them know.
Make Them Part Of Your Decision Making
If you feel that an employee has something to contribute to an important business decision, then you should ask them for their feedback.
Build A Team That Supports Each Other
To help improve performance, you can build teams throughout your organization.
You can also sponsor team building activities to help foster a greater spirit of collaboration, as well as helping improve overall morale within the company.
Demonstrate to your staff how passion and success go together.
Give your employees a reason to care about work for reasons other than earning a paycheck.
In addition, emphasize the importance of employees’ contributions to the organization.
It is not just about making a profit.
The Final Word On How Passion Drives Success in Business
It is clear that passion drives success in business and that you can’t have one without the other.
Some of the most successful people in the world are those who have passion.
They have also used it to launch businesses that have gone on to be highly successful.
Hence, one of the secrets on how to become successful is to cultivate your passion.
Find something that you love, and turn it into a business.
If you currently have a business, ask yourself: Can I imagine myself doing something else?
If the answer is yes, then you should explore what that something is.
It might be something that will not only lead you to great financial success but also make a greater impact on society.
That’s all you need to know about how passion drives success in business.
Other informative articles have been linked to this post; do check them out and you’ll be thrilled you did.
