Passion For Work

Passion is a pervasive concept in the work domain. Workers aspire to be passionate in the hope of finding meaning and satisfaction from their professional life, while employers dream of passionate employees who will ensure organizational performance. Does passion for work matter ? Does passion invariably bring about the anticipated positive outcomes or is there a darker side to passion for work that can also lead to negative outcomes for individuals and organizations? The goal of this book is to address these issues. This volume reviews major theories of work passion, focusing specifically on the dominant theory: the Dualistic Model of Passion. This theory distinguishes between two types of passion-harmonious and obsessive- and their associated determinants and consequences. This volume provides a comprehensive understanding of passion for work by addressing the origin of the concept and its theoretical issues: how can passion for work be developed, what are the consequences to be expected at the individual and organizational levels, and how can passion for work shed new light on contemporary issues in the workplace. Passion for Work: Theory, Research, and Applications synthesizes a vast body of existing research in the area, provides insights into new and exciting research avenues, and explores how passion for work can be cultivated in work settings in order to fulfill both workers' and employers' hopes for a productive and satisfying work life.

If you are feeling like you have been settling for a mere job or paycheck - STOP! Regardless of where you are in your career, this book offers you a proven five-step process for discovering what you are meant to do... and then shows you how to do it! Read this book and you will find your own answers to: - Why are you working so hard? - Discovering your passion - Assessing your proficiencies - Setting your priorities - Making your plan - Proving your plan

Probing the ominous side of career advice to "follow your passion," this data-driven study explains how the passion principle fails us and perpetuates inequality by class, gender, and race; and it suggests how we can reconfigure our relationships to paid work. "Follow your passion" is a popular mantra for career decision-making in the United States. Passion-seeking seems like a promising path for avoiding the potential drudgery of a life of paid work, but this "passion principle"—seductive as it is—does not universally translate. The Trouble with Passion reveals the significant downside of the passion principle: the concept helps culturally legitimize and reproduce an exploited, overworked white-collar labor force and broadly serves to reinforce class, race, and gender segregation and inequality. Grounding her investigation in the paradoxical tensions between capitalism's demand for ideal workers and our cultural expectations for self-expression, sociologist Erin A. Cech draws on interviews that follow students from college into the workforce, surveys of US workers, and experimental data to explain why the passion principle is such an attractive, if deceptive, career decision-making mantra, particularly for the college educated. Passion-seeking presumes middle-class safety nets and springboards and penalizes first-generation and working-class young adults who seek passion without them. The ripple effects of this mantra undermine the promise of college as a tool for social and economic mobility. The passion principle also feeds into a culture of overwork, encouraging white-collar workers to tolerate precarious employment and gladly sacrifice time, money, and leisure for work they are passionate about. And potential employers covet, but won't compensate, passion among job applicants. This book asks, What does it take to center passion in career decisions? Who gets ahead and who gets left behind by passion-seeking? The Trouble with Passion calls for citizens, educators, college administrators, and industry leaders to reconsider how we think about good jobs and, by extension, good lives.

In an unorthodox approach, Georgetown University professor Cal Newport debunks the long-held belief that "follow your passion" is good advice, and sets out on a quest to discover the reality of how people end up loving their careers. Not only are pre-existing passions rare and have little to do with how most people end up loving their work, but a focus on passion over skill can be dangerous, leading to anxiety and chronic job hopping. Spending time with organic farmers, venture capitalists, screenwriters, freelance computer programmers, and others who admitted to deriving great satisfaction from their work, Newport uncovers the strategies they used and the pitfalls they avoided in developing their compelling careers. Cal reveals that matching your job to a pre-existing passion does not matter. Passion comes after you put in the hard work to become excellent at something valuable, not before. In other words, what you do for a living is much less important than how you do it. With a title taken from the comedian Steve Martin, who once said his advice for aspiring entertainers was to "be so good they can't ignore you," Cal Newport's clearly written manifesto is mandatory reading for anyone fretting about what to do with their life, or frustrated by their current job situation and eager to find a fresh new way to take control of their livelihood. He provides an evidence-based blueprint for creating work you love, and will change the way you think about careers, happiness, and the crafting of a remarkable life.

From the author of Popular Economics comes a surpringly sunny projection of America's future job market. Forget the doomsday predictions of sour-faced nostalgists who say automization and globalization will take away your dream job. The job market is only going to get better and better, according to economist John Tamny, who argues in The End of Work that the greatest gift of prosperity, beyond freedom from painful want, is the existence of work that is interesting.

Love at Work foments a revolution for workplaces of every description and in every industry: a revolution in which leaders understand that engaging people's hearts trumps engaging their minds. Wilson shows how leaders who love: believe in their people; pull out their highest good; serve their success; and challenge them to stress. When people's felt needs are met, says author Brady Wilson, they release the energy that triggers discretionary effort — 400% more effort, according to the Corporate Leadership Council. The principles in this cutting-edge book are sure to change the face of the workplace for years to come. “A game changer ... provocative, thoughtful, and challenging.” —JIM BROWN, author of The Imperfect Board Member “... a must read for anyone who interacts with people at work.” —JOSE TOLOVI, Jr., PhD, Global CEO, Great Place to Work Institute “True love is a competence, a spiritual force, a strategy, a way of life. I challenge you to read this book, think, and engage.” —MARK RIVERS, CEO, Canadian Equity Opportunity Capital BRADY G. WILSON is also the author of Juice: The Power of Conversation and Finding the Sticking Point: Increase Sales by Transforming Customer Resistance into Customer Engagement. He is the co-founder of Juice Inc., an organization committed to transforming people, teams, and organizations. Brady has energized leaders, managers, and front-line workers in many of North America's Fortune 500 companies, through keynote speeches, facilitation, coaching, and training. www.juiceinc.com

A unique, inspiring guide to building business strategy from the president of Sequent Learning Network A key element of a successful business strategy is originality, which can only be fueled by creativity and intuition. Many business leaders are taught to develop strategies by analyzing case study after case study of other companies’ already implemented strategies, and using those studies as a framework for developing their own strategic plans. However, in order to develop truly great strategies, business leaders must learn to tap into their own creative process and develop actionable strategies based on their intuition and instincts. Creative Strategy Generation is a step-by-step guide to creating truly original and successful business strategies by tapping into one’s own creative potential. Modeled on Sequent Learning Network’s popular strategy building consultation program, the book uses compelling stories and examples drawn from music composition to show you how to produce your own “strategic masterpieces.”

Wouldnt it be nice if you could discover the job you were born to do without feeling like you were selling your soul just to earn a decent salary? Choosing a career in todays world is more difficult than it has ever been. With billions of people working on our planet, we have more career options available to us than ever before. The search to discover meaning and purpose in our lives has created turmoil for millions of people every day. The most common phrase among dissatisfied workers is, I want to do something Im passionate about, but passion can be fleeting. Career and life coach Christopher James Lawrence shows readers how to go beyond passion to discover, create, and obtain the career that they were born to do. Learn why work-life balance is not achievable and what can be done about it. Discover five key myths that many people who are dissatisfied in their careers experience and why this keeps them from discovering their dream jobs. Finally, go through a five-step evolution that guides readers to discover the career and life they were meant to have.