Intelligent Passion - the new IP?

Since a post last week about Oxford Dons looking for passion and intelligent enquiry in prospective undergraduates my mind has been thinking around the subject. I have come to the conclusion that passion, or rather "intelligent passion" is the missing ingredient from many business interactions I either partake in or observe.

The initials "IP" more commonly refer to intellectual property or even Internet protocol, but I suggest that intelligent passion should be top of mind for the 201x decade. On reflection it is the element whose presence (and absence) is most easily spotted. Passion shows in heightened energy, focus, pace and excitement. It is evident in the dynamics of life, in the bounce in a step.


All of these qualities are infectious creating a multiplier effect when you consider the impact on teams.

If one googles the phrase "intelligent passion" one finds less that 8,000 hits. In the modern, search-engined world that means it is almost unmentioned/unspoken. This is further confirmed when inspecting the links that are returned. There is little or no mention of intelligent passion in relation to business so I will endeavour to expand on my vision of it.

Passion is a well recognized term meaning a strong feeling or emotion. As mentioned above it often manifests in heightened energy, focus, pace and excitement. I believe the problem in business is the emotional aspect. For years management training has been to remove emotion, making assessments and reports impartial and avoiding conflict that cannot be rationally addressed. Displaying emotion has been labelled and treated as a negative trait to the extent that when we do witness a display of emotion, most people pull back and suck their teeth. Many managers have only two ways to respond to passion, to back away and try and ignore it or to confront it. Unfortunately few feel able to or are interested in harnessing it.

Of course there is a danger in excessive passion. An individual can become obsessive, unmanageable ( read this as uncontrollable ) and isolated. This is where the "intelligent" part comes in. One needs to the intelligence to know how and indeed when to express the inner passion. This includes knowing when to back off and tone it down, but not to lose the passion; not to lose one's self.

There is some talk online about a "passion quotient", but it seems that are no credible objective measure, so for now we will have to live with subjective assessments, but our instincts are probably pretty good.

The erosion of passion can be insidious. It creeps up gradually and invades all aspects of life. Once lost, recovering passion can be difficult, but not impossible. As with many thing recognising the need to change is the essential start. The next step is reflecting and remembering times when you felt passionate about something, about anything. It could be watching or participating in a sport, or maybe wine tasting, in fact anything as long as you can do it again (and again).

So do it it and rediscover the feeling. Make sure you take note of how you feel and then practice recalling it. Do so before a business activity and see how that goes better. Then reflect on how you feel and remember that.

At the same time keep doing whatever it was you used as your prompt. If your work environment is one of low passion, then it can be hard to buck the trend, so look to reinforce your recovery as much as possible.

Soon you fill find your levels of passion and ability to feel passionate improve no end. Lastly find a way to share this new energy, this drive with someone else and spread the benefit.

Nurture your passion and Just watch life get better!


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