Recently, I noticed yet another job listing that demanded the person to be “passionate about digital marketing.“ As someone who has been working in the domain since 2004, I have seen a version of this phrase appear in many job descriptions. It isn’t just digital marketing, I could replace it with startups, consumer insights, programming and so on. But I’d rather hire a professional, here’s why.
In 2010, when I was working with an NGO, I had a debate of sorts with a management expert, who had come for a training session. The crux of it was that I said I was not passionate about the domain in which the organisation was operating, but that it was mostly irrelevant to the quality of my work. I had a skill set and expertise that was useful in the context. He labeled me a mercenary, and said that the organisation needed missionaries. My response was that I was a professional, a better position in the continuum. Manish expressed that sentiment best when he wrote in a post on culture later – “You become a professional when you care.”
The skill and the spirit
That point of view remains – I am not passionate about brands or digital marketing, the domains I work in. Interested and curious, most definitely. Passionate, not. If it is taken out of my life, I will show withdrawal symptoms but I don’t think I’ll miss it for long. So why do I work in these domains? Simply put, it allows me to work on interesting challenges.
Digital, in all of its ever-changing forms and manifestations, continues to be one of the most formidable and exciting frontiers of any business. I try to solve problems using critical thinking and other skill sets, and I find that stimulating. However, I will do it when I am paid for it, or as a help to friends. On the other hand, I have declined payment offers around the things I really like – reading, travel, food (barring my restaurant reviews for Bangalore Mirror) because I experience a freedom in enjoying these things without constraints/obligations. I will continue to do these things even if I’m not paid for it. Maybe that’s passion! But there’s also something Carl Sagan said that resonates with me. In a bit.
The purpose and the philosophy
An organisation is defined as a social arrangement which pursues collective goals, controls its own performance, and has a boundary separating it from its environment. While the organisation is defined only by those collective goals, the people who are a part of it will most likely have an individual purpose. And yes, they can be committed to both. Passion might help, but what (I think) helps more is discipline. In fact, this discipline would be part of the individual’s life philosophy and visible in other facets of his/her life – health, relationships etc.
A committed professional will work on his/her skills, hone them and adapt them to meet the objectives. I think that creates a dependability and pragmatism that can work better in the long term than passion because it’s a rational process as opposed to an emotional inclination. I agree that these aren’t mutually exclusive, but given we don’t usually have utopian scenarios, I would mostly choose a committed professional over a passionate individual if I were hiring. I am betting on the former’s learning mindset. Since this is eminently debatable, I’d love to hear other thoughts.
Addendum: The discussion around “passion as a profession” at social gatherings usually ends with me being exposed as a cynic when I utter, “Maybe it’s (also) the escape from the routine that makes it your passion. What happens if you realise that your passion is reduced to a task when you take it up as your day job?” One must try, but one must also set expectations.