Teams and communities are held together by the glue called passion.
This is the topic of a recent ChangeThis manifesto by Dr. Mani Sivasubramanian - a heart surgeon, Internet infopreneur, and social entrepreneur whose passion for helping children with congenital heart defects receive life-saving treatment resulted in building an online business that grows and thrives on its purpose.
Passion should be one of the 4 new P's of marketing, along with purpose. What do you think?
Product, Purpose, Passion, Performance
I've written about passion two years ago using Ferrari, the car made in my home town, as the metaphor of made in Italy: ignites passion and emotion. Which translates into high performance, by design.
The most amazing executions give us that kind of experience - or rather we infuse our own experience into them. Let's take another look at that list:
- Vote for yourself –- know what you want and what you need and then go get it. Be confident in your skill even when you are tempted not to like what you see. We’re all kind of funny seen from the inside out.
- Unleash your passion –- don’t let things you don’t know or don’t understand get in the way: learn them, join them. "But each time I seemed to be climbing into a roller coaster and finding myself coming through the downhill run with that sort of dazed feeling that we all know." [Enzo Ferrari]
- Listen with one ear and forget with the other –- you are in the driver seat, you decide what makes sense keeping.
- Stay soft on the people, including yourself –- on your way anywhere, you will meet mates and you’ll meet the other kind. To some people you’ll be but a blip on their radar, to some you’ll be a source of great inspiration. Know the difference, you are accountable for it. Remain human, don’t keep score, it bogs you down.
- Develop stamina –- think of yourself as a marathon runner. Don’t look at the time, build on the distance. "Aerodynamics are for people who can't build engines." [Enzo Ferrari]
- Take risks –- invest in your vision, explore the opportunities. When you go for safety, you shop at that price. "As bend followed bend, I discovered his secret. Nuvolari entered the bend somewhat earlier than my driver's instinct would have told me to." [Enzo Ferrari]
- Design your context –- chisel away all the marble and what you have is the masterpiece. Edit down as appropriate, sculpt your experience - you decide.
- Have a “to be” list –- be interested, adaptable, and open to new ideas, including yours. Many call this attitude, I call it spirit (Lat. spiritus = breath).
- Stage and experience –- and you will learn something new every time. This is not rehearsal, it’s the real deal. Go at it with gusto and panache. The verb perform is built into performance.
- Be very clear that you will succeed –- and you will.
Performance is a highly emotional business. Emotion (Lat. ex = out + motio = movement) leads to action. Passion leads to performance.
Dr. Sivasubramanian says passion is energy, it shatters barriers, it hates apathy, it shakes you up, it's positive and it comes in flavors. Passion is more - it's contagious it fuels longevity and it's satisfying. From the manifesto:
Behind every successful operation, be it business or non-profit, personal or social, small or big,
there is a person or group fired by passion. A burning ambition to see change happen or results
achieved—and unwilling to let anything stand in their way.
Passion keeps you going. No matter how long it takes. No matter how hard the path is.
No matter how hopeless the outcome seems.
Here's another definition of passion I found in my early authoring days. What's yours?