My whole perspective on loving your job took a 360 degree spin after listening to an interview today. I was riding the shuttle to the parking lot from SJSU, not really paying attention to what was going on around me. And then, a sentence, spoken by an unknown man on the radio, struck me. (I suppose I had been listening subconsciously.) He said that passionate people do not make good business people.
In that one sentence, he threw my whole concept of success out the window. I've always felt that you must find work doing something you love. And I applied that concept to the creation of businesses. However, this unknown man pointed out that working on something you love, does not mean being successful in the venture. To become successful, it is important to know the business side of things-the spreadsheets, networking, and people management.
Loving what you do can be a good thing, but it can also be bad, as you can end up closing your mind to other business opportunities. You would also tend to try to get investors and the like to fall in love with your product, rather than get them to see the financial benefits. And as cold as that might sound, people want to see the numbers!
He also said that personal energy was really a driving force for the success of many business folk. CEO's have a charming charismatic personality and enjoy their work. But passion is a far stretch.
It was then that the RJ announced the speaker's name: Scott Adams, the creator of Dilbert and the author of How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big: Kind of the story of my life.
I do think that it's important to enjoy what you do, and love it, but now I realize we must also be careful to not be over-passionate, and maintain a sense of reality.
Passionate people do not make good business people.
Loving what you do can be a good thing, but it can also be bad, as you can end up closing your mind to other business opportunities. You would also tend to try to get investors and the like to fall in love with your product, rather than get them to see the financial benefits. And as cold as that might sound, people want to see the numbers!
He also said that personal energy was really a driving force for the success of many business folk. CEO's have a charming charismatic personality and enjoy their work. But passion is a far stretch.
It was then that the RJ announced the speaker's name: Scott Adams, the creator of Dilbert and the author of How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big: Kind of the story of my life.
I do think that it's important to enjoy what you do, and love it, but now I realize we must also be careful to not be over-passionate, and maintain a sense of reality.
