If you love what you do, you’ll always do what you love. And if you’re doing what you love, you’re going to become very good at it. And this is a country that rewards excellence.
– Billy Joel, Syracuse University commencement speech, May 2006
One of the biggest contradictions in our current economic crisis is the need for survival versus the need for innovation, entrepreneurship, new structures and excitement about our organizations. Unfortunately many of the survival tactics are drowning the element that can produce real change: Passion.
Change or passion requires energy, personal commitment, ignoring barriers, and confidence of individuals that exemplify passion. Organizations need the confidence and curiousness of toddlers growing up to ignore obstacles, develop new exciting methods and believe that anything can be possible. Unfortunately our environment is fostering the exact opposite culture:
- First is the fear of failure, layoffs, job insecurity and rumors. Because organizations refuse to develop realistic plans and execute them, more time is spent lamenting the problems than developing solutions.
- Second, outsiders are brought in to do the dirty work or to save face for Boards, governments, banks, investment bankers or other overseeing structures. Does it really make sense to spend millions of dollars on consultants who have no clue about a business to determine who will be laid off? Why not tell the organization the truth, which they know anyway and let them develop plans to save their companies, departments and jobs.
- We ignore or hide what we know. In general, old strategies are simply warmed up rather than really encouraging new solutions or structures.
- For the most part, the same management and Boards that caused the problems take responsibility for the changes and retain their pay structure while firing the firing the people who only execute.
- We ignore the reality that passion and innovation requires a deviation from the norm, which can become difficult to understand and accept. It requires an acceptance of new methods, processes and ideas.
- Innovation also requires a focus that may leave some other requirements unattended. Thus, it frequently requires tolerance that that the end justifies the means. The key to achieving tolerance to overcome these barriers is confidence, which is currently being undermined with oversight, fear and uncertainty.
- Innovation and change also require support and success to breed success with their energy, openness, and resources to succeed. However, banks and other parties seem to be demanding immediate solutions and change plans more than the weather.
In summary, what passion and innovation require as Emerson says is “to believe your own thought, to believe that what is true for you in your private heart is true for all men - that is genius. Organizations like Wegmans, Wal-Mart and Google have are a total commitment that creates the passion. They worry more about achieving a total result and impact than developing and enforcing rules or creating rigid structures.
