Passion blinds you
You can’t have a logical conversation with an angry person? You can’t reason with an emotional person. Logic and reason may incite them. Passions blind them.
Please understand, I’m all for passion. Garry V. says, “Passion trumps everything.” He might be a bit over-passionate with that statement. But it holds powerful insight. On the other hand …
Passion has a down side
Recently I chatted with a passionate success-driven businessperson that’s blinded by passion. He consistently ignores obvious truths in order to continue holding to false beliefs. During our conversation, I simply repeated his own assessments of the situation. Upon hearing his own assessments, he rejected them. His replies consistently began with, “Yes but…” and “Not really.”
Examples of blindness
Passion to reach sales goals may blind you to your rudeness with support staff.
Passion to climb the corporate ladder may blind you to unethical behaviors.
In the past, my passion to lead a vision-driven organization caused me to neglect important steps in the change management process.
The highest danger point
The initial stages of passionate-vision make some feel they know more than they know and they can do more than they can do. They minimize the skill, energy, finances, and time required to fulfill their vision while magnifying real and imagined opportunities.
Unreasonable
In addition, it’s hard to reason with a person that’s filled with the emotion of passionate vision. Passion may close the mind.
Suggestions
- Acknowledging that passion may cause blindness is a good beginning.
- Explain the blindness dynamic to a friend that can speak the truth to you. Invite them to point out your blind behaviors. When they speak, close your mouth and open your ears.
- Try selling your passionate vision to a dispassionate outsider. Their questions and evaluations may open your eyes to realities you’re blind to.
*****
Can you share some examples of passion-induced blindness?
How can leaders deal with blindness that’s caused by passion?
Dan,
I can relate to this post very much. It hits very close to home for me. I can be a very passionate person and allow that to make me very close minded. There have been times in my career where I have held onto ideas, due to my passion and it has clouded my judgement. Thank you for this great reminder, like most things, passion can be harmful if not utilized in the proper context.
Greg (Voicesofleadership.blogspot.com)
Hi Greg,
Thanks for your comment. I hadn’t thought of the expression, “clouded judgement,” glad you added it here.
Success to you in your blogging and other online activities.
Dan
Synchonicity abounds. I tweeted this yesterday, “Sometimes the heat within blinds me, even with my eyes wide open. #Passion.” I get it. Passion has such a narrow focus that I have on occasion missed the “forest” for I was focused on the “trees.”
Dionne,
Thanks for adding your tweet and sharing your own experience.
Best to you,
Dan
Great post Dan. I love the suggestions you shared. Especially #3.
Along those lines, try “proving yourself wrong.” Flip your passion upside down and see what develops.
To illustrate, I know an architect who will sometimes make a copy of his design onto a piece of transparency paper, flip it over, and within the first few moments, sometimes a brand new thought/idea pops up. He does this whenever he’s so intent on creating the design (PASSION), he gets stuck mentally (BLINDNESS). But this “Transparency Technique” often breaks him out of the rut.
Scott,
Thank you for consistently adding value to the community.
LOVE the idea of “prove yourself wrong.” Thanks another useful suggestion for us passion-freaks.
Best regards to you,
Dan
Another great post Dan. I am sure that most of us passionate people must be sure we are focused on the right things. Passion blinds us to the trees because we are focused on the forest. Thanks again!
Tom,
I can tell you are a “high Level” because you reversed the typical way the “forest for the trees” expression is used.
I value your participation in the LF community.
Thanks,
Dan
Excellent post Dan. This one hits close to home for me. My most spectacular failures have come about when passion ‘blinded’ me to thngs I should have seen, acknowledged and addressed. On the other side, my greatest successes have come when passion drove me to to do what others said could not be done. Today, I try to do a better job of listening to my trusted advisors. Those that go through life without blinders and are objective where I am passionate. They see obstacles that I might miss and together we can address them. Then – when the way is clear – we can forge forward again.
Joan,
It hits me too! 🙂
Your statement, “My most spectacular failures … ” is a wake up call for all of us passion driven folks!
“Together we can address obstacles…” I keep thinking how valuable it is to bring the outside in.
I’m thankful when I see you’ve joined the conversation. Thanks for being a go-giver!
Best,
Dan
Dan, you have so eloquently put into words what I’ve been feeling for a long time. I get so tired of the cliched, “what are you passionate about?” question. Thank you so much for putting it “out there” that there is a downside to passion, just as there’s a downside to nearly everything in this world.
Jennifer,
Are you passionate about your comment? 🙂 (sorry, I couldn’t resist)
Thanks for joining in and giving an affirming comment. I love being encouraged!
Cheers,
Dan
Guilty! The last two post have really given me pause for reflection. My passion can and has been a negative at times.
I always find I make much better decisions when I’m calm and in the moment and not all hyped up on my own rhetoric.
-Matt
Matt,
Guilty TOO! 🙂
“hyped with my own rhetoric.”…. OUCH.
Thank you for returning and adding value.
Best,
Dan
Dan – great build on standard visioning to include step of trying to sell it to a dispassionate outsider. Great reality check. Thanks!
Mark,
An encouraging word is worth saying…thanks for taking the time to be an encourager…
Cheers,
Dan
See Marks bio at http://leadershipfreak.wordpress.com/mark-friedman
One of the first things I thought of to exemplify passion-induced blindness is an incident that occurred in 1993, in the days immediately following my sister in law’s sudden unexpected death at the age of 30. My S-I-L and her family had had a very good relationship with the next door neighbors. The husband of the neighbor family had had a job change and had switched jobs to a sales position for whole life insurance and other types of insurances. He repeatedly made statements to the grieving family like, “this of all things should demonstrate why you need to get your insurance house in order – through me.” Now, you could argue he just had astoundingly bad timing. I think he was in the most ardent glow of those first training days and whoever was pumping him up was doing a very effective job of convincing him that he had to have a laser focus on sales, to the exclusion of sympathy, timing, and hearing the customer’s needs/objections. (Years later, he did acknowledge all of that and that he knew he had been inappropriate in his timing and delivery – proof that sometimes retrospective gives us all needed insight.)
As far as how leaders can deal with blindness that is caused by passion, I am not sure if you’re referring to their own blindness or that of people they lead. In either case, some type of 360 evaluation or a more informal request for feedback from people within their circle can, if they are open to the feedback, provide them needed information to modulate their passions and still achieve many of their goals.
This post was a great companion to yesterday’s post!
Paula,
I love it when you leave us stories that bring home important insights. Thanks for consistently giving back to the community.
I hadn’t thought about a 360 in this context but it makes sense.
I’m so glad you participate in our conversations.
Best to you,
Dan
Paula is a featured contributor on Leadership Freak. Read her bio at http://leadershipfreak.wordpress.com/paula-kiger
LF Community: I wonder if there may be a spirit of arrogance at play here as well. Think about it. A creative, high-potential type moves and shakes things up. They operate with a competitive spirit.
The beauty: dynamic things are accomplished
The bane: (like this post points out) passion blinds
Thoughts?
Scott,
Hadn’t thought about the arrogance connection of passion gone awry… that really expands the conversation…
Insightful and challenging.
Best,
Dan
Dear Dan,
Thanks for bringing a topic like this. I’m originally from Spain, although I have been living and working as an executive “abroad” for the last 12 years (Switzerland, Mexico, US) and passion is our DNA, particularly for southern Europeans. It really worked against me a couple of times at work, particularly working with people with anglosaxon/germanic roots (dutch, german, english, swiss german, american). There’s a cultural aspect that you must be aware of. In some cultures and countries, being “dispassionate” is a sign of lack of interest. So my “passion blindness” in America would be seen as “leadership drive” in other cultures. Culture check! 🙂 Remember that in other cultures, business is personal!
Thanks for sharing!
Kiko Suarez
Kiko, that is an astute observation! We have a coworker who is Colombian, and that has been true for him as well. There are some other nuances, such as his deep, deep work ethic and not understanding why people leave at 5 when there is still work to do. He has such a great spirit about it too, especially when language issues cause misunderstandings. During the worst of our difficult times with a computer system transition, he was trying to make a point about how if you have a nail to be driven, you need a hammer (an allegory for system functions that needed to be improved). Except he kept passionately saying “You need a HUMMER, You need a HUMMER.” That incident (and a few others) have gone down in his personal lore within our organization. His passion shines through even when his enunciation is a bit off!
Awesome post! You are right. It does happen to me. Passion can be very harmful at times. When selling your passionate vision to a dispassionate person always listen attentively. Thanks for sharing.
Samuel,
Thanks for your encouraging words. Beautiful.
Best,
Dan
Dear Dan,
I agree that passion blinds you. Is is an effort to achieve destiny. I think when when passion is to achieve tangible things, then it usually blinds the person. On the other hand, when it is based on intangible things like creation of trust, reputation, knowledge building and doing something impossible which is not directly connected to any material gains, then it does not blind.
I thing the best way to deal with blinded passion is to find the source. Source determines passion whether it is blind or open. Many a times we do not know whether we have passion or motivation. My takeways from this point is that when we want to achieve position or power from the organisation created by others, then it is motivation. On the other way, when we want to create something where focus is to create legacy, leave legacy and build culture based on value, then it is passion. There is difference between motivation and passion. One is based on expectation and needs that is usually derived by external environment. Passion is based on value that is internally driven and is usually selfless.
Dear Ajay,
To use a baseball metaphor, which may not mean much to you, you hit one out of the park.
I’ll never forget, that passion about intangibles does not blind! Wow…
I tweeted that everyone should read our comment.
Thanks for sharing your insights.
Best,
Dan
Ajay is a featured contributor on Leadership Freak. Read his bio at: http://leadershipfreak.wordpress.com/ajay-gupta
Passion borders very easily with arrogance. It’s arrogance that blinds the most, as you simply cannot even fathom being wrong in first place. A different idea or a new approach to an old problem is often enough to get such people to resist and bring their arrogant vision into it.
Hi Gabriel,
Thanks for connecting passion with arrogance…. Makes sense to me. Although, I hate to think of myself as arrogant when I’m passionate. However, if my passion makes me close my mind and ears, what else can I say..
Pow,
Dan
Hi Dan. Passion, Passion, Passion, you can’t live without it and sometimes it makes your life miserable albeit we don’t often recognize it. I tend to agree with Ajay’s take on this however, and differentiate motivation from passion and perhaps we are just “dancing” around semantics here but I believe the distinction is important. Having passion for your VMV is the link to taking ownership. Ownership is what builds “cultures” and resilience is difficult to achieve and sustain without it. I am viewing Passion not for a distinct process or goal that is where motivation I believe comes in. Passion is the “Blanket” that covers everything we do in pursuit of our vision. Passion is what makes our purpose and meaning an imperative necessity for us to be truly happy in what we do. Motivation is the driver for goals but Passion is the fuel that propels it. Our motivations may at times be misguided but let’s be careful in attributing blame to passion. Let’s not drain the gas tank because we don’t particularly like where the bus is going. Let’s get better directions and forge foreword. Without passion the VMV become just a job. Thanks for the post. In these difficult times certainly very apropos. Regards, Al
Well said Al. There is a distinction between passion and motivation – passion is permanent, motivation is temporary.
Great read, Dan. Understanding your passion, what drives you, is the first step towards channeling it productively towards business objectives.
Thanks TA. So succinct and concise and so true. Passion is permanent, motivation is temporary. That is a keeper for the books. Regards, Al
Dan,
It’s so refreshing to receive so much through the brevity of well-selected words. I certainly have been a victim of my own desires to have my perceptions become the realities I desired. Alas!
I’m delighted to have discovered your blog and look forward to more!
Best,
Dawn
Dawn,
Cheers for an encouraging note.
BTW, love the word “alas.”
Thanks for sharing and affirming.
Best,
Dan
Great post Dan! I definitely believe passion trumps everything… and I never even considered how dangerous that could be! I suppose I was blinded by passion with my first serious girlfriend… She was horrible to me and I refused to see it. I may be passionate about my music to a fault because I give it all away for free because I’m more passionate about people hearing it than me making money on it. Is that a bad thing? I’m hoping to monetize it some other way, or at least use it to further my personal brand and then monetize that.
Excellent post, Dan! Yes, while passion can drive us to great success it can also enable errors along the way. We need to be careful not to ignore warning signs along the way. I’ve seen leaders wearing blinders ignore input from people while implementing changes. They either have to address the issue later or leave the mess for someone else as they ride off into the sunset. Here’s a post on change management: http://wp.me/pZiRD-t
Best regards,
Chris
Here’s a good article on blind spots:
Tom Peters sees your blind spots
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/your-business/exit/john-warrillow/tom-peters-sees-your-blind-spots/article1864178/
Different emotions and motivations are best kept in a healthy balance, like a delicious breakfast.
Passion is something you need, but too much can be a killer. The same goes with other things like being calm. Too much, and you may find that you waited to long to get a task done.
“Good judgment, common sense, and reason all fly out the window when emotions kick down your door.” – John Wooden via a tweet by Meredith Bell
Wow, Dan I love Wooten and have his pyramid poster on my wall. Thanks for sharing that one another keeper! Regards Al
Balance passion with compassion and you’ve solved the dilemma.
“All humanity is passion, without passion, religion, history, novels, art would be ineffectual.” – Honore de Balzac
“The whole idea of compassion is based on a keen awareness of the interdependence of all these living beings, which are all a part of one another.” – Thomas Merton
I have always wondered which attribute was more important to success in business: passion or compassion? I’ve gone back and forth on this one for years. Here is what I discovered: passion sells! Passion not only sells, it creates! It busts paradigms; it inspires; it attracts; it stirs; it rejuvenates.
Does that mean that passion wins out in my intellectual sparing match? Not at all. What I’ve finally realized is that passion and compassion are simply opposite sides of a successful business coin. Bust paradigms, but do it in service to others and to the whole.
I think passion can sometimes blind the most important question. Why? To often we focus on fulfilling and living our passion and forget the why we are fulfilling our passion.
So is passion “false beliefs” then?
Dan,
I agree that passion can blind you, I have been the victim/perpetrator of passion induced blindness myself. An individual who is self aware and open to the constructive feed back ~Suggestion 2.Explain the blindness dynamic to a friend that can speak the truth to you…~ is well on his or her way to postive growth. Great post, thanks!