By William Orilio
There was a time in my life, that I truly believed the secret to hiring the right person for any hospitality position was to choose the candidate with “Passion.” Passion can and should beat out, experience, age, education, and good work habits. I also used to believe that a used car salesman with passion, and no experience in hospitality, was a better candidate than someone with 15 years’ experience.
Don’t get me wrong, passion is still one of the top qualifiers and lack of passion is the top “knock-out” criteria when evaluating a potential candidate for any hospitality position. But in today’s fast-paced tech-centric world, I have come to realize that passion alone is no longer enough to beat out the other candidates.
I have found that passion is natural – everyone has a passion, of or for something, although they may not yet realize it. Because passion is natural, and very common, it has become a denominator that is easily skewed and falsified. To many, passion is like a false-positive and because of that those with a passion for something, differ greatly from those who are “Passionate” about what they live for.
These days, with kiosk and terminals to check yourself in to a hotel or airline, self-checkout counters and booths, everywhere, from Home Depot to luxury five star hotels, ordering tablets and auto pay via cell phones at bars and restaurants, now more than ever, the best hires in the hospitality industry are passionate people, not people with just a passion. That’s because a passionate team member possesses a commitment that always translates talent into outstanding performance. Also, because someone’s passion can easily be stifled or diminished by bad management, or what is known as “passion-killers.” However, those who are passionate do not die, do not stop, do not question themselves. To have passion is to feel strongly about something; to be passionate is to believe in yourself.
Passion is the feeling of enthusiasm we all have inside of us; how one perfects that enthusiasm is what determines if they are passionate. Those with passion usually display attributes like ambition, discipline and persistence – all character traits of a “good” employee.
Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines passion as “a strong feeling of enthusiasm or excitement for something.” Those who are passionate act on that feeling of enthusiasm or excitement and live every day of their life with enthusiasm that is so powerful, that they are always challenging themselves to change the world for the better and that is the major difference from just having passion.
Vince Lombardi once said: “If you aren’t fired with enthusiasm, you’ll be fired with enthusiasm.”
Most of us, but especially millennials, are brought up to believe that a successful career means following your passion.
The experts who study success believe that passion and success go hand-in-hand. After all, who wouldn’t want to spend their life doing something they love? I believe this is disingenuous, because passion alone is no longer enough. Plus, most people are not even aware of what their passion is. They just know that they are feeling enthusiastic or excited and then channel that into whatever they are doing because it seems right.
However, those who do what they do, because they know it is right, are the few who are genuinely passionate, and not just about one thing, about everything and all the time.
I agree that to have passion is great and to be enthusiastic is even better, but if it is something you must think about, or turn on or off when you go to work, for example, then you are not passionate; you just are feeling really good, for that moment in time.
There truly is a distinct difference: people with passion have a strong feeling, which can be crushed at any time, but people who are passionate have a truly devoted belief, that they live and die for, every day, all the time.
Truly passionate people are: intense, ardent, fervent, vehement, heated, emotional, heartfelt, eager, animated, adrenalized, spirited, energetic, frenzied, fiery, wild and 100% consuming.
If you ever have to ask someone, “What is your passion?” then they are not passionate. At all. Passionate people make the world a better place to be. I know that, because I have spent my entire life making the world a better place to eat, drink, stay and play!
