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Have I mentioned how much I hate PASSION?

Not genuine passion, but passion as buzzword. It was the topic of my latest McSweeney’s column. You should probably read it!

And then last night while looking at Twitter I discovered that at the Westin, each employee’s nametag includes their passion (it’s a policy that goes back to 2008 apparently). I retweeted the aforementioned tweet and received a direct message from the person who tweeted it, thanking me for the retweet. I felt sort of bad since my retweeting was coming from a place of “look at this bullshit, it’s everything wrong with the world and specifically what I lampooned in my column” as opposed “I think this tweet is awesome and want to share it with my followers.” I didn’t feel TOO bad though as I’m pretty sure the direct message was automatic. (I realize this paragraph makes no sense and sounds like the death cries of an epileptic toucan if you aren’t on twitter.)

Anyway, what exactly is my problem with passion anyway? It’s the disingenuity of the way it’s being used. It’s the flattening of personality. It’s the commodification of enthusiasm. It’s entirely sales driven. The people who won’t shut up about passion don’t give a fuck about your passion, they just want you to have one because it helps the bottom line.

Don’t believe me? Read this about the Westin’s passion tags.

Dismounting my high horse now.

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18 Responses to Have I mentioned how much I hate PASSION?

  1. charmer1 October 8, 2010 at 10:45 am #

    So your passionate about being anti-passionate.Another reason why I can’t understand women.

  2. Alison Rosen October 8, 2010 at 10:46 am #

    Oh, I don’t know that all women feel this way. Just this woman.

  3. Joe October 8, 2010 at 11:16 am #

    There are always buzzwords in the business world. One of the big ones I remember was Synergy. One day no one even knew what the word meant and the next day everybody was trying to fit it into as many sentences as possible. Suddenly one of the big topics at every meeting was how to create more synergy — synergy between employees and customers, synergy between employees and managers, synergy between sales and the customer service department, and on and on.

    Before that it was Excellence. Everyone had to strive for Excellence — all based on the book In Search Of Excellence by Tom Peters. That book was required reading for every manager in the company — seriously! And if you were a manager worth your salt, you had a dog-eared copy of it displayed prominently on your desk. Before long we had so much Excellence we couldn’t stand ourselves.

    Now it seems the latest buzzword is Passion. I’m sure someone somewhere is writing (or has already written) a best seller about how Passion will transform your business. That will last until the next buzzword appears — I’m guessing it will be “Assymetric Thinking”. It’s a lot like thinking outside the box except you don’t need a box, thus saving on expenses.

  4. TrappDog October 8, 2010 at 1:33 pm #

    It’s a truly excellent column, no surprise there. Perhaps the solution is to be the one who comes up with the next buzzword. Obvious choice: Fred

  5. Alison Rosen October 8, 2010 at 1:39 pm #

    YES! Just today I was thinking how Fred has become the universal placeholder name in my head, more than before even. You’ve read my mind. Very Fred of you!

  6. Ron October 8, 2010 at 6:45 pm #

    So your passionate about being anti-passionate.Another reason why I can't understand women.

  7. Alison Rosen October 8, 2010 at 6:46 pm #

    Oh, I don't know that all women feel this way. Just this woman.

  8. Joe October 8, 2010 at 7:16 pm #

    There are always buzzwords in the business world. One of the big ones I remember was Synergy. One day no one even knew what the word meant and the next day everybody was trying to fit it into as many sentences as possible. Suddenly one of the big topics at every meeting was how to create more synergy — synergy between employees and customers, synergy between employees and managers, synergy between sales and the customer service department, and on and on.

    Before that it was Excellence. Everyone had to strive for Excellence — all based on the book In Search Of Excellence by Tom Peters. That book was required reading for every manager in the company — seriously! And if you were a manager worth your salt, you had a dog-eared copy of it displayed prominently on your desk. Before long we had so much Excellence we couldn't stand ourselves.

    Now it seems the latest buzzword is Passion. I'm sure someone somewhere is writing (or has already written) a best seller about how Passion will transform your business. That will last until the next buzzword appears — I'm guessing it will be “Assymetric Thinking”. It's a lot like thinking outside the box except you don't need a box, thus saving on expenses.

  9. TrappDog October 8, 2010 at 9:33 pm #

    It's a truly excellent column, no surprise there. Perhaps the solution is to be the one who comes up with the next buzzword. Obvious choice: Fred

  10. Alison Rosen October 8, 2010 at 9:39 pm #

    YES! Just today I was thinking how Fred has become the universal placeholder name in my head, more than before even. You've read my mind. Very Fred of you!

  11. TrappDog October 8, 2010 at 8:41 pm #

    Ha! That was very Fred of me, wasn’t it. I named my last two computers Fred. It’s the perfect go to name. Now I want a job interviewing people so I can ask them, “Yes, yes, yes, but what’s your Fred?”

  12. TrappDog October 9, 2010 at 4:41 am #

    Ha! That was very Fred of me, wasn't it. I named my last two computers Fred. It's the perfect go to name. Now I want a job interviewing people so I can ask them, “Yes, yes, yes, but what's your Fred?”

  13. boinkity October 9, 2010 at 3:06 am #

    At work yesterday, one of my co-workers asked me if I had a passion for anything, and I said, “Yes! Alison Rosen is my new best friend, and it makes me feel so good about myself that it is the only thing I can think about! If I’m not obsessed, I am definitely passionate about Alison Rosen!” It was then that my co-worker slowly walked away from me, and contacted Human Resources.

  14. boinkity October 9, 2010 at 11:06 am #

    At work yesterday, one of my co-workers asked me if I had a passion for anything, and I said, “Yes! Alison Rosen is my new best friend, and it makes me feel so good about myself that it is the only thing I can think about! If I'm not obsessed, I am definitely passionate about Alison Rosen!” It was then that my co-worker slowly walked away from me, and contacted Human Resources.

  15. Andrew October 9, 2010 at 11:04 pm #

    So if I were a Westin employee below my name on my name tag it would say “Methamphetamine” ?

  16. Andrew McGibbon October 10, 2010 at 7:04 am #

    So if I were a Westin employee below my name on my name tag it would say “Methamphetamine” ?

  17. Alison Rosen October 10, 2010 at 6:47 pm #

    haha! YES!

  18. Alison Rosen October 11, 2010 at 2:47 am #

    haha! YES!

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