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This is a cross-post from the Friesen Group blog, but I thought it fit here too. -Kathleen
In the interest of looking at all perspectives, I have been reflecting on the need for balance between passion and indifference. In organizations, managers spend time and energy seeking to motivate people to passion for their work. But, with too much passion managers can roll over people and miss important cues indicating risk or simply other options – including better ones. With too much indifference managers can become lethargic and stagnate.
There is balance in the world: a time for reflection and stepping back to see more clearly, and a time for passionate engagement.
If you’re interested in thinking further about this dichotomy, check out Bob Sutton’s post on 10 things he believes about the workplace or David Maister’s post on Passion, People, and Principles.
As dialogue, debate, and discussion continue around various EMS Transition questions, I was thinking about a post on Bob Sutton’s blog where he talks about the need for strong opinions, weakly held. The argument originated with persons from the Institute for the Future.
It starts by stating that we each need to have strong opinions. When we care passionately about something, we are willing to put our energy and time into learning about it, understanding it, and defending it. But the argument doesn’t stop there. The rest of the argument is that we need to hold our strong opinions loosely. If we’re too attached to our opinions, we lose the ability to hear and see other evidence and alternative ideas.
I close this post with a quote from Sutton, “Wisdom is the courage to act on your knowledge and the humility to doubt what you know.”
