How passionate are you? Are you driven to continuously learn, or satisfied with where you are?
Do you get goosebumps talking about your job; your goals; your aim in life? Or do you accept you’re at a comfortable stage and who needs the extra work that goals bring?
I’m driven by passionate people. When someone talks to me and their eyes light up, I get excited too. I’m excited both by them and for them.
If someone is so passionate that you feel breathless with excitement and giddy with anticipation of what they’ll say next, that’s one heck of a strong statement about that person’s desire.
Here’s an example. I met with Shannon Boudjema for coffee a couple of days ago. Shannon describes herself as a “media maven, globe trotter and socially inclined”. I couldn’t have picked a better description myself.
Based in Ontario, Canada, Shannon works for one of Canada’s leading lights in marketing, advertising and event management. She writes an excellent blog, is a livewire chatterbox on Twitter and is also socially conscious (she’s said she’ll donate $100 to a local charity if a good cause reaches 500 followers on Twitter).
We met to chat about the digital space and ideas on how companies can leverage that space. Now, I like to think I’m passionate about all that emerging media has to offer, but as soon as I started talking with Shannon, her energy just flew out. She showed me slide shares she’s put together; case studies; learning ideas for multi-employee companies; and much more.
Simply put, Shannon is a one-person emerging media whiz. Her passion isn’t fake – she genuinely loves (and is excited by) all that our current space has to offer now and soon from now. And anyone she talks to can’t help but feel the same way, even if you’re skeptical of all these tools and their benefits.
Businesses need people like Shannon. There are so many that are just doing the rounds and crunching the numbers that they miss out on the real bigger picture – passion and drive. If you can harness these two qualities and combine with knowledge and reach, you might just start to wonder why you thought previous results were good.
If you want an idea just how driven Shannon is, check out this slide deck from her. Then ask who your passion driver is. Is it you, or are you currently a passenger? If it’s the latter, how will you change seats so you’re the driver? Do you want to?
