Time to Stop Misusing "Passion"

I am passionate about our industry and my role in it. I am passionate about guest service, and understand that my role is to make sure that every guest feels that the service they received was beyond any reasonable expectation. And I love people who are passionate about jewelry guests. Passion, a term evoking commitment and drive, is a great thing for us to have.

My concern is that I am hearing the term 'passion' being misused by weak managers, who are abusing this term in such a way that it may fall out of usage, to our mutual disadvantage. Unskilled managers, when disagreeing with an employee who makes a strong point about an important issue, will try to disparage and discount the employee's position by claiming the employee is being emotional. I'm sure these managers have experiences where using this line of defense has caused them trouble. Imagine a situation when these managers claimed that a female associate was being emotional, rather than giving her argument the consideration it deserved! I'm sure the manager would have gotten an earful. Justifiably so.

But 'passion' is a positive term, while 'emotional' has negative connotations. So these bad managers are electing to use the term "passion" as a synonym for emotional. If you are a manager and have slipped into this error, stop doing it today. Otherwise you risk losing your team's passion for their work! I am starting to see this transposition increasing in usage and I think it's time to for employees to push back, or else we will lose the positive meaning of 'passion' in business. I've explained the 'why,' and here's my suggestion on 'how.'

If, when you are arguing reasonably and strongly about an issue with your manager, don't let them get away with saying "I appreciate your passion" about the issue. Call out exactly what they are doing: claiming that you are being emotional, not rational.

• "No, my position is not based upon emotion and I'd appreciate your taking me seriously."
• "If by passion you mean I'm serious about this, I agree. But if you're saying I'm too emotional, that is a different matter entirely. Which is it that you're saying?"
• "I'm going to ask that you take my point seriously, rather than discounting me as emotional. Can we agree on that?"

Don't let someone get away with dismissing your point by telling you that you are emotional. The bottom line is for us not to be fooled by the positive sounding "passion" when the message being conveyed is "irrational" and emotional." I want the members of my team to be passionate about their jobs. I want to be able to positively reinforce that behavior by complimenting them on their passion. I won't be able to do this if weak managers continue to intentionally misuse the word 'passion.' Help me to Make This Happen!