I once had a boss who told me that, in considering candidates for jobs, I should look for passion. A lot of problems are solved, he said, when you find people who are passionate about their work.
It was memorable advice because the ancient thinkers were almost unanimous in holding that the passions were dangerous.
The usage has changed. The better word for modern employers is intensity. The Greek philosophers admired people — not just employees but soldiers, athletes, artists, students and citizens — who were interested, focused, even rapt. But they wanted people who could keep that intensity under control.
The distinction they made was between someone who was self-controlled or self-restrained and someone who acted on impulse. People whose reasoning capacities couldn’t curb passionate impulses were trouble.
The classic example was Alcibiades. As told by Plutarch, Alcibiades was loaded with talent. But lacking self-discipline, he failed Athens when the democracy was fighting for its life.
The ancient thinkers had learned some painful lessons. In looking for leaders — and employees — they looked for evidence of self-restraint, self-control.
• Source: Ryan Holiday, Discipline is Destiny; New York: Portfolio-Penguin, 2022.
No comments:
Post a Comment