Cartoonist Scott Adams on Why Passion is Often Overrated

DILBERT cartoonist Scott Adams' latest book, HOW TO FAIL AT ALMOST EVERYTHING AND STILL WIN BIG: Kind of the Story of My Life, is his "most personal" and was written to "help readers navigate life." He is interviewed by Patrick Gillooly of the MonsterWorking blog:

Monster: Employers are looking to hire passionate employees. Yet you say that passion is overrated (you actually use a more descriptive word.) Should both parties rethink the concept? 

Adams: Successful people like to say their secret to success is passion. In my experience, success requires energy, a good strategy, hard work, and a lot of luck. If your plan starts to make you rich, you’ll probably be passionate about it. But passion generally follows success; it doesn’t cause it. I think successful people say passion is the key to success because almost any other answer sounds arrogant. 

I know a guy who got rich selling doorknobs. Was he passionate about doorknobs? Probably not. He was just a smart guy with a good plan and enough energy to make it happen. And I assume there was some luck along the way. No passion required.