Passion: The Most Overlooked Employee Trait

It was a Wednesday evening when Sarah, a junior analyst, stayed late—not because anyone asked her to, but because she was obsessed with solving a problem for a client she’d never even met. Her screen glowed long after the office dimmed. Not for overtime. Not for a bonus. For pride. For purpose.

That’s passion. And it’s irreplaceable.

We’ve Been Hiring Wrong

You can teach skills. You can train for tactics. You can even build systems to create habits. But passion? Passion is the one thing you can’t fake, force, or fabricate. And yet, it’s the difference between someone doing a job—and someone giving a damn.

In a world full of resume buzzwords and polished interview answers, passion is the superpower that gets overlooked. It’s what turns the ordinary into extraordinary. The mundane into meaningful. The checklist into a mission.

Would You Recognize Passion If It Walked Into Your Office?

• Are you hiring the loudest voice, or the one who lights up at possibility?

• Do you reward consistency, or do you celebrate obsession?

• Are you building a team that shows up—or one that’s fired up?

  
  

If you’re not intentional about passion, you’re likely filtering it out.

How to Spot Passion (And Not Be Fooled by Flash)

• Ask About Their 'Why': During interviews, don’t just ask "What do you do?" Ask, "Why do you do it?" For example, say: “Tell me about a moment when you felt most alive at work—what were you doing, and why did it matter to you?” Listen for intrinsic motivators.

• Watch Body Language: Look beyond the resume. Do their eyes light up when they talk? Are they animated and engaged, or just going through the motions? You can spot genuine excitement through open posture, hand gestures, and facial expression.

• Listen for Energy: Conduct a portion of the interview in a conversational format. Drop the formal tone and casually ask, “If you had unlimited time and resources, what project would you start tomorrow?” Their tone shift will tell you everything.

• Dig for Personal Projects: Ask, “Tell me about a passion project you’ve worked on outside of your job.” If they’ve built a website, run a podcast, coached a local team—ask how they did it, what they learned, and what fueled it.

• Challenge Them: Pose a scenario aligned with their interest and see how they respond. For example, “Imagine you’re handed a small budget and 30 days to solve X—how would you go about it?” Passionate people lean in, ask questions, and get excited.

How to Build Passion into Your Culture (Without Ping Pong Tables)

• Give people autonomy to pursue ideas: Create a “20% Time” policy where employees can spend one day a week exploring an idea aligned with business goals. Set up a shared doc where ideas can be logged and pitched quarterly to leadership.

• Celebrate the "extra mile" moments: Start a “Passion in Action” Slack channel or weekly shout-out ritual in team meetings. Highlight someone who went above and beyond, and have them share the ‘why’ behind what they did.

• Encourage creativity, even when it fails: Create a “Fail Forward Forum” once a month where teams share bold attempts that didn’t pan out. Provide a simple format: what was tried, what was learned, and what they’d do differently. Make it a badge of honor.

• Connect work to real-world impact: Bring in customer stories. Let team members meet the people they help. Host virtual “Customer Days” where employees can ask questions, hear real stories, and connect their work to meaningful outcomes.

• Ask often: "What fires you up?": Build this question into 1:1s, retros, and even onboarding. Keep a “passion profile” in employee files to track evolving interests and match people with projects where their fire meets the company’s needs.

Full Circle: Back to Sarah

Now that you’ve read this, think about Sarah again. Would you see her late-night commitment as just “being a team player?” Or would you recognize it for what it is—someone whose spark is silently fueling your company’s best work?

That’s the opportunity most leaders miss. Passion isn’t always loud. It’s often hidden in plain sight.

Your Move

Passion doesn’t walk in with a diploma. It doesn’t need a job title. It lives in curiosity, in care, in courage.

So whether you’re hiring, leading, or simply looking in the mirror—ask yourself:

Am I chasing a paycheck—or a purpose?

Because passion doesn’t just power people.

It powers possibility.