There is an old saying, “For love of the game” made famous by a novel and film. For me, the phrase is an excellent summary of the struggle between motivations on opposite sides of the spectrum; for money or for love. This is highlighted in sports because the megabucks that professional athletes are paid stand in stark contrast to the ideal we hold for children regarding the passion and pure joy of playing sports “games”. But this same concept is a regular struggle for many of us in business during our career. If there is one thing I say over and over again to students and early career professionals it is (not unlike many career advisors); find something you love to do. Of course this is a common theme everywhere (“Find a job you love and you will never have to work a day in your life” or “Find something you love to do and then figure out how to get paid for it”). A recent Blog Posting by Mitch Ditkoff (The Heart of Innovation) entitled “The Cult of Monetization“ (http://www.ideachampions.com/weblogs/archives/2015/06/the_m_word.shtml) is a wonderful perspective on this. It puts the issue in today’s business vernacular and we should all take heed.
