Who are we without our passion? It is an asset that drives us into the problems we solve. It is the motivational engine for finding the best solutions to the challenges we face. Surely, displaying such an asset in the buying cycle is advantageous? But here, too, we must beware and, to an extent, fight our natural tendencies.

Passion can be a tiebreaker when the client believes the level of expertise to be equal among his considered options. When we play up the tiebreakers of price, chemistry and passion, however, we tacitly imply that when it comes to measuring us on the most important variable—expertise—we are no better equipped than others in consideration.

We must be free to use our passion, without forgetting that it can easily become a liability. The client may view our display of passion as an invitation to take control and an admission that our expertise may be lacking. Let us use our passion but beware that we do not over use it and allow the client to use it against us.

Selectivity Deepens with Expertise

As our expertise deepens, so too does our ability to be selective. Expertise forces selectivity.

The generalist is drawn to the problem he has not yet solved. His curiosity trumps all else. He feels no discomfort in operating outside of his area of expertise because such an area is broad, shallow and loosely defined. He pursues with passion the new and the different.

When the transition is made however, and he becomes used to the benefits of deep expertise—when the client ceding control to someone deserving of such control becomes the norm—he will not be easily enticed back to operating from the powerless position of the generalist.

When given a choice to operate from the position of power that comes with deep expertise or to pursue work outside that area for clients who will not allow him to lead, the expert will refuse. He will refuse not because it is written here to do so, but because he will never want to retreat back to that place of generalist order-taker. He will be wary of situations in which he does not have confidence in his ability to find the best solution—in which the landscape and challenges are unfamiliar and he has to admit to his client, “I’ve never done this before.”

Once he grows accustomed to operating from the position of the practitioner, the expert will take pains to ensure that his future clients grant him such a position. In this manner, his expertise will force his selectivity, but in the beginning it will not be so easy. Selectivity is something he must learn. He must put his passion in its place and walk away from those opportunities where he is not viewed as the expert.

And so must we all.

~ wwp ~