Tipping Sacred Cows: Kick the Bad Work Habits that Masquerade as Virtues

Chapter 7

Obsessive Harmonious Passion

I learned firsthand how passion can backfire in my first year of business school. Most students work in big companies, banks, or consulting firms before starting Duke's MBA program. I, on the other hand, had worked at a small liberal arts college in South Carolina. My undergraduate degree was in English, while most of my peers had business, economics, or engineering degrees. But there was one thing we all had in common: we were competing for jobs. I had risked my family's financial health by going into significant debt to fund the MBA. With two young kids, finding a job that paid well enough to pay back my student loans was critical. For me, the job search was important for functional and emotional reasons. ...