This Episode: Passion to Performance with Laura Best
Author, keynote speaker, and Passion Collective community founder Laura Best shares her personal journey from corporate burnout to becoming a leading expert on the power of passion in the workplace. Moving beyond simple definitions of engagement and purpose, Laura introduces the academic framework of the Dualistic Model of Passion, distinguishing between healthy harmonious passion and destructive obsessive passion.
She offers practical advice on how to stop running on pure grind, look past rigid corporate purpose statements, and intentionally sprinkle small, self-affirming sparks of personal passion back into their weekly routines.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
- While purpose gets you out of bed in the morning, passion is the energy that drives and sustains you through the mundane tasks of the workday.
- Authentic workplace satisfaction relies on cultivating harmonious passion which encourages connection, curiosity, and autonomy rather than destructive, obsessive passion that damages health and relationships.
- Professionals often focus on what they want to acquire (titles, offices, status) instead of defining how they actually want to feel in their careers.
- You don’t need to overhaul your entire life to fight disconnection; intentionally scheduling just one hour a week to dabble in something you love can dramatically revitalise your well-being.
BEST MOMENTS
“I had the career that I always really wanted and that I’d built and sacrificed for. And yet, I got to this point where I literally felt like I was flatlining inside.”
“Purpose can be a grounding, noble thing that we’ve got, but passion is truly the motivational force that can propel us forwards, upwards, sideways.”
“Your goal should be based on what you want to acquire versus, how do you want to feel?”
“My word is ‘fizzy’ this sense of fizziness when I’m doing something that I love. And I know it sounds silly and stupid, but I don’t care because when I focus on the fact that when I feel this way. I’m actually helping myself and helping other people.”
Valuable Resources
The HR Uprising Podcast | Apple | Spotify | YouTube
The HR Uprising LinkedIn Group
Mastering Motivation with Rob Lion (The HR Uprising)
How To Be A Change Superhero – by Lucinda Carney
HR Uprising Mastermind – https://hruprising.com/mastermind/
If you liked this episode, try these
- Podcast Episode 232: The Gratitude Project with Kevin D. Monroe
- Podcast Episode 214: The Crazy Busy Cure with Zena Everett
Find out more about Actus solutions:
Appraisal Info-book: Rethinking Performance Appraisals
Performance Management Software
About The Guest, Laura Best
A US-based Brit, Laura Best is a motivational keynote speaker who has helped global brands like U.S Bank activate passion to drive energy, engagement and performance. She is the bestselling author of ‘Born to Buzz: How to Spark Your Passions (Without Quitting it All)’ and the founder of Passion Collective, a global community of ‘Passion Seekers’ coached by Laura to find ways to do more of what they love in work and life. Laura advises some of the world’s biggest passion-driven brands across sectors, including finance, healthcare and legal services and was a corporate marketing leader for over 25 years.
Connect with Laura
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lauracbest/
Passive Collective Website: https://www.passioncollective.co/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/passioncollective/
About The Host
Lucinda Carney is a Business Psychologist with 15 years in Senior Corporate L&D roles. Lucinda, for over 10 years as CEO of Actus Software has worked closely with HR colleagues helping them to solve the same challenges across a huge range of industries. Certainly, it was this breadth of experience that inspired Lucinda to set up the HR Uprising community. In order to facilitate greater collaboration across HR professionals in different sectors, helping them to ‘rise up’ together.
“If you look up, you rise up”
How To Be A Change Superhero – by Lucinda Carney
Contact Method
- Join the HR Uprising LinkedIn community: https://www.linkedin.com/groups/13714397/
- Email: Lucinda@advancechange.co.uk
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lucindacarney/
- X / Twitter: @lucindacarney
- Instagram: @hruprising
- Facebook: @hruprising
- YouTube: Channel
Actus Software
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