Passion has long been championed as a key to workplace success. However, scientific studies have found mixed results: On the one hand, some studies find evidence that passionate employees tend to perform better, while other research has documented null or even negative effects on performance. What’s the root of these inconsistent findings surrounding passion? And how can we reap the benefits of passion without falling prey to its downsides? Through a series of studies with more than 1,000 employees from the U.S. and China, researchers shed light on these questions by showing that passion is associated with overconfidence in our own performance. Although this passion-driven overconfidence is not necessarily harmful — and in certain contexts, it may even be helpful — their findings suggest that managers should take steps to mitigate the potential negative consequences of the overconfidence that may go hand in hand with passion.
