You can’t ask for passion, Iggy

Here is something from Valleywag: The CEO (“Iggy” Fanlo) of the startup AdBrite sent a memo to all his employees asking them to work 9-10 hours a day. That is a huge eyebrow raiser in itself. But here is the best part:

 “This is still a startup and we need more passion, time and energy from each of our employees than a large company would require.”

As if.
You can’t ask for passion, Iggy. Just because someone spends 10 hours a day at work doesn’t mean they are productive for the company. I can’t believe a CEO was crazy enough to broadcast something like this. I would bet a few dollars that he lost the respect of half the employees that day.

The other interesting thing is his opinion that if you work in a large  company its okay to have less passion. Granted a startup usually has a different culture than a large company, but then would Apple have produced an iPod or OS X or iMac without passionate employees?

Passion is something so very internal to a person. Leaders create an environment which attracts people who are passionate about the work of the company. They still cannot make anyone passionate. Either you are, or you aren’t.

I can create a dedicated team, but I can only assemble a passionate team. 

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