Review of “The Passionate Workforce” by Nicholas Capman

​Score: 95/100 (9.5 out of 10)

The Passionate Workforce is a compelling, insightful, and spirited business book by Nicholas Capman!
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It is loaded with practical, actionable advice, which we definitely appreciated! Though it's a little on the shorter side, it definitely packs a punch!

Workers are the heart and soul of every business. Without workers, nothing gets done. Without people to lead, you are no leader. But what do those workers need? What do people need to be as productive and effective as possible?

Motivation!
Passion!
Encouragement!
Purpose!

Workers who are motivated, passionate, encouraged, and feel that their work is purposeful and meaningful are more productive, more effective, more thorough, and harder working. They make you money. They get things done. Furthermore, they bring joy, positivity, and a sense of camaraderie to the workplace.

On the other hand, workers who hate their jobs do the bare minimum. They waste your time, money, and resources. The become an anchor—a ball and chain—on your workforce. Often, they can have a negative influence on other workers. This is something that we also read in From Purpose to Profit by Erin Andrea Craske and Purposeful Performance by Jonathan Stanley—the idea of “quiet quitting.” These are people who are mentally checked out from work yet remained employed for one reason or another.

Many people become quiet quitters because of disillusionment. Quiet quitters become complacent because of a loss of direction and purpose. They often feel devalued, unappreciated, and unmotivated.

Most of all, they lack passion.

This doesn't make them bad people, but it does make them bad workers.

This book often uses the example of Mr. Dube, representing a supervisor who goes through the motions and seems emotionally disconnected from his work and employees. Because of that, he often said things like, “I don't have time” including time to give clear and thorough instructions. So, his employees found themselves lost, confused, and a bit resentful that they were working under someone who didn't seem to care.

One of the biggest ways to correct scenarios like the one with Mr. Dube is to get to the root cause of why they feel and perform the way that they do. The author promotes the idea of asking “Five Whys.” These are a sequence of “Whys” that get deeper and deeper to the root of a problem. For example, you might ask an employee, “Why were you late today?”

The employee might respond, “I had to put gas in my car and the line was long.”

Then you can ask, “Why didn't you fill it last night?”

They might answer, “Because I was tired after work last night”

You then might ask, “Why were you tired after work last night?”

They might respond, “Because I have too much work on the table and not enough help or support. I feel like I'm doing everything for everyone.”

Little by little, you get to the bottom of what's causing the problem. You can conclude, from an example like this, that the employee needs additional support and/or a lighter workload.

Again, purpose and motivation have a lot to do with how a worker feels and how they perform. Our favorite example from the book is a nigh-mythical story about a janitor who worked for the White House under President John F. Kennedy. The janitor, according to the story, would say that he was “helping fly a man to the moon.”

How awesome and cool is that?

He's not wrong. In helping Kennedy, the biggest cheerleader of the ongoing space program, he saw himself as being part of something bigger—something epic and unprecedented.

Our second favorite example that the book provides is that of the New England Patriots football team under the all-time great, Bill Belichick. The author talked about how Patriots players were willing to work for less because Belichick's record of winning Super Bowl and conference championships every year made them feel like being a part of the Patriots would make them more successful overall. So, in other words, they were willing to look past monetary gain because, like JFK's janitor, they felt like they were part of something bigger and better.

Money isn't everything. Greatness and success are tempting too!

Speaking of teams like the Patriots, the author talks a lot about how a workforce should function like a team with a shared destiny—a “profit sharing environment”—rather than a competitive, merit-based environment in which everyone is out to be better than everyone else. In other words, the author makes the distinction between a workforce that exists in a dog-eat-dog environment versus a workforce that exists in an all-for-one-and-one-for-all environment.

The book also talks about how little, kind, personal gestures can really boost the morale and loyalty of employees. The author talked about how employees used to receive gold watches under the premise that, since they gave the company their time, the company was now giving them its time. The book recommends employers give out personalized welcome gifts upon employment like dog clothes for a dog owner.

This book advocates for a collaborative, consultative approach to business.

Check it out on Amazon!