Graduation season has come and gone at the polytechnics here in Singapore. The graduates had a lot to do and the preparations for the big day included getting their graduation gowns, taking loads of photographs with friends, course mates, parents and of course, lecturers.
Amongst the cheerful chatter and congratulatory exchanges between the graduates and their lecturers, the topic that always comes up without fail is “What next?”, as if the academic expedition that the graduates have just completed was not grueling enough.
But one Ngee Ann Polytechnic (NP) graduate raised the heat on the passion vs pecuniary debate (at least on the Net), when she turned down (politely of course) the Ngee Ann Kongsi Award, which is a generous bond-free scholarship given to the polytechnic’s top graduate.
Ms Tok Kheng Leng, a 3.99 GPA biomedical engineering graduate, turned down the NP award to take a NUS Global Merit scholarship to pursue a social work degree. Ms Tok enjoyed the voluntary work that she did during her time at NP so much that she decided to pursue a degree in it.
This was not the only incident that I witnessed or heard about where passion appeared to trump pecuniary interests. I was recently invited to the Chapman University Singapore‘s graduates’ networking nite, an annual event where graduates of the university’s Bachelor of Fine Arts in Creative Producing get to meet, chat and network with industry professionals in the hopes of getting leads and contacts in securing a job.
I was pleasantly surprised when I met several of my former students who went on to Chapman after completing NP’s mass communication diploma. Two of them – Justin Deimen and Shawn Tan especially impressed me. Justin is going on a MDA sponsored attachment with a LA-based company, Film Financing Inc, in the heart of Hollywood.
Shawn has already written a script for his first feature film, a Singaporean narrative that I’m sure will strike a cord with many locals. Shawn is so passionate about his film that he has attracted the attention of Singapore’s hit film-maker Jack Neo, who has now employed him as a producer.
So are these just isolated examples? Are the 3 persons mentioned above foolish to pursue their passion? Will time dampen their passion and piling pecuniary needs slowly start chipping away at the single-minded resolve that these brave individuals displayed early on in their careers? Should you pursue your passion even if it is not going to make you a lot of money?
My opinion on this perennial dilemna that graduates face is that you should always try and meet your base needs first (Maslow’s hierarchy of needs) for eg. food, water and shelter.
Once your base needs are met and you have cleared your debts (paid off your university tuition fee loans), you are comfortable enough to take some risks with your career.
So this would mean that you may have to take a job early on in your career that you may not really like but it helps to pay the bills.
But I believe that if you are really passionate about something, it gets into your sub-conscious mind such that it will somehow move you towards doing it. It may not happen all at once or in one big, swift action but perhaps in small, baby steps.
For the initiated, what may happen is that you may actually plan how you take those baby steps and experience the small baby wins along the way which will finally allow you to take the plunge to pursue your passion full time.
So if following your passion makes you a happier person, why not do it even if does not make you more money?
Well, CEO of Radish Systems, Theresa Szczurek, has a slightly different take on this. She believes that happiness leads to riches and not the other way round. So you should follow your passion because it makes you a happier person, which will then bring you more money.
Passion brings with it 2 things: the need to contribute and the need to connect. People want to be able to make a meaningful impact on what the company is trying to achieve. Secondly, in contributing, people want to be connected to the “best parts of themselves and to a community”
In fact Daniel Gulati of the Harvard Business Review says that now more than ever, young professionals need to take positive action in pursuing their passion in their careers rather than succumbing to the draw of the mullah. He thinks that more and more professionals are unhappy with their high paying jobs because it is not what they enjoy doing.
Gulati suggests 3 ways for professionals to start making the career switch to follow their passion.
a) De-emphasise prestige and compensation
b) Start experimenting with doing different work
c) Spend time defining your passions
Passion can indeed take you far if you are willing take the risks inspite of not having fulfilled even your basic needs.
Take the example of Eric Simons, a 19 year old entrepreneur who sneaked into the office of AOL in Silicon Valley and went about his “business” in the premises undetected for about 2 months. He lived in the office, slept on the sofas in the office, ate for free in the cafetaria and showered in the gym. And all the time, he worked on his start-up, an idea which allowed teachers to share lesson plans.
Being a Chicago native, he had no relatives in Silicon Valley and noone to turn to for help (monetary or otherwise). AOL employees recognised him but thought that he was an AOL staff. They also said that he was the most hard-working person in AOL as he was the first person in and the last person “to leave”. But the irony was that they did not know that he never left the office.
Eric was finally caught by the security but AOL did not report him to the police. On the contrary, AOL rewarded him for his tenacity by offering him US$50,000 in funding for his start-up. He is now aiming to raise another US$500,000.
Eric Simons’ example is perhaps an extreme one where he was willing to risk being imprisoned for his efforts in pursuing his passion.
But my parting advice to graduates on this passion vs pecuniary issue is this.
Not all of us are able to be like Eric Simons. But life is a journey. Your career forms the major expedition within this journey. And within this journey, you will have to berth your ship at various ports to re-fuel and re-charge. These ports are sojourns which precede your final destination. Just ensure that your passion guides you on the path towards this destination.
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