Taste for Passion
Think of Cheese and you may not think of Passion. Hunger maybe, Greed even – or just Pleasure. Yet, as I discovered, plenty of Passion permeated Chester’s Food and Drink Festival last weekend. And I also discovered another important element of working life – Play!
Wandering through the Taste Pavilion, there were plenty of exhibitors displaying a real commitment to excellence. Most were extremely passionate and articulate, knowledgeable about our gastronomic traditions, and certainly mindful of modern trends and needs. Many exhibitors were family businesses, Cheshire born and bred, united by their keen shared enthusiasm for enterprise.
And so I found that the Taste Pavilion had set the stage for a wonderfully colourful drama of human engagement, a mix of mastery of tools, expertise and sheer showmanship.
Under the white canopy, a young man demonstrating his fine wines and flavoured vinegars, carefully siphoning off the precious liquids for his customers to sample, with such care and flair.
And here a grey whiskered exhibitor, clad in a snowy-white apron, proudly protecting his creamy cheeses, warding off wasps with a bright bladed knife.
A cheerful Med Food lad shouts encouragement and enticements to the crowds, offering us the best, the cheapest, the most delicious golden baklava and sticky kataifes.
Outside on the springy turf of the Roodee Race course, a wonderful display of gilded oyster shells attracts the discerning eye. Here there is expert knowledge of Roman oyster farming and the trade routes from the ancient oyster beds at Menai.
Everywhere stallholders sold their wares, playfully and with passion. What they brought to their daily commerce offer us a clue to finding a fulfilling career.
Great campaigns like Bring Yourself to Work - www.bringyourselftowork.com - invite us to turn up to our workplaces with more passion - and engage with others more authentically. Leaders understand this link between passion and excellence, and encourage it in their teams. There is also a strong link between passion and career path.
If you are at a Career Crossroads, ask yourself where could your Passion and Play take you? As children, we did not distinguish between learning, doing and playing; it was one and the same.
Look back to your childhood. What were your favourite foods, books, places and sounds then? What could this tell you about where your true strengths and your excellence lie? What career path could you pursue which might become both Passion and Play? Follow this line of enquiry in your career search – it leads to excellence and fulfilment.
That's it for now! And let me know if I can help.
“What work I have done I have done because it has been play. If it had been work I shouldn't have done it”. Mark Twain
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