I am a Project Manager. Well, my official title is "Senior Initiative Manager" because instead of managing projects I manage large cross-organizational initiatives that are designed to improve the company's back-office operations.
Are you totally lost yet? Because that sentence is the sentence I practically read verbatim whenever anyone asks me what I do for a living. And somewhere between "Initiative Manager" and "cross-organizational," I can see a person's eyes gloss over and a look of confusion start to build.
Explaining my job is difficult. There aren't a lot of people that run the type of projects I run. My job is equal parts Sales Ops, IT Systems, and Process Improvement. In a nutshell, I find gaps in a process that make booking a sale or renewing a contract more difficult than it should be and then I rally the right people to make changes.
One part cheerleader, one part mother hen, one part squeaky wheel.
That's my job. Seriously. I just wrote the same on my resume.
And while I appreciate my job and find it rewarding when we finally make progress, this isn't a job I am passionate about. There is no passion in Project Management.
Unless you are managing the project that cures cancer or executes a mission to Mars. But when my job is to find a way to automate a process that credits future invoices, there is nothing passionate about it. Sure, I may save the company some money and make sure that we don't overstate revenue or have unsatisfied customers. But its a thankless job. My name will never go down in the history books for increasing employee productivity.
When I hear about people who are quitting their jobs (even in this economy) to pursue their real passions, I get a little jealous. Okay, maybe a lot jealous. I think it would be absolutely awesome to get paid to do a job that I love. If only, I knew what I *love* to do for a living. I'm jealous that someone figured out how to turn a passion into a career. Or at least quit the corporate world to figure it out.
For me, passions have never been work-related. I want the freedom to pursue my passions without having to focus on monetary gains. I don't want the things that feed my soul to be tied to making my mortgage payment. I don't want to muddy the waters of my life with the nitty-gritty of a business.
I don't need to be passionate about my job. Don't get me wrong, I am damn good at what I do. My job fits all my strengths. But passionate about my job? Never. And that's a strength too. I'm keeping the best part of myself to myself. I'm investing in my personal capital. And I feel very lucky to have a job that I do well and am successful in my professional field.
While I may not have a job that makes money from my passions, I certainly have a job that funds my passions. And for me, that is the best of both worlds.
This post was inspired by the May edition of the Silicon Valley Mom's Group Book Club, Comfort Food, by Kate Jacobs where the power of food brings people together and teaches the joys of savoring every bite... of life.
