The Passion Trap: Why Monetizing Your Purpose Is Failing You
Career success is less about finding the perfect job/client/project that aligns with your purpose, and more about understanding three distinct layers of what you bring to any work, and never confusing them again.
I used to make the mistake so many of my fellow millennials make: trying to turn my "why" into my entire career. I'd scan job descriptions looking for organizations whose missions gave me chills, convinced that passion alignment was the secret to professional fulfillment. Then Amy Meginnes changed my mind. She said: Our generation expects too much out of a job. It can't fulfill all our physical, social, and emotional needs.
She was right. And more importantly, trying to monetize your deepest sense of purpose can make things murky. For example, following your passion can lead to exploitation by employers who expect passionate workers to accept lower pay and longer hours. Employees who believe pursuing passion means following what brings joy are less likely to be successful and more likely to quit nine months later. When you make your deepest purpose the sole criterion for career decisions, you lose negotiating power, compromise practical considerations like financial stability, and create an all-or-nothing framework that sets you up for disappointment when work inevitably becomes difficult or boring.
The problem I was trying to solve: How do I build a sustainable career that lights me up, without falling into the passion trap, or competing purely on price?
The breakthrough: Thinking about my work in three distinct layers, each serving a different function in building a sustainable and energizing career.
What I’m about to share applies across professions, from consulting to corporate roles, nonprofits, and creative fields. Here's what happens when you have one, two, or all three layers defined, and what goes wrong when each is missing:
Layer One: Your Value (What You Do)
This is your concrete offering. The thing people actually pay you for. For me, it's strategy consulting, program design, and implementation of launch, scale, or pivot plans. This is tangible work that solves real problems. People know exactly what they're signing up for when they hire me to do this.
Without Value: No matter how charismatic or purpose-driven you are, if you can't deliver concrete results, you won't sustain a career.
With Value Alone: Lots of people are strategy consultants. If I only talked about the value I add, I'd be competing purely on price. And that's not a game I want to play, because it’s a race to the bottom that leaves everyone exhausted.
This is where layer two becomes essential.
Layer Two: Your Differentiator (How You Do It)
When I first started to build out my website, I ran into a wall. I knew my "Value" (the concrete services I offered) but struggled with how to capture what truly made me different. It's easy to list what you do, but how do you articulate how you do it, and why that matters?
My very first boss used to say you've got to have "shiny eyes" for the things that you do. You've got to come alive when you think about your work, because that's how you know you're going to do it well.
Your "differentiator" is the unique way you bring your skills to every challenge. It's often something people sense in a face-to-face conversation, or through the quality of the work, rather than something explicitly stated.
Let’s talk Disney. The experience of magic and wonder is their differentiator. That's what touches everything they do, regardless of whether it's a movie or a toy or an amusement park. We all know and (mostly) love the vibe. It’s intentional, but not necessarily explicit.
Your differentiator gives people a clear reason to choose you over others.
Using me as an example: Four things guide how I show up in my work:
A commitment to integrity: This means prioritizing honest communication to build trust quickly.
The pursuit of excellence: Whether I’m doing the work for free, or for a higher rate than usual, I want to do it well.
Enthusiasm: I like what I do. I think getting up every morning and tackling complex, spaghetti-shaped problems is exciting!
An desire to learn: I was the kid who asked dozens of awkward questions, and now I’m the adult who is genuinely curious about an organization’s specific problems, and determined to go beyond my current skillset to solve them.
When clients recognize my differentiator (often through referrals, my online presence, or our initial conversations), they can make better decisions about fit. They hire me because they want someone who will ask questions they haven't thought of, and keep pushing until we find solutions that actually work. This self-selection means I only work with people who value curiosity over compliance.
Without a Clear Differentiator: Even if you get the job done, clients can't articulate why they'd recommend you over someone else. You become interchangeable. If I didn't understand my differentiator, I'd spend energy trying to be everything to everyone.
With Value + Differentiator: Clients understand what makes working with you different. You attract people who value your specific approach, often without you having to explicitly describe it.
Layer Three: Your Why (What Drives You)
Your “why” is the deep, intrinsic motivation that makes you do exceptional work when the right opportunity comes along.
But it really isn't about the job. Consider someone working in oil and gas. 14 percent of millennials say they would not want to work in the oil and gas industry because of its negative image. Those who do find purpose in this work often focus on how energy infrastructure enables economic mobility or how their analysis helps optimize resource allocation for global development. Same technical skills, same industry, but their why gives them motivation that compounds over time.
You don't need to find a job that perfectly matches your purpose. You need to find your purpose within whatever job you're in.
(I have to say though, that while finding purpose within a role is key, it's also true that some roles or environments might be so fundamentally misaligned with your core values that no match is possible, and a strategic shift is necessary.)
My why is expanding access to opportunities, especially for marginalized groups. I ask myself: what levers can be pulled to truly change trajectories, and how can I help pull them?
Without Why: You might do good work and even enjoy it, but you lack the extra, deeper motivation that drives exceptional performance.
Morten Hansen's study of 5,000 managers and employees found that people working with passion (i.e. following your why) and purpose (i.e. adding value) placed in the 80th percentile of performance, while those with purpose but not passion placed in the 64th percentile, and those with passion but not purpose placed in the 20th percentile.
With Value + Differentiator + Why: You do exceptional work because you're energized by the deeper purpose, which creates strong relationships and referrals. You can sustain high performance because the work feeds rather than drains you.
Your Unlock is to Stop Confusing the Layers
You can monetize your value. For example: Deliver excellent strategy consulting, get paid fairly for it, build your reputation based on results.
You can get more referrals and repeat clients by being crystal clear on your differentiator. When clients know what makes working with you different, they can articulate why they'd recommend you to others. They're not just saying "she does good work" but "she asks questions that help us see our challenges differently" or "she brings an enthusiasm that makes our team more creative." This specificity makes referrals more targeted and effective.
You can supercharge your energy and motivation by tapping into your why. Not by finding a job that perfectly meets your "why," but by meeting your "why" within any job you're in. When you're genuinely motivated by the deeper purpose you've found in your work, you do better work, which leads to better opportunities, which creates more space for purpose.
These layers build on each other rather than compete.
Your value gets you in the door.
Your differentiator makes people want to work with you specifically.
Your why gives you the deep energy to do exceptional work that creates lasting relationships and opportunities.
Your Turn
Take a moment to identify your three layers:
Your Value: What concrete service or skill do you provide? What do people actually pay you to do?
Your Differentiator: What makes working with you different from working with someone else who provides similar value? What is your unique approach or style?
Your Why: What deeper purpose truly energizes you when you tap into it? What kind of change do you want to see in the world?
If you understand the value you offer, differentiate yourself through how you show up, and find ways to honor your “why” within the work you’re already doing - then instead of agonizing over how to follow your passion, your passion might just follow you.
