“We hear a great deal of talk about the midlife crisis of the executive. It is mostly boredom.” ~ Peter Drucker, management expert

Have you ever come to a point in your career where you have an underlying sense of malaise, where you are no longer enthusiastic about the day ahead, where work often seems a grind? You ask yourself whatever happened to your passion at work.

Today, self (and skills) renewal and staying ahead of the learning curve is a critical leadership skill. If you want to continue to lead, you have to continue to have access to the well of resourcefulness and passion that drives engagement in the workplace. In a recent McKinsey article, the ability to connect strategy with meaningful purpose was cited as one of the four critical disciplines managers can achieve swift growth and improvement.

Personally, I can say that 100% of my clients have, at one point or another, struggled with regaining meaning and purpose in their work, with finding ways to grow. “What do I do if I no longer have passion?” and “How do I sustain passion?” are two questions that often come up.

In our hectic lives, it’s easy to overlook creeping stagnation and dismiss the early hints that your career lacks passion. Unfortunately, the longer you “wait and see” the worse it can be for you to crawl out from under and reignite your energy.  In a recent Harvard Business Review article, Boyatzis, McKee and Goleman speak about how people confuse “achieving day-to-day business goals with performing truly satisfying work”. They then go on to discuss successful strategies for renewal, key among which is working with an experienced Coach.

How do you deal with fading passion and sense of purpose? What strategies do you find effective? I’d be interested in hearing your thoughts.