If you apply for a role at soft beverage company Olipop, CEO and co-founder Ben Goodwin won’t hire you unless he can tell that you’re actually excited about the work you’ll be doing.
For Goodwin, a lack of motivation is a workplace red flag. Correspondingly, a high degree of passion is one of his non-negotiables for his employees, he told CNBC Make It on Oct. 6. “They’ve got to have a real fire in their system,” said Goodwin, adding: “They have to be motivated.”
Passion for your job has a ripple effect, Goodwin said: The more you enjoy and care about the work you do, the more “protective” you’ll become of your company’s mission. You might also feel more motivated to learn and improve at your job, which benefits both you and your employer, he noted.
“Between passion and technical acumen, passion always wins out,” said Goodwin. “If you have enough real passion, you’ll typically learn the acumen.”
Just don’t let your passion override your ability to collaborate, he added. His other non-negotiable for employees: “We cannot hire people whose personal egos are ever bigger than the mission of the team.”
