Young professionals are often told to “follow their passion” when planning their careers, and in entrepreneurship, passion is seen as key to success. But figures like Elon Musk, known for his passion and overconfidence, show that this drive can backfire. New research from Berkeley Haas suggests that managers need to understand the link between passion and overconfidence to harness it effectively.

The researchers explored this by studying more than 1,000 participants. “We wanted to understand both the benefits and drawbacks of passion by examining how it connects to overconfidence,” they explain.

For instance, passion can be essential for entrepreneurs, who need it to overcome challenges. But in some roles, being overly passionate can be risky and needs careful management.

Skewed assessments

In one study, over 800 employees at a Chinese engineering company rated their own passion and performance, while coworkers rated their performance too. Passionate employees were often rated highly by their peers, but they also tended to overrate their own performance compared to how others saw them.

This supports findings that passionate people often inflate their sense of achievement. The researchers also noticed interpersonal issues: colleagues didn’t always appreciate the gap between how passionate workers saw themselves and how others saw them.

In another experiment, nearly 400 U.S. workers were asked to imagine they were either passionate or punctual at work. Even after being told their performance was “average,” those who were asked to picture themselves as passionate expected their future performance to improve more than those focused on punctuality. They believed they’d work harder, longer, and become more engaged, despite the evidence suggesting otherwise.

Managing passion

This belief that passion leads to superior performance can be triggered easily, according to the authors. But managing passion depends on the job. Entrepreneurs, salespeople, and consultants may benefit from overconfidence driven by passion. In contrast, accuracy is critical for roles like surgeons, pilots, or traders, where overconfidence can be dangerous.

Managers often encourage passion because it brings energy and enthusiasm to the workplace. “Passionate employees are fun to manage. They bring drive and energy to meetings and help move things forward,” the researchers note. However, they caution that managers must manage their own biases toward passion, as well as those of their passionate employees, who may overlook blind spots, resist delegating, or struggle with teamwork.

To get the best out of passionate employees, managers must ensure they’re not only focused on individual performance but also on how others perceive them, helping teams work together effectively.