When Passion, Purpose and Performance Backfire

– And why they may be the salt, sugar and fat of modern work culture

For decades, we’ve been told to follow our passion, align with a purpose, and deliver top performance. These are the “golden triad” of modern work culture. Leaders celebrate them. Coaches teach them. Companies measure them.

And yet, something isn’t quite right.

Despite being more purpose-driven than ever, we’re also seeing record levels of burnout, disengagement, and stress-related absence. Could it be that the very things we think are driving us forward… are also driving us into the ground — and making us lose ourselves and our humanity?

A primitive brain in a modern context

Let’s take a detour through biology.

Our bodies evolved to seek out three vital ingredients: sugar for quick energy, fat for long-term fuel, and salt to regulate hydration and nerve function. We need all three — but in nature, they were never present in a single source.

A ripe fruit gave you sugar. A piece of meat or a handful of nuts gave you fat. Mineral-rich plants or rare natural sources provided salt. But the combination of all three simply didn’t exist in the foods our ancestors foraged or hunted.

Today, however, ultra-processed foods are designed to deliver all three at once — and in excess. Chips, chocolate, burgers, pizza. This unnatural combination hijacks our brain’s reward system, triggering cravings and compulsive consumption.

Now, take that same logic into the workplace.

When people are constantly fed a high-intensity mix of purpose, passion, and performance pressure, something similar happens. We chase meaning. We over-invest emotionally. We push ourselves harder – because it feels good to be driven, valuable, and on a mission.

But just like junk food, the system gets overloaded. We stop recognizing when enough is enough. We ignore signals of fatigue. And we burn out – not from lack of meaning, but from too much of it, too often, without recovery.

And when that overload becomes the norm — not the exception — something deeper starts to shift.

When motivation narrows our view

What once inspired us begins to consume us. We don’t just burn out — we shrink inwards. Our motivation becomes narrower, more intense, more isolating.

We become so consumed with our own mission, our own performance, our own story, that we start to lose connection with others. Collaboration shrinks. Empathy fades. We stop listening – not because we don’t care, but because we’re overwhelmed.

We optimize for passion and purpose – and lose the very things that make us human. We lose perspective. We lose our ability to pause and truly listen. We lose the subtle signals from others that say, “I’m not okay” — or even “I need you.” We become so tied to what we’re doing and why we’re doing it, that we forget who we’re doing it with — and sometimes, who we are.

And ironically, in our attempt to make work more meaningful, we risk making it less humane.

Because maybe the most radical act in leadership today is not to push for more purpose or passion. Maybe it’s to protect people from being consumed by them.

Because when we push too hard, for too long, on all the things that make us feel valuable — we don’t just burn out. We lose our ability to connect. We lose our balance. And little by little, we lose ourselves and our humanity.