While it has never been more important to be passionate, there's not so much to be passionate about.
From [a study on UK supermarkets] on 'The realities of leadership': 'Almost every aspect of work for every kind of employee,
from shopfloor worker to the general store manager, was set out, standardised and occasionally scripted by the experts at head office.' ...fewer of us have much influence over how to do our daily tasks than before...even though we're regularly told by our employers, our business magazines and our television software adverts that work is a place of exploration and fulfillment.
So, what is left for managers to manage? Primarily the answer is 'people management': motivating, beginning with 'getting the day started' meetings they concentrate on meeting targets by, as one manager put it, 'ensuring they (staff) are motivated, trained, they're quick to do the job, and hyped up, and they're going to go out there and deliver'.
Excerpted from the book "Talk Normal: Stop the Business Speak, Jargon and Waffle" by Tim Phillips