Unleash Your Enthusiasm (Conditionally)

Unleash Your Enthusiasm is largely an encouraging reminder that at the beginning of any endeavor natural curiosity will manifest itself as an eager enthusiasm and that this is nothing to be ashamed of. The “Problem” section suggests that the disparity in enthusiasm between you and your more established colleagues may cause you to stifle yourself. After reading the “Solution” section it seems to me that a more accurate name for this pattern would be “Tactically Unleash Your Enthusiasm”. After all, the authors plainly state that:

“If morale is low or if the team is not welcoming of newcomers, you will likely get some eye-rolling behind your back… If you find yourself on a team that does not accept your excitement, you will need to find ways to nurture your passion.”

In this scenario the solution is quite clearly to contain your enthusiasm, migrate to an environment that values your enthusiasm, and unleash it there. Obviously, this is not nearly as catchy as the original title but this distinction is where I take issue with what seems to be the proposed solution and what I believe the proposed solution actually is. If “unleashing your enthusiasm is one of the relatively few responsibilities of the apprentice,” and an apprentice finds themself in an environment that refuses to let them execute said responsibility, then the logical conclusion is that —in order to provide the maximum value through their excitement and diversity of thought­— they must redeploy.

Much of this apprenticeship pattern operates under the working assumption that the apprentice has managed to luck out and land an apprenticeship in an environment that fosters this enthusiasm. To the credit of the authors, if this is true then everything logically follows. However, if you’ve managed to get your foot in the door of industry and, like most gainfully employed individuals at soul-crushing enterprises you need the paycheck to survive, the advice that “this is the time in your career when it makes the most sense to take risks and speak your mind,” is patently dangerous. I’ve conceded that if you’re lucky to be surrounded by supportive people that this is stellar advice, but maybe there’s another meaningful conversation that is, tangential to (and no less important than) the central prescriptions in this pattern .