We’ve all heard it. At a graduation speech. In some glossy self-help book. On a LinkedIn post written at 2 a.m. by someone “reflecting on their journey.”
“Follow your passion.”
According to self-made millionaire and bestselling author Scott Galloway, that’s actually the worst career advice billionaires hand down. And he’s not alone. Mastercard CEO Michael Miebach, Yale psychologist Laurie Santos, and a growing crowd of high-achievers are calling B.S. on passion as a strategy.
Their message? Passion is nice, sure. The success that pays rent, pays for your freedom, and lasts through layoffs, that is usually built on competence, adaptability, and the ability to deal with rejection. Let’s break down what these thought leaders are really saying, and what it means for how we pursue success, especially for those building careers from the margins.
“Follow Your Passion” Skips Some Steps
Scott Galloway didn’t grow up with generational wealth. He grew up with a single mom in LA, thought athletics would be his ticket out, and got rejected 28 times before someone finally said yes. Now he’s sold multiple companies for millions, and says the real key to his success wasn’t passion.
His career advice: It was pivoting. Rejection. And figuring out what he was actually good at, and what people were willing to pay for.
“Anyone who tells you to follow your passion is already rich,” Galloway told LinkedIn’s The Path.
This doesn’t mean passion is useless. It just means it’s not quite enough. It might even steer you wrong if it blinds you to the hard but necessary questions: What are you good at? What does the market need? Can you turn your curiosity into competence?
“Work Harder” Is a Trap
Best-selling author and former McKinsey consultant Lazetta Rainey Braxton (CNBC) doesn’t mince words: telling people to simply “work harder” glosses over privilege, network access, and generational wealth.
And let’s be real, some people are working two jobs, raising kids, and grinding nonstop. Telling them to just hustle more is not only tone-deaf, it’s counterproductive.
And we agree on pushing back at this career advice because it erases real systemic realities. For women, BIPOC professionals, disabled workers, and first-generation college grads, the playing field isn’t just tilted, most of the time it’s actually rigged.
The Real Secret Sauce? Lazy Ambition.
Here’s where it gets interesting. According to Fortune, many top-performing CEOs, politicians, and entrepreneurs aren’t the smartest in the room. They’re not even the hardest-working.
Instead, they’re ambitious and strategically a little… lazy.
“The most successful people want big results with minimal effort,” says career coach Adunola Adeshola. “And that’s not a bad thing.”
They’re not skipping effort entirely. They’re just ruthlessly focused on leverage. They delegate well, choose high-impact goals, and, this is key, they know what not to waste time on.
Bill Gates once said he’d hire a lazy person to do a hard job because they’d find the most efficient way to do it. There’s a line between strategic shortcuts and cutting corners, and the best leaders know where it lies.
What This Means for Workplaces
For marginalized professionals, the idea that success isn’t tied to IQ or a punishing work schedule can be both liberating and validating.
It means there’s more than one way to rise. You don’t have to outperform everyone, you need to out-think the system. That’s where mentorship, smart networking, self-advocacy, and aligned environments come in. At Diversity Employment, we encourage employers to spot ambition in many forms, not just in who stays late or speaks the loudest. Strategic ambition, emotional intelligence, and system-level thinking deserve equal weight.
The Takeaway?
Forget trying to brute-force your way to the top.
Instead:
• Work smarter, not just harder
• Delegate without guilt
• Protect your energy like it’s your paycheck
• Learn the system, and then work around it
And maybe stop taking career advice from people who inherited yachts before they had student loans.