Jon M. Jachimowicz

Jon M. Jachimowicz is an Assistant Professor of Business Administration in the Organizational Behavior Unit at Harvard Business School, where he teaches the Leadership and Organizational Behavior course (LEAD) in the Required Curriculum. He studies the experience, antecedents, and consequences of passion. His work reveals that scholars and the broader public often fundamentally misunderstand passion.
In line with the popular adage, “if you do what you love, you’ll never work a day in your life,” many participants in his studies believe that it is easy to pursue their passion, but his research shows it is actually difficult to do so. In fact, the German word for passion, Leidenschaft, translates to “the ability to endure hardship,” hinting at its demanding nature. Prior literature also commonly assumes that when it comes to passion, “you either have it or you don’t,” but his research shows that passion fluctuates day-to-day, or even within each day. And perhaps most importantly, scholars often position passion as a resource that can address countless challenges, from motivating employees to tackling social issues, but his research shows that sustaining passion over the long term is its own challenge, and requires proactive effort from individuals, managers, and organizations.
His research suggests that these misconceptions can create a vicious cycle that impedes people from realizing the benefits of pursuing passion. His research leverages both theory and data to offer practical pathways for people and organizations to overcome these pitfalls and unlock the true potential of passion.

To capture the dynamic nature of passion, he predominantly uses experience sampling or daily diary methods within organizations, in which people respond to short surveys multiple times per day over the course of several weeks. He also leverages surveys, laboratory and field experiments, interviews, and archival data to complement this approach. Jon received a Ph.D. from Columbia Business School, M.Phil. from the University of Cambridge, and undergraduate degree from the University of St Andrews. He was listed as a Rising Star by the Association for Psychological Science, a Poets & Quants 40 under 40 honoree, a Forbes 30 under 30, and on the Thinkers 50 Radar List. His work has been published in leading academic journals, including the Academy of Management Journal, Organization Science, Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Nature Human Behaviour, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, and others.