Whether or not to “follow your passion” can be a surprisingly controversial subject.
Mark Cuban, for instance, believes that following your passion is a “lie.” The billionaire Dallas Mavericks owner said it’s more valuable to pursue anything that you put a lot of effort and work into, because you’ll likely be more successful in it, during a 2017 interview.
For Garrett Lerner and Russel Friend, the question doesn’t have such an easy answer. The longtime writing partners and executive producers of the new NBC drama, “Ordinary Joe,” which premieres on Sept. 20, followed their passions to pursue careers in film. It seems to have worked for them: Previously, the pair co-executive produced hit shows like NBC’s “Glee” and Fox’s “House.”
But Lerner and Friend both say their careers could have turned out very differently. In college, Lerner tells CNBC Make It, he wanted to work in sports — until an internship for a sports company left him feeling unfulfilled and disillusioned. Writing and filmmaking, another passion, had a different effect on him: The more he did it, the more he loved it, which is how he eventually realized it could be a viable career for him.
“Some passions are meant to be hobbies. Some passions are meant to be professions,” Lerner says. Being able to tell the difference relatively quickly is key, he adds, “because if you get stuck in a profession that you realize should have been a hobby, you might get tired really quickly.”
That concept is the focus of their new show, which imagines three parallel lives for character Joe Kimbreau (played by James Wolk) if he chose starkly different careers: the frontman of a rock band, a nurse working the graveyard shift at a hospital and a New York City police officer.
Lerner and Friend say they allow Kimbreau to have his dream of being a famous, successful musician realized, specifically to explore what happens if that dream ends up being disappointingly unfulfilling.
“Does that define happiness, or does it not?” Lerner says.
Following a dream can certainly be a double-edged sword. A 2018 Stanford study found that telling people to “follow your passion” leads them think their passion will be easy, causing them to give less effort and making them less successful.
Lerner and Friend say their new show is built on the idea that regardless of the path you choose, you can have a fulfilling life. Ultimately, “whatever path you choose isn’t finite,” Lerner says. “We’re able to grow and change and shift change course.”
