I Know Business Sometimes Demands it

sharp design — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 02:39:10 +0000

I wish I had a buck for everyone in business, from small server hosting companies to large corporate firms, who feels trapped like this but the amazing thing is that there are a bunch of folk in this predicament that you should not feel sorry for. These are folk who celebrate this crap. This is usually a male thing, and it is partly due to the perception that long weeks are ‘expected’ and it’s the ‘way it is today’. But only partly.

Another part is built on some sort of weird ‘glee’ factor that this guy, some 20 years after he last wore athletic shorts, is in such demand and can still actually physically perform with best of them. Somehow this morphs into an overt test of masculinity. It is important to show this to his family, his peers,his subordinates and to his own shaving mirror. It is truly one of the few legal, overt and widely franchised dick measuring contests left in the world today.

Is there a sensible approach to handling this in business today? The two keys are around individuality and sustainability.I can go 90 hours a week with the best of them, and I know business sometimes demands it. And it isn’t always figuring out the right money or compensation I’ve done this throughout my life since I joined Shell as a clerk 30 years ago on a weekly salary roughly the inflation adjusted equivalent of the price of a modern day Burger King value meal. I can do two of these weeks if needed, possibly three and maybe stretch to a fourth. Then it gets counter producttive, ‘cos I’m out o

Design For Business » I Know

I Know Business Sometimes Demands it