Part 1: Macho Work Ethic

Posted by Bob Kriegel on June 18, 2007 2:33 PM PDT

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It's no secret that people are buying into this marathon madness as their strategy for success. These days the average workweek is sixty hours and rising. The average business lunch is thirty-six minutes and falling. And a ninety- to one-hundred-hour workweek is the norm for many young hounds on the scent of the big score.

My seatmate on a recent flight, a young man in his early thirties who worked for one of the big five accounting firms, told me that his normal workweek was one-hundred-plus hours. And he was bragging about it as if it were an indication of how "cool" he was.

I often overhear people boasting about the meeting the previous night that lasted until two a.m. For these folks, success is directly related to the number of hours they spend at the office. As if the longer and harder they work, the more they will be looked at as superheroes. What isn't admitted-or possibly even realized-is that when you work that late, your brain is too fried to be productive. Quality and creativity rarely emanate out of an exhausted mind. More mistakes are made when you're tired or pumped on caffeine, which means having to redo in the light of day what you did at night.

"The last company I worked at had five different design teams. And there was a crazy contest that occurred at the end of the day," Mike McDevitt, a Clio Award-winning graphic and Web site designer in New York City, told me. "No one wanted to be the first to leave. There was a stigma about it. It meant that you weren't doing your job or working hard enough. Or that you were a wuss. It's as if people's self-worth was directly related to how late they stayed at the office."

Is this how you are currently operating?

The first step to knowing your overworked is awareness.

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4 Comments

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Hey Bob-

Thanks for tackling this issue heads-on! Your title got me thinking...

You describe a world, a business world that is plagued by this false notion of "marathon madness" as leading to more productivity.

It's no secret that the corporate world has always belonged to the "Big Boys" and so would you say that this is predominantly a masculine trait? Moreover, how do you see this "macho" ethic affecting a woman's plight in the workforce?

Let's keep in mind that although women have made great strides, there are still inequalities that exist especially in positions of leadership.

Would you argue that these inequalities hint of a woman's lack of "macho" ethics? Or that women have different values that our society doesn't tend to reward?

Can a "feminine" woman contend without "macho" ethics or even cut-it within a "masculine" environment?

Hmmmm.....

I hope a lot of men speak up on this one...and women!

Thanks Richman, I will be starting a web, marketing and communications company with two other partners. We will all have equal stakes in the company, with equal amounts to lose! Should be interesting, and I hope we can find that special thing to succeed. our only downfall right now is that we are lacking a business developer, but hopefully with enough initiative and hard work (and learning) we will be able to drum up enough business on our own. We have already landed our first, although smaller job!

Way to take a stand Brandon! Sounds like you got really clear on what you need and want, and it's taken you to a new place. Perhaps you would never have even come to this point if it weren't for this situation. What's this new business you'll be starting?

I used to be the same way, 70+ hour work week...then I got married, and recently had my first child, and I can't be any further from that workaholic that I used to be. The only issue is, I had to take a new job, which is very corporate, rigid, and openly demands that we all work as many hours as there are in the day. I work to live, and do not live to work, so I'm having a really hard time in this new, cold, heartless environment. I have refused to stay late, come in on weekends, or take any less than a 1 hour lunch break. The sooner I cave in and work more than I should, the sooner they will expect it, then demand it.

The good side of all of this is that it has prodded me in to doing what everyone around me has been telling me I should do, and I've decided to start my own company.

From what I can see, the consistently long work weeks are fed by greed, and a lack of caring or understanding towards those around you, and especially those people who work for you. I think the big wigs see this time as free time to them, every hour we work over our salaried time is free money to them. I vow to NEVER ask for more of anyone I work with than I would want to do myself.