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I think that there's a very good point here which is being ignored: that in order to be in the manager/director/CxO class it has become a near-requirement to go

I think that there's a very good point here which is being ignored: that in order to be in the manager/director/CxO class it has become a near-requirement to go to the gym. Once upon a time attendance at church would have been mandatory; any candidate who didn't belong to a church, or the Masons, or whatever, would have been 'not quite our type'; now someone who's not physically fit is 'not really a cultural fit.' As far as I can tell, it's really status signalling. Once upon a time the wealthy were overweight, as a show of their superior access to resources; now that our society is so rich that anyone can be fat, the wealthy are fit, as a show of their superior access to the resources of time (to exercise) & money (to belong to a gym/hire a trainer/eat fancy engineered food). And the thing is, I don't think it's actually relevant to the jobs of managing, directing or being CxO.

CPLX 9y ago
This is nonsense. Being in good shape is a direct visible sign of self discipline, ability to work towards goals despite pain, resilience, impulse control, patience, long term thinking, and many other positive traits. It's literally the diametric opposite of what you suggest, in many ways it's arguably the only truly meaningful status symbol you can't buy, inherit, or win via lottery. You have no choice but to work for it. Not to mention, besides its usefulness as a proxy for positive traits, it also has direct effects. Exercise leads to improved mental health and other effects that are directly applicable to doing a better job.
- scottlegrand2 9y ago
  All true but as someone who lives in Santa Cruz, the home of CrossFit, I will say there is a strong subjective correlation between fitness douchebags and CrossFit. To paraphrase Bill Maher, it's not that all CrossFit people are douchebags, it's that most of the douchebags I meet in the gym are doing CrossFit routines requiring them to alternate between 2 or 3 machines in a precise rhythm which we should not interrupt for any reason or there will be horrible consequences. The best example here was this body beautiful couple that never smiled in the gym for any reason whatsoever. When they wanted your machine, they would each man the machines on either side of you with very low weight and sit there slowly pumping reps on it whilst glaring at you to try and get you to give the machine to them. After a few instances of this, I responded by slowing down my routine and throwing in extra exercises just to mess with them because this was hella annoying. They could have just asked me when I would be done, which would have been in about 2 or 3 minutes, but apparently forming words was too much work for them so it became an eternity of 5 minutes instead. When my membership expired, I left that gym and never returned.

CPLX 9y ago

This is nonsense. Being in good shape is a direct visible sign of self discipline, ability to work towards goals despite pain, resilience, impulse control, patience, long term thinking, and many other positive traits. It's literally the diametric opposite of what you suggest, in many ways it's arguably the only truly meaningful status symbol you can't buy, inherit, or win via lottery. You have no choice but to work for it. Not to mention, besides its usefulness as a proxy for positive traits, it also has direct effects. Exercise leads to improved mental health and other effects that are directly applicable to doing a better job.

scottlegrand2 9y ago
All true but as someone who lives in Santa Cruz, the home of CrossFit, I will say there is a strong subjective correlation between fitness douchebags and CrossFit. To paraphrase Bill Maher, it's not that all CrossFit people are douchebags, it's that most of the douchebags I meet in the gym are doing CrossFit routines requiring them to alternate between 2 or 3 machines in a precise rhythm which we should not interrupt for any reason or there will be horrible consequences. The best example here was this body beautiful couple that never smiled in the gym for any reason whatsoever. When they wanted your machine, they would each man the machines on either side of you with very low weight and sit there slowly pumping reps on it whilst glaring at you to try and get you to give the machine to them. After a few instances of this, I responded by slowing down my routine and throwing in extra exercises just to mess with them because this was hella annoying. They could have just asked me when I would be done, which would have been in about 2 or 3 minutes, but apparently forming words was too much work for them so it became an eternity of 5 minutes instead. When my membership expired, I left that gym and never returned.