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It's dangerous to suggest that working long hours is necessary to win. Knowledge workers become less productive and make costly mistakes after they work longer
by witten 18y ago
It's dangerous to suggest that working long hours is necessary to win. Knowledge workers become less productive and make costly mistakes after they work longer than a particular (surprisingly low) threshold per week. It's one thing if you're just on the phone all day making sales or sitting in meetings. It's something else entirely to try to produce working, debugged code when putting in 60, 70, or 80 hour weeks.
- jdileo 18y agoLast week PG listed his 5 most admired entrepreneurs, all of them are to your definition "knowledge workers"...I doubt any of them would agree with your thoughts. Winners do what it takes to win, period! Take JL's book Founders at Work for a spin and note how few place 40 hrs. working per week as the priority.
- witten 18y agoCorrelation does not imply causation. There's a culture in the U.S. of over-working, both within successful companies and in non-successful companies.