Some hard-working people should ask themselves why they don’t want to go home,
writes Stefan Stern on ft.com

Or are long hours essential to modern business success?

In his article, Stern considers what sort of person you have to be to succeed in the 24/7
world of global commerce that characterises the 21st century.

He argues that it is no longer enough to just be really good at your job. Drive, hunger,
ambition: today’s workplace seems to demand more and more of such stuff. And if you
are serious about getting on in your career or leading your organisation on to greater
success, a strong sense of urgency is required.

But, in our world where the celebrity is king and where reality TV has even invaded the
board room, you now have to have a real sense of identity.

As Stern puts it, you have to “front up… put on a good show… create the right
impression”. If you’re looking to move up the ladder, it is not enough to just do a really
good job, you have to be able to tell a good story about yourself too.

Using Big Brother as an example, Stern points out that never before have so many people
spent so much effort on creating an appealing self-image or a winning identity.

He quotes the distinguished sociologist Anthony Giddens and his talk at a half-day
symposium called “Humanising Work”, held under the auspices of the Lehman Brothers
centre for women in business.

“You have to work on your identity today,” Lord Giddens told the packed seminar room
at the London Business School. Lifestyles are now enormously diverse, he explained. We
have to choose who it is we are going to be.

But we all know there must be more to successful business people than the superficial
qualities that make a celebrity. Hard work, for instance.

Stern believes that TV celebrity and former chairman of leisure group Granada Sir Gerry
Robinson is being a touch disingenuous when he suggests that there are really only 10 or
12 key decisions you have to get right every year. Concentrate on them, Sir Gerry says,
and then delegate and relax.

Hard work, high levels of commitment and, even, obsession are likely to help you
succeed.

Stern refers back to Lord Giddens’ wide-ranging talk at the “Humanising Work”
symposium, where he considers the relationship between the highly committed, obsessive
professional and the more troubling phenomena of addicts and those trapped in
compulsive behaviour patterns.

New technology helps feed some people’s addiction to work. Lord Giddens jokes about
the hard-working types who, getting up in the night to go to the bathroom, seize the
chance to check their e-mails. This presupposes that the BlackBerry is not still buzzing
away on the bedside table or under the pillow… and that said executive has even gone to
bed in the first place.

But as Stern’s article points out, these compulsive characteristics are also linked to
depression. So there’s the rub. Addicts are obsessive and compulsive. The characteristics
of obsession and compulsion are associated with depression or, equally, high
achievement.

So, are obsessively long hours just part and parcel of success? Maybe. But, Stern argues,
to find out whether long hours are essential to you, the best question you can ask yourself
is just why don’t you want to go home.

Read the full article at http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/c22d5128-3bb3-11dd-9cb2-
0000779fd2ac.html