Lesson #3: Know the Difference between Working Hard and Working Smart
Lesson #3: Know the Difference between Working Hard and Working Smart
Even as he was struggling through school, Orfalea always maintained a part-time job. Whether it was working at his father’s women’s clothes factory or elsewhere, he learned early on the value of hard work. But Orfalea was also quick to grasp the difference between working hard and working smart. He knew that efficiency and doing things right was often not as important as effectiveness – doing the right things.
“Busy is not a good word, I think. It’s not a good excuse,” says Orfalea. “Come on, it’s common sense. Get it done; delegate it. I never aimed for busy-ness at Kinko’s. How could a manager working 12 hours a day have work, love, and play in balance?”
For Orfalea, that balance was an important one. No worker was going to be 100 percent motivated and productive if that balance was thrown off. And so, for that reason, he tried to extend throughout his company the understanding of the importance of working smarter, not necessarily harder.
“I reflect back on my career at Kinko’s. We’d make sure the worker was there at 8 a.m. That’s stupid,” says Orfalea. “Why don’t you just say, ‘Here’s a basket of work you have to do, like pay the bills. Here are the bills you have to pay. If you do it all in ten days of the month, I don’t care; go home.’ I didn’t do that then, but I think there are a lot of tasks in a business that can allow a lot more flexibility. As long as you get the work done, who cares?”
Orfalea helped usher in a new era of workers’ flexibility. He did not want his workers to be busy; he wanted them to be effective at what they were doing. And, if that meant only working until 5 p.m. then so be it. Those same rules he applied to himself.
“It comes back to ‘busyness.’ I was never that busy,” says Orfalea. “I never worked past 5 p.m. or on Saturdays. So I was always out of my office, kind of wandering around the stores.” What was the benefit of leaving work early to just wander around? “When you are wondering, you do the kind of work you should do – thinking about scenarios, planning ahead,” he says. “A leader shouldn’t fall in love with the organization as it is. So I had my scenarios already worked out about what we would do if we had an adverse decision. That’s what a leader should be doing.”
Getting more done with less was Orfalea’s principle behind Kinko’s. He believed in delegating and using everyone’s own time as effectively as possible. He worked hard at working smart and in the end, got the best of both worlds.
Lesson 3 Know the Difference between Working Hard and Working Smart
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“I had a real problem with people overworking actually,” says Orfalea. “They’d work sixty to seventy hours a week in the stores, and they were busy, busy, busy, but the store was dirty and they didn’t see it. I’d say, ‘Why don’t you get the windows cleaned,’ and they would say, ‘I’m too busy.’”
Even as he was struggling through school, Orfalea always maintained a part-time job. Whether it was working at his father’s women’s clothes factory or elsewhere, he learned early on the value of hard work. But Orfalea was also quick to grasp the difference between working hard and working smart. He knew that efficiency and doing things right was often not as important as effectiveness – doing the right things.
“Busy is not a good word, I think. It’s not a good excuse,” says Orfalea. “Come on, it’s common sense. Get it done; delegate it. I never aimed for busy-ness at Kinko’s. How could a manager working 12 hours a day have work, love, and play in balance?”
For Orfalea, that balance was an important one. No worker was going to be 100 percent motivated and productive if that balance was thrown off. And so, for that reason, he tried to extend throughout his company the understanding of the importance of working smarter, not necessarily harder.
“I reflect back on my career at Kinko’s. We’d make sure the worker was there at 8 a.m. That’s stupid,” says Orfalea. “Why don’t you just say, ‘Here’s a basket of work you have to do, like pay the bills. Here are the bills you have to pay. If you do it all in ten days of the month, I don’t care; go home.’ I didn’t do that then, but I think there are a lot of tasks in a business that can allow a lot more flexibility. As long as you get the work done, who cares?”
Orfalea helped usher in a new era of workers’ flexibility. He did not want his workers to be busy; he wanted them to be effective at what they were doing. And, if that meant only working until 5 p.m. then so be it. Those same rules he applied to himself.
“It comes back to ‘busyness.’ I was never that busy,” says Orfalea. “I never worked past 5 p.m. or on Saturdays. So I was always out of my office, kind of wandering around the stores.” What was the benefit of leaving work early to just wander around? “When you are wondering, you do the kind of work you should do – thinking about scenarios, planning ahead,” he says. “A leader shouldn’t fall in love with the organization as it is. So I had my scenarios already worked out about what we would do if we had an adverse decision. That’s what a leader should be doing.”
Getting more done with less was Orfalea’s principle behind Kinko’s. He believed in delegating and using everyone’s own time as effectively as possible. He worked hard at working smart and in the end, got the best of both worlds.
Lesson 3 Know the Difference between Working Hard and Working Smart
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Kim CastleWith nearly two decades in the advertising and design business, with clients like Domino's Pizza, General Motors, Direct TV, Pedigree, Wolfgang Puck, Higher Octave Music, Hollywood Celebrity Products, Disney, and Paramount, as well as thousands of entrepreneurs around the world define, structure, communicate, and position their business for greater profits, BrandU(R) co-creators Kim Castle and W. Vito Montone discovered that entrepreneurs could experience the same power that big brands command for a fraction of the cost with the world's only process-based results-drive Integral approach to business creation. BrandU(R) is helping entrepreneurs grow with the power of extreme clarity from idea...to brand...to market(TM) and helping one million entrepreneurs become successful and whole so that they can make a difference in the world. Are you one of them? If you want to experience clarity all the way to the bank(TM), get started now at http://www.brandu.com. - Visit Kim Castle's Website |
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John PowerJohn Power, founder of Biltmore Franchise Consulting, has extensive experience developing and marketing franchises and business opportunities. He has been in and around franchising for over twenty years. From 1980 through 1990 he conceptualized, organized, and developed the American Video Association. He grew AVA to 2,000 national members, before selling the company it 1990. It was later merged into another home video marketing company. From 2000 to 2005 he worked as a contract marketing and human resources consultant to several local and national companies. In 2005 Mr. Power began working as a franchise development consultant on a full-time basis. Since that time he has helped more than three dozen companies initiate and develop their franchising program. He notes that there are many companies interested in developing a franchise program, and who need his specialized assistance. Mr. Power is a “hands-on” franchise consultant. He said, “I am the ‘nuts and bolts’ person who tends to the details for my clients.” Mr. Power holds a B.S. degree with a major in Marketing. See: www.biltmorefranchise.com You may contact Mr. Power at: jpower@biltmorefranchise.co - Visit John Power's Website |
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David AchesonDavid Acheson is the founder of DCJA Consultancy. DCJA Consultancy is a management consultancy business specialising in B2B sales consultancy. They offer bespoke and packaged sales consultancy including Sales Optimisation Review, Interim Sales Management, Sales & Marketing Review, 1:1 Sales & Management Staff Analysis, Management Training, Solution Sales Training, Creation of New Pay Plan, KPI's, run Customer Feedback Campaigns, assist with Recruitment, Coaching, Appraisals and set up Strategic Marketing Campaigns. David spent his early career in accountancy and then moved into sales in 1982, working in Office Equipment, IT, Advertising, Training, Outsourcing and Consultancy. He has held many Senior Positions in SMBs and Global Organisations including Head of Sales Operations & Head of Business Development. His knowledge, skills and great experience of the Sales Industry has led to David making keynote speeches and running educational sessions to key businesses through organisations including The Chamber of Commerce and Business Link. - Visit David Acheson's Website |
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