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How to Succeed in Business Without Working So Damn Hard

Written by: Andy Marken

Article Overview: Rethinking the Rules, Reinventing the Game

How to Succeed in Business Without Working So Damn Hard

How to Succeed in Business Without Working So Damn Hard: Rethinking the Rules, Reinventing the Game by Robert J. Kriegel, Ph.D. -- Warner Books, Three Center Plaza, Boston, MA – February 2002 -- 257 Pages

Reviewed by – G.A. “Andy” Marken, president, Marken Communications Inc, andy@markencom.com



The Internet, cell phones, home offices, wireless networks, Bluetooth-enabled PDAs are all designed for one thing…to keep you connected to your office, the press and clients (internal and external) 24x7. And…it’s working!

For right brain public relations people, Kriegel’s new book may be the sanity salvation they’ve been seeking.

Science has always claimed that the left brain is when cold logic emanates from while it’s the right brain that is creative and intuitive. It’s from this side of the brain that your best and most innovative ideas come from. Kriegel a revolutionary in the field of performance practice challenges readers to top working harder and start working better.

Here in the heart of Silicon Valley it isn’t uncommon for people to take pride in working 100 – 120 hour workweeks. Everyone carries a cell phone (even to the club when they work out and on vacation. Sometimes they carry two phones or one phone and a pager. The Valley life style is no different from almost everyone in the U.S. But it is Kriegel’s contention that the overworked are not the innovators, visionaries and new thinkers of the world. They are simply…well overworked.

Kriegel explains that the creative mind needs more breathing space, more time to think and imagine and the opportunity to really develop great ideas and do great work. His solution? Cut back on the work hours and you’ll improve your productivity and enhance your creativity.

He points out that the Dutch work a mere 1,7370 hours a year while Americans put in 2,000 plus hours. If it sounds like they are goofing off, keep in mid that their economy is the most productive in h world.

It will probably take a lot of getting used to as you adjust your work hours but Kriegel advocates finding creative ways to get work done more effectively. Rather than give 110 percent to the company, your PR program or your project he says it is better to give a very passionate 80 percent.

The result is not only a life outside of your work but increased productivity when you are on the job. Kriegel notes that firms that have reduced their working hours have seen improvements in employee morale, productivity and retention.

Kriegel contends that when you rush you actually are slowing things down because mistakes often occur so that you have to go back and do the work over to correct the errors.

Appropriate for PR people, Kriegel recommends cutting work hours by reducing the glut of email, not making the unnecessary phone calls, reducing the paperwork proliferation and cutting down the hours wasted in meaningless meetings. We heartily agree that 50 percent of the time could be taken from every meeting and more could be accomplished. But we don’t know about you but we find it difficult to reduce the email glut because we still average over 200 emails a day. What we have done as a small step to reducing email traffic is finding it necessary to respond to every email we receive. In many instances the response is only – thanks, okay, we agree or something equally as mundane that contributes nothing to the progress of the activity.

In addition to cutting back on your work hours he recommends that you focus on your strengths an the things you enjoy doing rather than trying to do everything just because “you’re the only one who can do it” or “it’s your responsibility.” If you can’t reliably delegate activities then you probably didn’t ire the right people in the first place.

We read How to Succeed in Business Without Working So Damn Hard just before taking a much-needed break with the wife for a few days of sun and scuba diving. We understood the words he had written but we still found it impossible to take a “real” vacation. When we got off the plane we immediately turned on our cell phone to make certain someone hadn’t tried to call us while we were on the plane. As always our notebook computer came along and when we got into our condo the first thing we did was connect to the internet to check our email.

Are we indispensable? No we don’t suffer from that delusion. However, we simply feel naked and cut off from the world around us without these connections. Yes we do usually call the office twice a day and 90 percent of the time the calls have either been handled very competently by someone else in the company or they can wait. We only check email 2-3 times a day when we’re on holiday and usually if there is any action required it can be handled in less than an hour. Now that’s not so bad…is it?

Frankly we miss our email when we aren’t connected and we religiously connect the first thing in the morning -- no matter where we are at -- as we have our first cup of coffee. We know the world will keep spinning on its orbit while we’re on holiday but frankly we really enjoy reading the New York Times and Financial Times on line in the morning. The combination gives us a good understanding of what is happening on the world, national and area political, social and business scenes.

While you may have read much of his productivity improvement recommendations elsewhere, Kriegel’s book is still worthwhile reading. In many ways it will give your creative right brain a rest because it will appeal to your logical left-brain.

When you’ve completed the book…give it to your boss. Maybe it will give him or her the hint that you want to succeed in business without working so damn hard. If it doesn’t help you can still come in on Saturday…and Sunday!

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