Reply #28: FLP

[90-percent]

FLP - that is a robust work experience you have there. Very worldly, literally.

I've worked for a Japanese Company and a German Company. I never went to Japan but went to Germany five times, but only on week long junkets. The Japanese Company would cycle many of their Japanese people through America for a few years. All of them would automatically stay in the office every day until around 7:00. Many with feet on the desk reading a trade magazine. To be fair, there were also some that worked hard their entire ten hours.

The Germans, in contrast, tend to work hard and productively for every minute of their seven hour days. I think they really practiced giving a good day's work for a good days pay.

I agree with FLP in that the amount of time you spend at work is not the measure, it's the productivity that's the measure.

I personally like the eight hour work day and leading a balanced life with more going on that just your occupation. I had spent 30 years in white collar roles and I recently worked on the factory floor running machines. The sense of pride and accomplishment I got running production was a lot more fulfilling than my vague nebulous white collar role. I find the white collar side to be crawling with empty suit genuflecting genius middle managers that just gum up everything. Your performance in white collar is very hard to measure and self preservation means you can't be excellent or incompetent. Mediocre works best, unless you are blessed with a middle manager that is a real leader. I get real energized reporting to someone I respect. I get demoralized reporting to empty suit self serving managers, which is the state of most of working life in America these days, with some exceptions.

I'm pretty much a full blown iconoclast, (my definition: one who questions accepted norms) and boy does that personality type know how to rock the boat! Mediocre Managers sure as hell don't like getting their boats rocked by their underlings! (And I have the pink slips to prove it!)

-jim