It just so happened that lately I’ve had two conversations that connected to each other in a rather interesting way.
In the first one, a colleague told me that he’d never been on a vacation without getting calls from his team — but this time, finally, he did it. He was genuinely happy, because he only got one call, and that was a personal one.
At the same time, I’ve been working with two situations where overwork and endless working hours were seen as a kind of badge of honor.
In one case, someone actually said, “You can’t really call him a true leader — he leaves after eight hours and doesn’t even show up on weekends.”
And in another case, people were proudly saying, “It’s a good thing we were still here at midnight when the furnace caught fire — luckily, the manager handled it well!” erényként, büszkeségre okot adó eredményként jelent meg.
Sőt, már konkrétan elhangzott az is, hogy „nem tekinthető igazi vezetőnek”, mert nem tölt elég időt a munkahelyén, nyolc óra után már „menekül is”, és „hétvégén sem bukkan fel”.
És mekkora mázli, hogy még éjjel is bent voltunk, amikor kigyulladt a kemence — ugyan az illetékes vezető megfelelően kezelte a dolgot, de mégis.
Pretty crazy, right? It seems that the idea of heroism through exhaustion just won’t die. We’re still chasing that 150% effort and that “Employee of the Month” glow. hősiesség talán sosem kopik ki; továbbra is a 150%-ra és a „kiváló dolgozó” kitüntetésre hajtunk.
But if you think about it, mennyivel nagyobb valódi teljesítményt jelent isn’t it a much bigger achievement to build an organization where the managers are well-trained, decisions are made at the right levels, and processes run on their own?
A company that’s strong and stable enough to keep running smoothly even if the CEO or owner takes a vacation — or something happens to them — for weeks or even months.
Because if a leader, or any key person, is indispensable, that person is actually the weak point of the organization.
Everything depends on them, and the whole system freezes when they’re not around — when “Dad” or “Mom” isn’t there to fix everything. nélkülözhetetlen, akkor ő a szervezet gyenge pontja. Rá támaszkodik minden, és a működés leáll, ha nincs itt „apu” vagy „anyu”, aki mindent megold.
If we want a company that’s strong, resilient, and adaptable, we have to make sure everyone is replaceable — and that’s a good thing. meg kell oldanunk, hogy mindenki nélkülözhető legyen.
We can do this by building leadership systems, standard processes, reporting structures, and metrics that make operations transparent and decisions easier —without being there 24/7 or micromanaging every tiny detail.
A tulajdonosi és felsővezetői döntésekhez szükséges információk így könnyen elérhetők, és lehet jó döntéseket hozni anélkül, hogy éjjel-nappal bent kellene lenni, vagy minden apró részletet személyesen kézben kellene tartani.
This is absolutely achievable for any leader, although it does take time and energy at first.
But before doing anything else, I’d emphasize this: the first and most important step is to accept that we don’t have to work ourselves to death.
Working until you burn out isn’t a virtue — it’s a loss elfogadjuk: nem kell belehalni a munkába, hogy nem érték az, ha halálra dolgozzuk magunkat – ez nem dicsőség, hanem veszteség.
A loss, because we give our lives away to our jobs.
A loss, because we don’t spend enough time with our families.
A loss, because we stop taking care of ourselves, and our lives become nothing but work.
And if anything happens to that work — if it ends, changes, or we’re simply not part of it anymore — we have nowhere to turn. nem marad hova fordulnunk.
I see this a lot with people nearing retirement age, who suddenly realize that they’ve spent their entire lives working.
And now? No hobbies. No friends. No communities to go to. Nothing that keeps them grounded.
Because work filled every space — and eventually wiped everything else out. nincsenek hobbik, nincsenek barátok, nincsenek közösségek, nincsen semmi, ami megtartana, mert a munka mindent kitöltött – és végül mindent ki is irtott maga körül.
If we can move past that value trap, we’ve already solved a big part of the problem. értékkérdésen sikerül túllendülnünk, tulajdonképpen a feladat jelentős részét már meg is oldottuk.
Then we can start organizing processes, teaching people like George or Bill how to make reports the way we want them, or trusting Frank to run the night shift on his own.
Because once we’ve defeated that little “work hero” inside ourselves, we can finally build a real perpetuum mobile — and take that well-earned two-week vacation somewhere with no cell service. legyőztük magunkban a munka hősét, létrehozzuk az igazi perpetuum mobilét — és elmenjünk két hétre a térerőn túlra.
