Seth Godin has an interesting observation about workaholics. Do you agree with his assessments? Here is what he said:
"A workaholic lives on fear. It's fear that drives him to show up all the time. The best defense, apparently, is a good attendance record.
A new class of jobs (and workers) is creating a different sort of worker, though. This is the person who works out of passion and curiosity, not fear.
The passionate worker doesn't show up because she's afraid of getting
in trouble, she shows up because it's a hobby that pays. The passionate worker is busy blogging on vacation... because posting that thought and seeing the feedback it generates is actually more fun than sitting on the beach for another hour. The passionate worker tweaks a site design after dinner because, hey, it's a lot more fun than watching TV.
It was hard to imagine someone being passionate about mining coal or scrubbing dishes. But the new face of work, at least for some people, opens up the possibility that work is the thing (much of the time) that you'd most like to do. Designing jobs like that is obviously smart. Finding one is brilliant."
I would add that finding a sales job that fits that description would be nothing short of a small miracle!
Seth's observations come on the heels of (and maybe in response to) a great article on freedom and work by author Polly Labarre. Check it out.
My thoughts on the subject when it comes to the traditional outside sales company is that often its the sales managers who drive their salespeople to "workaholism". If they don't drive them to it, they certainly don't do anything to stop it when they see a workaholic personality take shape.
Of course, you have to balance that term with the individual you assign it to: I've known sales professionals that are passionate about their jobs, and love what they do, and are trying to achieve a goal. And I'm not faulting them for hard work and dedication.
But I think the balance to that is recognizing that burn-out in today's sales forces is high - that's why you see so much constant turnover in sales forces. That's not a good for anyone...the sale person, the manager, or the company.
Seth Godin is right about a lot of things but not eulogizing those that obsessively tinker with their designs or websites in the guise of so-called passion. That sounds like workaholism to me.
There is a difference between drive and being driven. The latter is pathological and the former is life-enhancing. The reason sales people are driven by sales managers is that a salesperson can only be evaluated by activity and not results. You can't control results. I know this might sound heretical but many a seasoned sales manager knows that it is the activity, both working hard and smart is necessary but not sufficient. The mistake is to think that the salesperson has control over the sale. There are many external factors, the economy, other relationships the customer might have, timing. The list goes on. Sales is a numbers game at its base. And then there is luck. You can do much to improve your luck but you can't control it.
A relaxed person is a powerful person. I think it was Norman Vincent Peale who said that. And if it was him, he was right. But a driven salesperson who is working out of a sense of fear is counter productive. So I do agree with Mr. Godin on that one.
By the way, I write SlowDownNow.org: The almost serious antidote to workaholism so at least we can laugh about this horrible state of affairs sometimes.
Posted by: Christopher | January 16, 2008 11:12 PM | Permalink to Comment