Welcome to the Machine: The Tactics of an Obsessive
I’ve never read any books by Jim Collins, including the business must-haves “Built to Last” and “Good to Great.” Executives have lectured me to read them, as have professors and successful friends. My humble rebuttal is that I don’t prioritize books on my reading list when they’ve become “required reading” on such a massive scale. That may be my own arrogance speaking, but I question the edge a tool can provide once it’s become a standard.
However, I do respect Jim Collins, especially as a leader, researcher and thinker, even though my knowledge of him admittedly does not go deeper than this article. But, even my trite observations have proved memorable.
Jim was mentored by the legendary Peter Drucker. He has an incredible, obsessive work ethic, and manages, expectantly, with the specificity and aggression of a machine. His business and life philosophy, which balances somewhere in between polar levels of physical extremes and mental intensity, is even apparent in his hiring strategy:
He’s looking for four intangibles: smart, curious, willing to death-march (“there has to be something in their background that indicates that they just will die before they would fail to complete something to perfection”) and some spark of irreverence (“because it’s in that fertile conversation of disagreement where the best ideas come, or at least the best ideas get tested”).
He continues:
“I look for somebody who on the one hand was an Eagle Scout, because that’s death-marching,” he explained. “And, on the other hand, somebody who took time off to travel to 14 third-world countries on no money.” One of his researchers, an M.B.A. student, had studied medieval literature at Princeton and served in the Marines.
I agree with Jim that the fertile conversation of disagreement is what makes work and life idea-prone and equally interesting. Ironically, the same philosophy explains perfectly why I’ve looked beyond Jim’s books for business guidance, and look more towards powerful stories of historic hustle, ambition and contradiction. There’s more to gain when knowledge is interpretive, and comes first-hand through the journey of a protagonist.
Jim’s obsessive, machine-like tactics are most apparent with his time management schedule. He actually keeps a stopwatch with three separate times in his pocket, stopping and starting them as he switches activities, and then models them out in a spreadsheet. His distribution is 53% creative, 28% teaching and 19% other, which:
is a running tally of how he’s spending his time, and whether he’s sticking to a big goal he set for himself years ago: to spend 50 percent of his workdays on creative pursuits like research and writing books, 30 percent on teaching-related activities, and 20 percent on all the other things he has to do.
I’m would not say I’m obsessive-compulsive about time management or self-improvement, although I’m actively aware of both. My personal opinion is that the effects of both become counter-productive when neuroticism kicks it, which happens if I obsess over something. However, reading this did force me to think about how I break down my day. My work days consist of approximately 50% creative, 30% reading and 20% other.
Ultimately, Jim’s tactics, at least on the surface, appear too obsessive for my own sanity. But, I respect his philosophy and strive towards the same goal as him, which is to produce a lasting and distinctive body of work.
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