Thursday, February 25, 2010

Hard worker v/s smart worker

We live in strange times. Mommy said (and my fave teacher Sister Melba agreed) 'hard work is the key to success'. Work culture, however, tends to cut this line short. They say 'smart work is the only way to grow up the ladder'.

While many of us strive to learn the ethics of smart work (and practice them eventually), here's a quick take into our office lives. The hard worker v/s the smart worker:

SCENE 1 -
Hard worker will prepare ten documents and will send just one mail describing the intent of all ten documents.
Smart worker may prepare one document but will send ten mails on this subject to ten bosses.
Who wins: The Smart worker. Right document to the right people. How does it matter if the bosses do not have to implement these documents and they do not need it anyway?

SCENE 2 -
Hard worker will be in office on time, work uninterrupted and leave at the stipulated time.
Smart worker will come just 5minutes before his boss reaches office, works long hours only if his boss is around and dashes out just 5 seconds after his boss has left the office.
Who wins: The Smart worker. Be present at the relevant time. This is called 'visibility'.

SCENE 3 -
Hard worker will identify a group of friends who share similar tastes and sticks to them at lunch breaks and coffee breaks.
Smart worker will identify the habits of his boss and ensure that he inculcates some of them, get access to his boss's lunch group. He will have coffee only if his boss has coffee. Else, he will shun caffeine altogether.
Who wins: The Smart worker. Caffeine kills. Have it occasionally. Meanwhile the hard worker has got high BP because of high coffee intake.

SCENE 4 -
Hard worker knows the names of all family members of his colleagues.
Smart worker knows the habits, dietary routine, BP levels, Blood Group of his boss. That all. Unnecessary info not required.
Who wins: The Smart worker. Boss khush to hum khush

More inputs required for this post. Please share your ideas in the comments section.

1 comment:

aarkay said...

I agree . These days smartness scores over sincerity and hard work. For inner satisfaction the latter are the key word . For climbing up the ladder , it is no doubt the smart workers who steal a march.