Usted es me todos: Best of the Issue: The Real Reason You Work Nights and Weekends

June 19, 2018

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The Real Reason You Work Nights and Weekends

From Amy Bernstein
Editor, Harvard Business Review

Here's a startling stat: Most managers spend upwards of 85% of their workday on email, in meetings, and on the phone. As a result, too many of us have gotten into the habit of collaborating with others during the day and getting our own tasks done on nights and weekends. In "Collaboration Without Burnout," Rob Cross, Scott Taylor, and Deb Zehner show that there's a much better way. They offer strategies for making smarter choices about working with others — and for clawing back enough precious time to deal with your own work during office hours.

A related question is how CEOs spend their days, something we've historically known very little about on a granular level — until now. In "How CEOs Manage Time," Michael Porter and Nitin Nohria analyze remarkable data from the calendars of 27 leaders of large companies. They note that a CEO's schedule is essentially a manifestation of how they lead, and that it sends powerful messages to the rest of the organization. It's astonishing if you think about it: Every calendar decision can enhance or diminish a leader's legitimacy.

But it's not just what we spend our time doing that makes work meaningful (or not); it's how we treat others, too. Workers say that respect is one of the most important factors in whether they enjoy a job, yet many report experiencing uncivil behavior. In "Do Your Employees Feel Respected?" Kristie Rogers explains that addressing this problem starts with recognizing that there are two distinct types of respect: owed respect, which is given equally to all members of an organization, and earned respect, which recognizes individuals for their contributions and behaviors.

Finally, I want to share my single favorite finding from our new issue. We all know that diverse teams make better decisions. In "The Other Diversity Dividend," Paul Gompers and Silpa Kovvali show that they also make better investments. Finally, diversity has a bottom-line rationale.

Thanks for reading,
Amy Bernstein

In the Issue:

Collaboration Without Burnout

by Rob Cross, Scott Taylor, and Deb Zehner

Collaboration has a lot of benefits. But as companies become more global, matrixed, and complex, it's also causing problems: Managers now spend more than 85% of their time on email, in meetings or on the phone. Research shows that some of this time can be clawed back, and it starts with people identifying why they take on too much work for and with others.

How CEOs Manage Time

by Michael E. Porter and Nitin Nohria

In 2006, the authors launched a historic study tracking how 27 CEOs spend their time, 24/7, for 13 weeks. Where were they? Who were they with? What did they do and focus on? The data they uncovered, combined with interviews, offers insights not just into best time-management practices, but into the very nature of the CEO role itself.

Do Your Employees Feel Respected?

by Kristie Rogers

Maybe not. It turns out that leaders have an incomplete understanding of what constitutes workplace respect, meaning that even well-meaning efforts can fall short. So what should managers to do? They can start by understanding that there are two distinct types of respect: owed, which is accorded equally to all members of a group; and earned, which recognizes individuals who display valued behaviors.

The Other Diversity Dividend

by Paul Gompers and Silpa Kovvali

Is there really a causal relationship between diversity and financial performance? In a study of VC firms, Gompers and Kovvali found that diversity significantly improved financial performance on measures like profitable investments at the individual portfolio-company level and overall fund returns. So the answer, at least in this case, is "Yes." If a company chooses to be more homogeneous, it may be leaving a lot of money on the table.

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