The simple answer may be all of us. It may be all of us at some time in our lives. It may be that some of us can’t keep this up when we have children. or sick parents. Or, to find some down time.
Our culture now glorifies the workaholic geek engineer. Mostly young, male and highly focused, they are the Kobe Bryant of workers. They may not have ever read a novel. But, oh can they write code.
Can we get a handle on the downside of all this connecting technology that never lets us sleep? How do set boundaries to the time on work emails as well as Facebook and other social apps? It is up to us as individuals, yes, but it is also up to us as leaders to set boundaries on our expectations about responsiveness.
If we send emails at midnight, what are you modeling? If that is when you get your greatest inspirations, do you let your staff know that they are not expected to respond outside of business hours? What is the conversation officially and un-officially at your company about responsiveness to messages?
Oh, and is that on their personal device?
All of this is going to come to head on some lawsuit soon. I can just feel it, can’t you?
illustration courtesy of 123rf.com