A current issue of the Wall Street Journal has a full page ad, largely white space, with a familiar business proverb in the center: work smarter, not harder. It’s widely known in the business world because, supposedly, it reflects a truth based on the common sense of work experience.
In 2008, it’s only half right!
The proverb dates to 1988, where it was the title for a business book written by Jack Collins and Michael Leboeuf: Work Smarter, Not Harder: How to Unlock Your Real Potential. The book is still available, and the title has been reworked for a number of different business books—suggesting its staying power.
I first encountered the proverb while consulting at Pillsbury nearly twenty years ago with a technology manager. She was one of those fabled Midwesterners, northern European in background—and she was not afraid to work hard—very hard. Yet she was stymied in her career and hadn’t earned a promotion for years. Her boss hired me to help her work smarter, not harder.
Where did this idea come from?
If you have background in advertising or marketing—or Freudian psychology—you know that the proverb works because it is highly reflective of the pleasure principle. Sigmund Freud believed that humans are driven to avoid pain and seek pleasure. He argued that self-gratification is a fundamental part of our personality, and that it enables us to get our basic needs met. When a child is hungry, and wants food, the child cries to get his needs met. When the child needs to be changed, she cries to get those needs met. And so, when we are uncomfortable, in pain, or just want attention, the drive for pleasure causes us to speak up until our needs are met. In business the proverb implies that if you’re working too hard, you can avoid some of the pain by working smarter.
Over the years, the proverb has continued to resurface—in various forms and uses. Much of marketing and advertising is based on the pleasure principle. We offer you a product (or service) that will satisfy you with little pain or sacrifice. The diet and fitness ads are full of those motives.
A proverb that’s not so smart
Few seem to realize that the pleasure principle is under attack on a lot of fronts—and rightly so. Freud said that the opposite of the pleasure principle was the reality principle. Today’s reality is that the global economy places terrific demands on your talents and abilities. And research is demonstrating more and more that the one thing that sets successful people apart from the rest of the herd is how hard they work to make themselves smarter and build their expertise. So the proverb needs to be corrected. No matter how smart or talented someone is—even if your name is Einstein, Mozart, or Michael Jordan—you’re not going to succeed in a big way without plenty of dedication and effort. If you want to achieve in your profession, you’re going to have to work smarter, while working harder. That’s probably not as encouraging, but it’s reality.