In fact, we respect Infosys co-founder N R Narayana Murthy so much that we really do want to emulate his highly determined, highly hardworking and highly disciplined model of success.
We really do.
But even while his idea of work ethic is commendable, the fact of the matter is that we’re not all a towering Murthy who wants to push ourselves – never mind ‘the country’ – at the cost of dunking our work-life balance before retirement.
Earlier this week, the working man’s capitalist suggested that India’s youngsters work ’70 hours a week’ to enhance India’s competitiveness.
That’s 11.4 hours a day for six days a week. Or 14 hours a day if you’re talking five days a week. Unless the man wants young people to work 10 hours every day. He’s talking about upping the nation’s work productivity, which is low. But why not less yapping, shorter lunch breaks, fewer meetings about meetings, and the focus on (wo)man hours only? Murthy may find youngsters to be slackers compared to ‘folks during our time’. But quality is edging out to quantity these days, with technology – something Infosys knows a thing or two about – helping in the (wo)manual hours front. In any case, it probably would have been a wee bit more inspiring if he mentioned more money to be earned with more working hours.
Till then, work hard, play harder.
