Schools of Thoughts

One late weekday, I was driving back from work, one of my customer's senior staff called me, and I was too tired to really try to understand what she wanted. Eventually even though we spoke briefly, I vividly recalled that conversation.

She said, if it was not because of people like me and her (the context here was that we had this conversation at 9pm+ driving home) everyone else would just be ok to finish their work and go home at 5:30pm.

Driving home, at 9pm+, I shared with her what I felt was the young vs the old school of thought - that today's society, the younger generation just wanted to get rich quick with minimal effort. Young people job-hopped and looked for balance lifestyle in careers. These new generation executives go on holidays and equip themselves with expensive purchases and toys as a lifestyle option.

The question here is that - who is right? We both knew we were the "old" school of thought, whilst I wish I was not categorised in this bucket, I was indeed clearly an old school of thought.

Old school of thought :
- Work hard for a living, believing that hard work is the most reliable way for guaranteed success
- Never pausing to rest as the belief of competition is nearby and working hard is the best equation
- Expects those around to embody the same principles, and expects extreme loyalty
- Appreciates and rewards smart, intelligent and loyal followers in opportunities but continues to demand continuous contribution
- Typically works harder and longer than co-workers even as a boss

New school of thought :
- Work smart for a living, believing that smart work means identifying the right opportunities, regardless of at which arena or junction
- Takes holidays and expensive hobbies as it motivates them to go further
- Likes being around smart co-workers, and finds social networking a better equation than working
- Believes that performance is measured on outcome and not hours
- Does not bother on the hours worked or perception with respect to co-workers or boss

As a leader straddling between the two schools of thought, it is constantly a challenge to try to balance the needs to teams - at one point the mind is schooled in the old school of thought, but the environment of high performance is moving towards the new school of thought.

Who is to say who is right? I would like to believe that the extreme leader is the one who knows how to adapt, rather than stay within the school he or she was brought up with. I believe the young have it right somewhere, but the old knows how to adapt, improvise and enjoy this lifestyle too if they are willing to understand what drives the younger generation.

I am still learning.