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May 15, 2004
Detached
Strangely, although I've been on vacation less than two weeks total, work email has started to lose it's interest. I've detached from my job.
If the interruptions were fewer, would I take the extra continuity to think? Between hedge clipping, painting, diaper changing, cooking, I've read almost to the end of Drucker's Best Of book. (Peter Drucker, not Tom Peters. Do not confuse these two guys.)
Drucker starts with an assumption that, since increasing standards of living have spread to the majority of those of us in developed countries, we cannot get by without more of the same. Either we push for further increases, or something falls apart. In other words, the plea for equitable redistribution instead of further increases does not reflect a request most of us want to make. Drucker has a point there. You have to live frugally around here to avoid using more and more. As Woody Allen joked, "The food's terrible. And such small portions."
If I agree with Drucker's assumption there, the path gets slippery. In the knowledge society, we have a great need for generalists. We call them managers. They organize specialist teamwork to produce the increases we cannot do without. If work concerns " the occupation for which you are paid" (because nobody would do it for free), and you seems to fall more into the generalist category than the specialist category, and you could do managerial work, maybe you should think about looking for managerial work.
Especially when other specialists do better specialized work than you do.
Rien faire, rien laisser faire, tout faire faire. If you do it right, it should get easier rather than harder. On the other hand, I've copped out twice. Maybe there won't be a third time.
Posted by Mark at May 15, 2004 09:47 PM