I disagree with the ideas suggested by this comment and I think the ideas Tessa says are more correct.
Most people in the roles mentioned (boxing promoters, political strategists, and some kinds of “tech entrepreneurs”) work hard because they need to win zero sum games, or succeed in achieving coordination (with similar features to a zero sum game). This can produce super normal outcomes, but these are the nature of “winner takes all” and not because the proximal value of the output is high. The level of effort usually can only be sustained for short periods of time. By the way, these people have strong incentives to create personal brands of being relentless.
If you examine the actual work involved in these long hours, the work is often of the sort of attending “meetings” and coordination, which can be undemanding, and often blurs into social activities that most people enjoy and are not paid for.
We should heavily discount anecdotes like the Korea hours. I have experience from these Asian cultures and various business cultures. These cause me to round off all the excess work to “presenteeism”, which is false because it produces low net output and requires lower effort.
I disagree with the ideas suggested by this comment and I think the ideas Tessa says are more correct.
Most people in the roles mentioned (boxing promoters, political strategists, and some kinds of “tech entrepreneurs”) work hard because they need to win zero sum games, or succeed in achieving coordination (with similar features to a zero sum game). This can produce super normal outcomes, but these are the nature of “winner takes all” and not because the proximal value of the output is high. The level of effort usually can only be sustained for short periods of time. By the way, these people have strong incentives to create personal brands of being relentless.
If you examine the actual work involved in these long hours, the work is often of the sort of attending “meetings” and coordination, which can be undemanding, and often blurs into social activities that most people enjoy and are not paid for.
We should heavily discount anecdotes like the Korea hours. I have experience from these Asian cultures and various business cultures. These cause me to round off all the excess work to “presenteeism”, which is false because it produces low net output and requires lower effort.