What’s infuriating is that having no work-life balance is promoted as a positive. Sure there are people who are really devoted to their work and thrive on it, but that should be seen as voluntary and not expected. Working long hours also doesn’t necessarily mean you are working efficiently or using your full potential the entire time.
It’s meant to deify these CEOs. Gullible schmoes see this and think “well that makes sense, he spends every hour of his day working. That’s three times more than me! No wonder he makes a million times my salary! See, the only reason I’m not making billions is because I don’t have the divine skills and talent to work on my company all day.” (Or, “I choose to have a work-life balance cause I don’t mind making a little less money”)
These CEOs have PR teams dedicated to slipping out stories like these so it keeps the CEO looking like a king.
Also to convince gullible idiots to put in more hours and make more sacrifices because “that’s what it takes to make it to the top” not realizing that sacrificing your time and energy for a multi-billion dollar corporation won’t make you a billionaire. Rich people love the “hustle and grind” culture because it convinces people that if they just keep producing for the machine, the trickle down will finally come
Yes I understand that for some people out there, being a tech executive is their highest passion and true calling. But I hate it when those people turn around and expect everybody to act that way, and act like they’re just more virtuous for doing so. I have a very successful tech career but it’s a job, not my whole life. This society values money, so we keep asking rich people for life advice, as if they have tapped into something deeply human and universal. They haven’t.
Also, having no work-life balance is different if you own a significant fraction of the company vs. if you’re on salary.
Like, if Jensen Huang spends 12 hours over the weekend working on something for nVidia and increases the share price by 0.01% (with a $4.165 trillion market cap, this means it goes up $416 million), his personal net worth will go up by $14.7m. Not bad for a little weekend work.
Let’s assume that someone who is on salary is on something absurd like $1m per year and gets a 500% bonus for working overtime. Their 12 hours of weekend work is going to net them $28k. That’s certainly nice, but it’s about 1/500th of what Huang gets. And, your average engineer probably doesn’t get overtime at all, and if they did it would be closer to $3k not $30k.
If someone who owns a business wants to have a bad work-life balance, that’s one thing. But, it should never be expected of anybody who’s just on salary.
And if its voluntary I would more likely categorize it as a hobby rather than work. I think we need a better definition for “work”. Work, to me, is an obligation. People work in order to feed and house themselves. So let’s says someone has $10mil. That is more than enough to easily live off the interest. I would say anyone at that level of wealth never actually works because they have the option to stop at any time, which in my mind makes it a hobby.
I think the Nvidia should get a life.i also agree 100%, if you are working every second of your waking hours then you are far from being efficient.
It is a lie that CEO’s publicize about themselves. He has two children. If he actually was working 7 days a week from the moment he woke up he would have never had a chance to get married and have children- which is the life his workers lead.
Musk used to brag about working 7 days a week one day, and the next day brag about how he never missed his children’s soccer games.
They don’t understand the actual concept of working. They think taking a call once in a while while out at a soiree counts entirely as work time.
“I had to sit through a 3 hour lunch at Nobu and a visit to a whorehouse with that dreadful bore Altman. What an exhausting 16 hour day.”
Musk brags about working 100-hour weeks … while being the CEO of five companies. That means that at best being a CEO of one company is a 20-hour-a-week part time job.
Most are sociopaths who definitely do not think about other people, so it’s probably true that he does nothing else but think about the work. Eg Elon
Honestly the CEO behavior sounds like a mental illness.
That was my first thought. Why the fuck do ceos get a pass for making their mental shit everyone else’s problem? When I do that, I get an expensive trip to the psych ward.
It’s also proof that there wouldn’t be major negatives from a wealth tax. These guys love working, it’s not about the money, they all say it. So, let them keep working, but give their earnings to people who need it.
My boss says he has not taken a day off in 6 years.
Posts pics of him on a boat fishing with our CRO on a Monday . . .
Most CEOs are so useless, but their idea of “working” is just thinking about work and money all day but not actually doing anything.
Well, you know, he talked to somebody for two seconds on his phone while on vacation. ;\
Sounds like mental illness but its epic because money.
he cant even sit through a movie without thinking about his $4.2 trillion tech giant
I’m so close to starting to feel sad for him
Dudes counting thinking about work as work… Which means so many 40 hour jobs should be paid for 80 hour weeks then.
You don’t see it about single fathers either. Why harp on a gender factor that isn’t relevant when the real issue is class and wealth disparity?
Absolute facts, men are often ignored in this situation, were expected to be strong and handle everything by ourselves like we aren’t humans, someone’s child tryna figure what to do in life. The real enemy of the world is the class war and if we could realise that wed realise we are the 99%
If you’re in a position to walk away from almost anything you are doing at work and have someone else do it instead, and you’re still paid, it’s not work. If you are in this position, have family, and work 7 days a week, you have a self-regulation problem. See a fucking therapist.
Omg guys I’m so addicted to working! I just can’t stop workinggggg I think I’m addicted with how much I workkkk! I’m just so exploitable ;)))
deleted by creator
Imagine believing that just thinking about your job, equates to “working”. Give me a break.
i like how its counted as work just thinking about work for him. but it only counts as work for his employees when they are online under the supervision of their manager.
Online? They were probably forced back into office.
Wat a sad life.
A mother who works two jobs and can’t sit through a movie without thinking about her kids is also sad, but at least she does it for something good
Replace “4.2 trillion tech giant” with “the future of humanity” and that’s basically me with depression.
TIL I’m the CEO of Worrying About the Sky Falling Inc. (because the sky really is about to fall lol)
Username checks out
And by work they really mean “jerks off to his leather jacket collection”
Here’s something for your toolbox: our society commits idolatry constantly.
