Pick 37- Work Smart

Some of us are morning people; others are not.  This post is for the “are not” folks who feel pressured by morning people. We have all heard Ben Franklin’s advice: “Early to bed and early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise.” That may have been passed along to us by parents, well-intentioned teachers, and employers.  During most of the Industrial Age, especially the part that peaked during the 20^th Century, getting you to work on time was a major concern for employers in any manufacturing enterprise. Every task in the manufacturing process was people-dependent on another task. If the employee responsible for any task was absent, it slowed down “the production line” and that may have left employers healthy and wise but definitely not wealthy.

Now we are well into the Knowledge Age. Most manufacturing processes have been automated or engineered to have fewer people-dependent tasks. The new employer mantra, “Work smarter—not harder” was coined by Allan F. Morgensen.  His intent was to improve the ability of people to produce more with less effort.  A hidden value in this new approach was the ability of employers to work smarter by limiting the need for people to work in lock step fashion at all. Once employees were freed from the "production line" mentality, they were enabled to set their own work hours (e.g. flex time) or to work primarily from home. However, we should not be too quick to dismiss Ben Franklin's advice. He had his feet in both the Industrial Age and in the Knowledge Age. He could see work from both an employer's and employee's perspective. So we cannot assume that his idea of "early to bed" was the same as those expected to work from sunrise to sunset. He may have seen the hidden value in seeking a good night's sleep only after a good evening dedicated to fun, fantasy, and fraternity. In that sense he was way ahead of his time.

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