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July 05, 2005
Being idle ... not, perhaps, idyllic
Our favourite Financial Times columnist, Lucy Kellaway, says she's had an epiphany since reading Bonjour Paresse, "last year’s French best-seller that has already helped 300,000 French readers learn how to work even less hard than they work already".
An English translation, Hello Laziness, [which loses that amusing nod to Francoise Sagan's Bonjour Tristesse] has just been released, encouraging readers to regard salaried work as the pits, to appreciate the uselessness of managers, and to skive off whenever possible.
Lucy didn't immediately put her feet up on the desk and turn to the cryptic crossword. Instead she's developed a new respect for managers, and the value of work.
She says the author, Corinne Maier, an economist and manager at Electricité de France, has got it all wrong, and her solution will make office workers downright miserable, as opposed to merely unfulfilled.
Work isn't pointless, she says. Most managers aren't useless. And while skiving off is immensely pleasurable, it should be regarded as a well-earned reward for a job well done, rather than a sane response to career insanity.
If you're not convinced, Leon Gettler has some good links on idleness.
Posted by cw at July 5, 2005 01:00 PM
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Comments
A topic very dear to my heart.
We all work too hard and don't work effectively because we don't have time to reflect either personally or professionally.
Way back when I read "The Reflective Practitioner" by Donald Schon and it has influenced me ever since.
Posted by: chriscurnow at July 6, 2005 09:02 PM