It Doesn’t Have to Be Crazy at Work summary

Social media may be a valuable tool for keeping up with friends, new ideas and the latest cat videos, but unfortunately, it’s also a bottomless well of workaholic sentiment. Just consider the comments you see associated with #entrepreneur on social media, which include, “Extreme talent isn’t necessary, but extreme commitment is!” or “Conquer your competition!”

Comments like these are made for the virtual world, but they often reflect attitudes that can have dramatic real-world consequences. One such attitude, which is propagated on social media and repeated in many offices, is that success can’t be attained without excessive hard work. But this simply isn’t true.

As co-founders of the successful software company Basecamp, the authors have done something almost unheard of in this day and age – they’ve given their employees an eight-hour work day. This might not sound that radical, but for many modern bosses eight hours isn’t nearly long enough.

This is pretty crazy when you think about it. After all, eight hours is the same length as many long-haul flights, and they seem to take forever! So, why doesn’t eight hours at work feel as long as an intercontinental flight? And moreover, why doesn’t a 40-hour week feel long enough to get all your work done?

As a leader, you help set the tone of your company. For better or worse, your senior position means that subordinates will take their cue from you. With this in mind, you better make sure the beliefs and values you’re spreading around your workplace are the right ones.

These days, its commonplace for companies to push the idea that their employees are all one big family. Although this kind of sentiment might make you feel warm and fuzzy, you’d be well advised to run as fast as you can in the other direction when you hear it. Why?

Producing good work can be a stressful undertaking, especially when high standards come into play. But what about when it’s not the work itself that’s putting you under strain, but the processes that surround it? Even if striving to give your best will always be a little stressful, you can still make the process of doing so as calm as possible.

Let’s take a look at one process that sends anxiety levels soaring in offices everywhere – meeting deadlines. Or, as the authors call them, dreadlines.

In Silicon Valley and beyond, entrepreneurs are disciples to the belief that big rewards cannot be achieved without an equally huge gamble. And unsurprisingly, this habitual risky behavior can lead to a lot of workplace craziness. What may be more surprising is that being too risk-averse can also lead to stress and anxiety in the office.

In fact, when it comes to risk, it’s all about balance. The authors believe that their company’ has this balance just right. How? Well, they take risks, but they don’t take unmitigated risks. One recent risk, for instance, was to increase the monthly cost of their eponymous software from $29 to $99. Sounds pretty risky, right? And what’s more, they carried out zero market research beforehand to check how customers might feel about this new pricing.

In hectic modern life, with the demands and expectations of others buzzing around, it’s easy to forget that you always have a choice when it comes to how you behave, what you prioritize and how you treat those around you. You may well have an exacting boss or a difficult client, but you’re still the captain of your own ship. What’s more, the individual choices you make determine whether your working environment is stressful or calm. One of the most important of these choices is the manner in which you treat your customers, specifically those who come to you with a problem.

Jean-Louis Gassée, the former Head of Apple France, wisely stated that when it comes to handling customer complaints, there are two possible options. You can treat the complaint as highly important or you can shrug your shoulders and deem it trivial. Whatever position you choose to take, your customer will choose the other. That means that you’d better take every customer complaint seriously, because if you don’t the customer will. Let’s take a look at this dynamic in practice. Imagine that you’re a hotel manager whose guests complain that their room is too hot.