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I think you can tell a lot about a person by their response to the question, “can you be in at 6:00 tomorrow?” I don’t think the right answer is, “YES” or “NO”. I think there’s a thought process that responsible, hard-working people take to the process. I think that process goes like this:
- Why? There are good reasons to be in the office at 6:00 and there are bad ones. If there truly is a time sensitive issue that needs to be addressed before business, then fine. If its something I can do tonight before I go home, you owe me that option. Furthermore, if its not really necessary for me to be there, don’t ask me to be. I’ll resent you thoroughly for it. If you’re the kind of manager who measures my contribution by the time on the clock when I’m coming and going, we won’t be working together long.
- Assuming all those questions are answered to my satisfaction, the answer is YES. If you can’t handle days that require you to be in the office at 6:00, then don’t work for a startup. When you’re working for a company of a couple dozen, any one person dropping the ball can be heard around the office. These pressure moments when you see everyone coming together to get a product out the door should be the ones that you’re excited about, not the ones that you dread. I’m here in the office at 6:00 this morning waiting for a build of our product from the developers that I can test before showing it to some clients at 9:00 and I’m excited. The team made some amazing progress on it overnight and I’m excited to share that with my clients at 9:00.
What gets you excited enough to get out of bed at 6:00?
