Creative Reaction

This is essentially a follow up to “Fire the Workaholics” from last month. In Why I love working with family people, David from 37Signals contrasts “the stereotypical startup dream hire… a 20-something with as little life as possible” with employees who have families. Family men and women, he finds, have “an amazing ability to get stuff done when the objectives are reasonably clear, the work appears to have meaning, and if it can be done within the scope of what should constitute a work week. When there are real constraints on your time, like you have to pickup the kids or make them dinner or put them to bed, it appears to bring a serenity of focus to the specific hours dedicated to work. This is what companies need, startups or not.”