Work Hard.. by Being Still

Work Hard.. by Being Still

What do you mean Tom, are you talking in riddles?

Perhaps, but as Seth put it in a recent blog:

“For most of us, hard work is measured in insight, emotional effort, and connection. It’s been a long time since the economy fairly rewarded people based on brawn alone.”

Today some thoughts on why “Being Still” can be key to “hard work”

see everything and do nothing

First, I am no stranger to traditional hard work. I pushed hard to get good grades, a good degree, and completed my professional qualification then moved out to the Cayman Islands with a “Big 4” firm the day after my 24th birthday. From there I only worked harder and for many years.

One seminal point for me was in the year 2000 when our group of businesses (in which I was what would now be called the Chief Commercial Officer) entered a large joint venture with a foreign partner. I was very much used to doing lots of hard work across our businesses, but one day my boss sat me down to talk about the joint venture. He told me he wanted my role to be to “see everything and do nothing”.

I was momentarily confused, but he explained that as we had structured the JV business such that our partners would manage it day to day, it was key that we…