“Hustle Culture” Is Not The Problem

There’s a critical element missing in how we work today.

Can you feel it? 

People at work seem more stressed out than ever. 

So many of the tech industry managers that I talk to tell me they believe they're on a path to burnout. 

What they're doing right now feels unsustainable. 

All over social media I see posts vilifying “hustle culture”. It makes sense. Others are seeing the same thing that I'm seeing. 

People are feeling overloaded. 

They're worried. 

They're hurting. 

And they're losing hope that things might get better.  

I'm going to show you why. And what we can do about it.

It's got to be the workload, right? 

Hundreds of thousands of jobs have been eliminated in order to fund massive investments in AI infrastructure.

For those who remain, the number of direct reports you manage has doubled and you're being told to do more with less. 

Your family is feeling it too. They see what you're going through. 

There is a derogatory term your kids use for some students at school. They call them “try-hards". 

Back in my day we would have called them a teacher's pet, a schmoozer. These are the kids that sit in the front of the class and raise their hands first to answer every question. To the other kids it seems performative. 

But, while I certainly don't want my kid to be the performative schmoozer of the class, I hate the fact that "try hard" has become a derogatory term. 

What's wrong with trying hard? 

What's wrong with working hard? 

Every successful person I've ever known… Every high achiever… Every top performer… They all love working hard. 

I love working hard!

I identify as a “try-hard”. 

I love the grind. 

I love being so obsessed with a work project that I can't stop thinking about it, even in the evenings, even on the weekend. 

I love being so committed to a goal that I'll get up at 4:30 in the morning just to make sure I never miss a daily commitment. 

But I have also experienced burnout. 

I have felt overwhelmed. Hopeless.

I have felt like there's no end in sight. 

I have felt my self-confidence completely fall apart. 

So what's the difference? 

When I was burning out, was I working too hard? 

Was I trying too hard? 

Grinding too hard?

Hustling too fast? 

No. 

It was the same level of work and effort as I put into some of the most gratifying projects in my life. 

The missing component was a vision of an ideal future state. 

A vision that was shared by all of the stakeholders in this project. 

A sense of purpose.

A sense of hope. 

Dr. Richard Boyatzis has spent decades researching what it takes for individuals, teams, and organizations to achieve lasting positive change. 

He has identified the Negative Emotional Attractor (NEA) and Positive Emotional Attractor (PEA). We need both. 

NEA activates the sympathetic nervous system. Think, fight-or-flight. NEA is triggered by setting goals, measuring performance against goals, and solving problems. 

PEA is associated with creative thought, empathy, safety, and intrinsic motivation. We trigger PEA by focusing on a person’s dreams, values, strengths, and ideal self. 

The glaring problem that I see in most organizations today is that they are hyper-focused on metrics and performance gaps, and lacking in attention to dreams, values, and ideal future state. 

The predictable outcome of this imbalance is stress, fear, pressure to comply, and a lack of hope. Sound familiar? 

So how do we correct this and put our people and teams on paths to achieving complex, long-term goals? 

Well, you already have the goals, objectives, and performance metrics (NEA). Here are a few ways to activate PEA in your teams: 

1. Bring your team together to create a shared vision of success that includes the goals, but focuses on the team’s ideal future state. This will include the team’s strengths, values, and how they help and support each other. 

2. In one-on-one meetings with your direct reports, connect to the team’s shared vision, but also ask about the individual’s dreams and goals. Co-create a plan to help them achieve their career and life goals. 

3. Recognize that you need multiple PEA-related interactions to balance every NEA-related interaction. Knowing this, I’m sure you can see the glaring difference between what we’re doing today and where we need to be to avoid the march to burnout. 

Top performers love working hard. Some of the most rewarding moments in their lives were some of the hardest to achieve. 

But grinding hard every day without a sense of purpose, lacking hope, lacking control over what’s happening to them, and longing for a sense of “team” will grind your people into dust. 

Top performers will quit first. They’ll go someplace where they can “try hard” on something that matters. 

Best, 

Jeff

P.S. If you just inherited a new team and you want to set that team up for success without taking years to learn the hard way, book a complimentary call with me. We will discuss your current situation, including challenges and frustrations, and I’ll get you pointed in the right direction. Use this link.