One of my best managers at McKinsey announced on day-1 of the client engagement, “Guys, let us aim to make it a 9 to 5 engagement – I mean 9 to 5 pm, not 5 am!”
We had never been able to do that on any engagement – least of all, on a super-intense, two-week due diligence, which this was.
The best thing about this manager was that no matter how much pressure came from the top, he would never pass it down. I know very few people who can do that – personally, I have also failed at that.
Since we liked him so much, he was the one person for whom we would have happily worked till 5 am. And we did – and everybody was happy doing it.
If a leader genuinely cares about the team, people will typically do anything for that person. Hard work is rarely a problem – all people want is respect and their bosses to care about them.
– Rajan