In my consulting days, one of my managers had built a unique personal brand — he loved all-nighters and had an aversion to sleep.
He was known as an ‘intense’ person but I soon found that his intensity boiled down to only one thing — staying late at night. And he did that because he was insecure about his capabilities.
In any top-tier consulting firm, people are generally a bit paranoid — just one bad review on a project can end your career. So you have to impress everyone.
And there are two ways to impress people:
- By showing that you can deliver.
- By showing that you are so committed that you don’t even go home at night.
My manager chose the 2nd route.
I remember one day coming to office after just 2 hrs of sleep. That day, my manager seemed to be especially pleased with himself — he was almost glowing. I asked, “What happened?”
He said, “I haven’t gone home — I was here the whole night.” He felt like a martyr — due for a Medal of Honor.
In reality, his martyrdom was just hiding his insecurity.
And this insecurity was despite an undergrad and an MBA from Harvard, and a stint at the world’s top private equity fund. Alas, resume can’t substitute for competence.
If you know what exactly is to be done, doing it intelligently, with a single-minded focus doesn’t take that long. And that is real competence.
If you are smart, get the job done and get the hell out. Else, you sit and stew overnight.
– Rajan