Seth Priebatsch: Get a life
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Seth Priebatsch: Get a life
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Re: Seth Priebatsch: Get a life
#2Different lifestyles work for different people. I know Seth -- he's energized and motivated by the work at hand. He's happiest when he's working.
That doesn't mean he doesn't know how to have fun. We were racing bicycles around Google Ventures just for kicks. He's also 21 -- he doesn't have a family he has to worry about. In fact, I'd say his employees and his company are his family.
I like work and life balance, but not everyone needs it. or sometimes you find your fun within your work.
Re: Seth Priebatsch: Get a life
#3Out of the last 4 CEOs I've had to work with, the 2 that had no life were definitely the ones I hated working for.
Their constant stress made the rest of the company very antsy. It's unhealthy all around.
Re: Seth Priebatsch: Get a life
#4Different lifestyles work for different people. I know Seth -- he's energized and motivated by the work at hand. He's happiest when he's working. That doesn't mean he doesn't know how to have fun. We were racing bicycles around Google Ventures just for kicks. He's also 21 -- he doesn't have a family he has to worry about. In fact, I'd say his employees and his company are his family. I like work and life balance, but…
I agree with your point - not everyone needs work life balance; however, I think what the Author is saying is it's far from honorable to lead a company in that fashion. The culture of the company is largely influenced by the behavior of its leaders. If Seth's lifestyle is a point of pride it's likely to be poisonous in the longterm for the company.
Re: Seth Priebatsch: Get a life
#5The simple fact is that he'll burn out, sooner or later. That kind of energy can be initially compelling, but very few great leaders thrive without compassion and charisma.
There's a large element of the media that champions sociopathic tendencies. It's good for the HN types to visibly push back against it, even if every situation is different.
Sometimes it's good to cry it out with people. Hard to do that if you can't sign a contract ahead of time.
Re: Seth Priebatsch: Get a life
#6Matt Douglas (the author) is CEO of http://punchbowl.com/ whose users have a life. It makes sense for him to have a lifestyle that helps him relate to his users. How big a part do you think the lifestyle of your users should play in optimizing the work-life balance of founders?
I'm looking forward to discussing this and other topics with Boston-area hackers at today's meetup.
Re: Seth Priebatsch: Get a life
#7Dude, stfu and get back to work. I mean really, who tells someone else how to run their business? If it works for him, it works for him, and that's that.
Re: Seth Priebatsch: Get a life
#8And yet the Macintosh was created under precisely these conditions. This is often how amazing things are created. It's not the only way, but it definitely can work.
Re: Seth Priebatsch: Get a life
#9Different lifestyles work for different people. I know Seth -- he's energized and motivated by the work at hand. He's happiest when he's working. That doesn't mean he doesn't know how to have fun. We were racing bicycles around Google Ventures just for kicks. He's also 21 -- he doesn't have a family he has to worry about. In fact, I'd say his employees and his company are his family. I like work and life balance, but…
I disagree that not everyone needs work/life balance. If you're a leader at a company, your employees count on you to make good decisions regarding their future. I don't think you can make reasonable decisions here if you spend all of your time working and thus lose the perspective one gains from an outside life.
Let's say that I'm an employee of yours and I have a pregnant wife. I wish to take off at 3 PM once a week to accompany her to the doctor. I make this pitch to you, my 21 year old CEO who lives at the office. If you're buried in the business all day, every day, could you comprehend how important something like this would be to me? Even if you did say yes, what would you think of my commitment to the company? Would you factor my behavior into your decisions about my future?
You may find great meaning within your work, but others will have much different priorities in their lives. I think you lose your ability to realize that with this sort of workload.
Re: Seth Priebatsch: Get a life
#10Different lifestyles work for different people. I know Seth -- he's energized and motivated by the work at hand. He's happiest when he's working. That doesn't mean he doesn't know how to have fun. We were racing bicycles around Google Ventures just for kicks. He's also 21 -- he doesn't have a family he has to worry about. In fact, I'd say his employees and his company are his family. I like work and life balance, but…
That's true, but what I worry about is the implicit pressure for his employees to put in the same sort of hours. Not everyone can be productive for sixteen hours a day. Heck, I doubt that even Seth is productive for the full time that he's at the office. I wonder how much of his day goes to fixing the mistakes he made on the previous day.