Tune In to Work Smarter, Not Harder

It must be plain old human nature, that capacity people have for taking no notice of things in their environment that don’t interest them. The reason for it could be self-preservation: Our brains can only handle a limited amount of information, so we focus only on the things that are most important to us.

However, after talking to lots of women about sports in the workplace, it is clear to us that women are actually making a choice about what they see or hear. The women we’ve observed and spoken with don’t see the opportunities that exist around them to connect with others through sports because they simply are not interested in the topic. They simply tune it out.

At the same time, these women said they believe that the best way to get ahead is to work harder. What they need to understand is that working hard simply isn’t enough. Getting along in the workplace generates success faster. It’s truly about working smarter, not harder. More work is the reward for those who simply work longer and harder. But, those who work smarter —by doing good work and nurturing their internal and external networks— get promoted.

Wondering how much truth there is to that?

According to psychologists Daniel Goleman and Richard Boyatzis’ in their article, “Social Intelligence and the Biology of Leadership” (Harvard Business Review, Sept. 2008), “The idea that leaders need social skills is not new, of course.  In 1920, Columbia University psychologist Edward Thorndike pointed out that ‘the best mechanic in a factory may fail as a foreman for lack of social intelligence.’ More recently, our colleague Claudio Fernández-Aráoz found in an analysis of new C-level executives that those who had been hired for their self-discipline, drive, and intellect were sometimes later fired for lacking basic social skills. In other words, the people Fernández-Aráoz studied had smarts in spades, but their inability to get along socially on the job was professionally self-defeating.”