Miguel was stunned. At some point, he thought I was a nice guy, but now he was not so sure. Our production volume was coming back, and because of layoffs in his department, he was already working twelve hour days running a 10 hour staggered shift. We were about to expand to an 18 hour swing shift, adding more production people and expecting Miguel to run the whole thing. Welcome to management.

“But I am already working as hard as I can,” Miguel protested. “How can you possibly expect more?”

“I expect more, because you are capable of more,” I replied. Miguel’s face turned blank. He was tired of fighting. He was tired of fighting the twelve hour days, he was tired of fighting me, but mostly he was tired of fighting his own thinking.

“I can’t work this way any longer,” he resigned. “Something has to give. I am already in trouble with my wife. I hardly get to play with my kids. My golf clubs have rust on them.”

“And I want you to manage a longer work process with about double the headcount you have now. What are you going to change?”