Wearing a fresh shine on his shoes, a suit his wife gave him on graduation day and a determined look on his face, Brian stood outside his new office. It wasn’t the corner office, but it looked pretty good to him. The smell of new leather from his chair and the warm glow of sunshine streaming through the window greeted him as he positioned his alligator briefcase on the corner of his mahogany desk.
Click, click. Brian opened his briefcase and took out three items–a hammer, a nail and his college degree. “Hello, Brian.” Mr. Pensky, Brian’s new boss said as he extended his right hand, “Welcome to Acme Widget, Inc.” Still holding the hammer, Brian reached out to shake his employer’s hand. “Excuse me, sir,” Brian said, noticing his mistake. He sat the hammer on his desk, shook Mr. Pensky’s hand and said, “It’s good to be here sir.”
Mr. Pensky smiled, and turned to leave. As he was walking out of the room he said, “We’ll be having a staff meeting at 10:00 this morning in the conference room, I’ll introduce you to everybody then.”
“I’m sorry, sir, but that won’t work for me.” Mr. Pensky spun, reentered the room and stood motionless in his grey flannel suit. “What do you mean that won’t work for you?”
“We’ll,” Brian explained, “I’m planning on leaving the office around 9:30 this morning to go fishing with some friends. You know what they say, ‘it isn’t the quantity, but the quality of time that matters.’ I won’t be spending much time in the office while I’m working for you, but I assure you the time I spend will be high quality.”
It takes more than quality time to keep a job, and it takes more than quality time to raise a family. It takes real time — the combination of quality and quantity.
