'Hustle is No Virtue'

It has become fashionable to talk about the verb “hustle” these days, especially in professional settings.

- ROHIT KAPOOR

But I doubt if the corporate leaders and the so-called motivational speakers propagating “hustle” have cared to look at its actual meaning. The two meanings of the word hustle, in the context in which it is used, are: one, to push someone; and two, to pressurise someone into doing something.

As the definitions show, hustle is no virtue to be preached or practised. It sounds more like a modern version of Jeremy Bentham’s panopticon—where everyone is coerced to work or act in a particular manner. Not exactly the way we would want to run an organisation, right?

Some may argue that perhaps the reference to hustle is not meant in the literal sense, but in the context of the importance of working hard. The important question to ask here is: what does “working hard” mean? To me, working hard means driving outcomes with a huge degree of intensity, clarity and purpose.

Hustling in a

Haze I have seen teams with the highest amount of clarity with happy employees drive great outcomes more often than teams that “hustle” with limited clarity which struggle and create a vicious cycle around themselves. Not for nothing do I firmly believe that the primary job of every leader in an organisation is to be the “chief clarity officer”, beyond that lies the domain of functional or business responsibilities.