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Interview With Keith Hammonds of 'Fast Company' Magazine

Aired May 31, 2002 - 14:34   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: Not long ago, the typical beach bag included suntan oil, a few towels and maybe some shades. Well, now many beach goers wouldn't dare hit the sand without packing a cell phone or even a laptop. "USA Today" reports a recent survey says 40 percent of all managers are now required to leave a travel itinerary and even a contact number, or several numbers, before they leave on vacation.

This doesn't come as news to the folks at "Fast Company" magazine. Aptly enough, "Fast Company" tracks the career and lifestyle trends of people on the go. And senior editor Keith Hammonds joins us from New York.

Keith, do you have to leave numbers behind when you go on vacation?

KEITH HAMMONDS, "FAST COMPANY": I try to. I leave my number with my editors, but they haven't called me yet. I'm wondering if I should be worried by that.

LIN: You want to be needed. But is this really a real trend? What are the consequences if you say, excuse me, I know you want to reach me, but this is my time off and I'm entitled to this benefit?

HAMMONDS: I think there are several things going on. First, for some people and some companies, there are very real consequences here. Business has changed, and work has changed in several ways. First of all, more of us are knowledge workers because more of us are information workers. So our work doesn't end at the end of a shift.

Second, more of us are attached to projects. And most of us, more than one project. So even if we're lucky enough to have our kids vacation fall at the end of a project, there are probably another two or three projects that are ongoing, and we have to worry about.

And the third is, business is more intense than ever. We have moved from a 5 by 8 economy to a 24 by 7 economy. So managers, executives, feel the need to meet their customers demands 24 hours, and so expect employees and managers to do the same for them.

LIN: But do you have the right to say no? Do you have the legal right to say no, if they want to push you that far?

HAMMONDS: Well, of course you have a legal right to say no. The question is one of job performance. If you say no and others say yes, where does that leave you? This is a competitive economy. We're in the middle of a flat economy. And most people will worry about saying no under those sorts of conditions.

Yes, it's tough out there. It's tough to say no to a company that expects yes.

LIN: So, what does this mean for the future then? Is it just that if you want to be on the fast track, prepare to be on the fast track and pay the consequences? And the satisfaction of your life will have to come from work and not necessarily your family?

HAMMONDS: I think it's more than just getting on the fast track. We've been wrestling with this problem for decades. The notion of a paid vacation is only as old as 1930 or 1940 in this country. And I think we still haven't come to terms with it here.

Americans enjoy work. It makes them feel good about themselves. And we still feel guilty a bit about leisure. And we've got to wrestle with that some more. It is -- it takes some discipline to say no. And we like -- we don't have that discipline. We like to feel in control. We like to feel connected. We like to feel like we mean something.

"Fast Company" has a story in our August issue that features Gary Luhman (ph), CEO of Harris Entertainment, who talks about going away on vacation and taking everything with him. He takes his phone, his laptop, and getting FedEx packages, because he couldn't bear to disconnect from his company.

He didn't have to. And he learned not to. But for the first couple of years, it was an ego thing. He wanted to feel in control.

LIN: Interesting. Well, I have a story suggestion. It would be interesting to do a comparison of how successful women and successful men cope with those kinds of choices in their times off, because I think women do handle that situation very differently and probably have to, because of the demands at home.

HAMMONDS: I think you're right. Different cultural thing altogether.

LIN: All right, another time. Thank you very much. Very interesting.

HAMMONDS: Thank you.

LIN: "Fast Track" magazine. You can check that out on the next edition.

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