[zwkrt]

I completely agree with the sentiment of this post for the purposes of solving business problems, and more generally for making rational decisions in one's life. I find it intriguing though, because I think a way of rephrasing your argument is that one should make sure that all of one's questions and approaches should be instrumental toward a goal. In every-day life, the only kind of person who truly takes this approach interpersonally is a sociopath. This kind of person only interacts with others as a means to their own ends, and generally the goal is efficiency and material gain.

It makes sense, because at some level the success of a corporation is totally devoid of purpose outside the maximization of profit. I just think it is interesting how that bleeds into the habits of employees. How much of that do we take home?

[ElevenLathe]

I think we always take some of it home. You can try all you like to keep your work and private lives separate but there will always be some spillover. Plus, no matter what you do, there is always in theory some dollar value attached even to your free time, or some limitation on the amount of time off you can take, which means that you really do have to be goal-oriented about taking a vacation, spending time with family and friends, practicing an instrument, etc. If you're not, it might not happen at all.

I don't know what the answer is but I agree that market-worship is bad and makes all of us involved in market-driven work (i.e. basically everyone) a little less compassionate.