Today the Harvard Business Review published an article titled Extreme Jobs:  The Dangerous Allure of the 70-Hour Workweek by Sylvia Ann Hewlett and Carolyn Buck Luce.  (For a free excerpt, click here.) The authors discuss various characteristics of extreme jobs including:  being available to clients 24/7, regularly working 60-70 hours per week, and working across time zones and cultures. 

The article’s title correctly highlights the “allure” of these positions;  it’s heady stuff to handle fast paced projects across cultures, and to be well compensated for it.  And, as the authors note,  no longer are glamorously global and rigorous jobs reserved for senior staff.  Younger workers are also gravitating towards and getting these positions.

The “extreme” jobs described in the article mirror many international law positions:  interesting, demanding, global–and taking a heavy personal toll.  For example, 58% of the respondents to the article’s study felt that their extreme jobs hindered good relationships with their children, and 68% felt that they would be healthier working at less extreme positions.

Many international lawyers have long grappled with these issues.  The difference is that now, thanks to globalization and other trends, the number of extreme global jobs is rising in all sectors; as a result, extreme jobs are becoming normalized and culturally acceptable. 

So, international lawyers must monitor themselves and their own career demands, taking steps to reduce stress whenever possible, and perhaps, to make career changes away from the “extreme”.